Chaos Non-Awards: Getting Released

Greetings one and everyone.

I think it’s time I had a small break from the Chaos Awards and write about something that is a pressing issue in the world of professional wrestling.
Just for my point to be proved, let me run by some stars that have been released by both companies since the start of 2009.

WWE
January 9^th 2009 – D’Lo Brown, Kevin Thorn (Requested Release), Mike Adamle (Requested Release), Val Venis (Went to and Released from TNA)
January 13^th 2009 – Victoria (Went to TNA), Ron Simmons
January 16^th 2009 – “Hardcore” Bob Holly
February 20^th 2009 – Colt Cabana
February 23^rd 2009 – Manu
March 4^th 2009 – The Boogeyman
March 9^th 2009 – Kizarny
March 19^th 2009 – Tyson Tomko (Went to and Released from TNA)
April 3^rd 2009 – Tazz (Went to TNA)
April 6^th 2009 – JBL (Retired)
May 29^th 2009 – Mr. Kennedy (Went to TNA)
June 1^st 2009 – Ric Flair (Left WWE. Went to TNA)
June 8^th 2009 – Umaga (2^nd Failure of Wellness Policy. Now Deceased)
June 19^th 2009 – Candice Michelle
July 30^th 2009 – Brian Kendrick (Went to TNA)
August 8^th 2009 – Ricky Ortiz
August 14^th 2009 – Eugene
August 28^th 2009 – Jeff Hardy (Went to TNA)
September 16^th 2009 – Linda McMahon
January 1^st 2010 – Shane McMahon
January 4^th 2010 – Tommy Dreamer (Went to TNA0
January 17^th 2010 – Eric Escobar
February 26^th 2010 – Paul Burchill, Gregory Helms, Maria
February 28^th 2010 – Charlie Haas
March 29^th 2010 – Shawn Michaels – (Retired)
April 22^nd 2010 – Shelton Benjamin, Funaki, Jesse/Slam Master J, Mike Knox, Mickie James, Jimmy Wang Yang, Katie Lea.
May 21^st 2010 – Carlito (Failure of Wellness Policy) 
May 24^th 2010 – Batista (Quit. Didn’t like the direction the company was going in)
August 23^rd 2010 – Serena

TNA
February 10^th 2009 – Petey Williams
February 20^th 2009 – Sonjay Dutt
April 30^th 2009 AND March 4^th 2010 AND June 13^th 2010 – Roxxi
September 15^th 2009 – Jim Cornette, B.G James
October 1^st 2009 – Rhaka Khan
October 18^th 2009 – Booker T
November 10^th 2009 – Sojournor Bolt
December 20^th 2009 – Sheik Abdul Bashir
December 29^th 2009 – Cody Deaner, Kip James
January 28^th 2010 – Bobby Lashley, Kristal Lashley
January 21^st 2010 – Alissa Flash
February 25^th AND April 30^th 2010 – Bubba The Love Sponge
March 4^th 2010 – Traci Brooks
March 5^th 2010 – Sean Morley
March 29^th 2010 – Consequences Creed
March 31^st 2010 – Daniels
June 2010 – Scott Hall
June 14^th 2010 – ODB
June 15^th 2010 – Sean Waltman
June 30^th 2010 – Ed Ferrara
August 19^th 2010 – Rosie Lottalove, Tomko, Homicide

Highlighted in BOLD were the stars who worked for their company for 5+ years.

That’s 41 people from WWE in that space of time (That isn’t everyone by the way) and out of them, 8 of them went to TNA. I didn’t even get to the developmental releases either. And there are 26 from TNA that were released.
So that is a minimum total of 65 people released by two companies within 2 years (Van Venis/Morley and Tomko working for both).

TNA has a steady stream of new talent coming in. Whether it be from the Extreme Stable angle that they are doing or just getting people from the Independent scene that were rejected by WWE or WWE stars that were fired. Although they need help with the Knockout Division, that’s for sure.
WWE on the other hand has so far only had NXT stars and a few others from FCW step up. Usos, Archer and Croft being examples of that.

The thing is TNA and WWE are doing the same thing. They aren’t creating new stars. Actually that’s a lie. WWE has made Sheamus a high profile star in the last year.
So with the exception of Sheamus, both companies have made World Champions out of stars who have ALREADY been World Champion. Where are the new stars that have rising out of mid card status?
I can hear you screaming “But Nem, The Miz has Money in the Bank and Jack Swagger was World Champion!” Yes, I know. But honestly tell me that we are going to remember Jack Swagger’s World Title reign a year. Nothing good came from that title run, not even for Swagger. So if The Miz cashes in his Money in the Bank Briefcase and doesn’t win the WWE Championship then the WWE would’ve made no new “high profile” stars for 2010.

Now, on the other hand, TNA has made ONE, yes that’s right, ONE person a new World Champion since they brought in the TNA World Championship in 2007. That star was Samoa Joe when he won the title in 2008. In 3 years, TNA has given the World Title to 6 different people. There have been plenty of #1 contenders and new X Division stars, but with the X Division going down the toilet there is only one title to go for… The World Championship.

Now back to the top… look at the amount of talent released by WWE and TNA. A lot of those people could’ve been a World Champion for the company or at least done something much more for the company than what they actually did. I believe that you don’t need the right look or the right attitude to get over with the fans and be a World Champion. If it works… put the World Title on them. Anyone can be World Champion as long as it is marketed correctly. Hell… Khali was champion for a few months. So on that note… Eugene, Daniels, Charlie Haas, Homicide, Eric Escobar, Bobby Lashley, Carlito… all of these people could’ve been a World Champion for a company. Instead they held them back. I know that many of you won’t agree with me, but think about this for a minute. If it makes sense… they can be World Champion.

I’ll give you an example:
Finlay is the proud Irishman who just loves a good fight. He’s been in the business for 36 years. Imagine if he was in a Fatal Four Way elimination match between Kane, Rey and Batista for the World Title. Bill it as “Finlay’s last hurrah.”
Fans get support behind Finlay, gets help from Hornswoggle and uses the shillelagh to pick up a surprise victory. Finlay is World Champion!
He holds the belt for a few months before losing it to Shelton Benjamin in a Ladder Match after a grueling rivalry between the two.
WAS THAT HARD?!

There is nothing worse than seeing someone bust their ass for a company only to get booted out when their “flavour of the month” is gone with the fans. Mike Knox is a great example of that along with Cody Deaner, Slam Master J and Mike Knox’s beard. I’m waiting for Zack Ryder to get released after his 10 second match against Sheamus on Raw and JTG to get released as he is being used as the jobber to the heels since Cryme Tyme disbanded.

Not giving people the push that they deserve is why I hate 7+ Time Champions. Edge is a 9 Time World Champion with his longest reign being 105 days and an average reign of 45 days. 3 of his 9 reigns have been 3 weeks long. Now any person could’ve filled in those spots but they chose Edge because the Creative Team do not want anyone else to stand up and hold the gold. I’m just going to guess that anyone could’ve stood up and said “I’ll hold the belt for 3 weeks”. I’m not sure if they even cared if they got pushed back into the mid card afterwards or fired the next week, if anyone wants to be prepared to stand up and hold the championship then that’s when you will know if they will crack under the pressure… THEN you can fire them.

The final thought is this:
The main reason that people are being fired is because “Creative has nothing for them”. If that is the case, you don’t fire the stars… you fire the Creative Team.

I’m The Nemesis, you’ve been a reader.

Comments

1. Comment #1

   Good points, especially at the end. =P

   Posted by Some Guy on Thursday, August 26, 2010

2. Comment #2

   Can I mention a couple of things? Shelton and Haas have both moved on to ROH. They've entered the wonderful tag team division there... where they will get the push they deserve.
   Bobby Lashley... probably one WWE star not heavily pushed in TNA. I haven't got much to say about that because of his MMA Career being a sort of roadblock.
   Mr. Kennedy/Anderson. Now there is someone who is a huge exception. The second he moved over to TNA he became a high-profile star. And rightfully so.
   Val Venis... if you really watched the guy in his TNA debut against Daniels, he had one really sloppy match. Now, if you can't hold your own in a match, I don't think you deserve to be in TNA.
   Speaking of Daniels, totally unethical release. Probably the reason the X-Division is a total fail right now. He's gone to ROH for a while, but there are rumors of him coming back. Coming back to TNA for what? Look at what they've done to TNA Originals. They've downgraded AJ Styles to the TV Title. They suspended Samoa Joe after having him job to RVD. Joe never got in the World Title tournament. Lethal is being jobbed like crazy since his win over Flair. Kazarian jobbed to Rob Terry. That last one was, to me, the worst. He lost in less than 15 seconds!
   The X-Division is now smaller than the KO Division. ONly about 6 X-Division wrestlers on TNA's roster (Kendrick, Generation Me, Suicide, Shark Boy, and Kiyoshi) and three of them haven't been scene on iMPACT! in the past 6 months! Honestly, they might just scrap the whole X-Division title all together.
   And the KO's division... total disarray compared to before the Hogan-Bischoff era. Only 9 knockouts remain on the roster... and half of them don't compete regularly. And when was the last time the KO Tag Titles were defended on PPV? Final Resolution 2009... before Hogan and Bischoff(Sarita, Taylor Wilde, Hamada, TBP, Angelina Love and Daffney).
   So Nem, tell me, what do you think is worse, a company having constant talent inflow but not using them at all (TNA) or a company having a few superstars that they use regularly for about 200 shows a year (WWE)?

   Posted by Nick Mann on Thursday, August 26, 2010

3. Comment #3

   Ugh, Finlay.
   
   That said, I actually like all of what you mentioned. I think both federations need to REALLY spruce up their Main Eventers. Make it so that ANYONE can challenge for that belt. I think one month of "24/7 Title Shots" that ends the day before a PPV would be AMAZING with the main 4-6 people in a six pack challenge for the title afterwards. That makes for 3-5 great fueds all at once! Just sayin'

   Posted by Madam Snapshot on Thursday, August 26, 2010

4. Comment #4

   It's tough to decide who is better Nick but WWE is a bit better since the y actually use talents even If they are few whether they use faces or heels
   they use the superstars to attract the viewers and I personally think WWE could be more successful if they have more talents that the crow likes whether they were faces and charismatic or heels but has good talents and I think that WWE made a mistake by releasing Shelton Benjamin and Jeff Hardy as the 1st is a very talented one (although he didn't get a push and the second got a huge push winning 3 world titles in 6-7 month so they might to look for more talents or restore there former talents

   Posted by Elemental Hero Tempest on Thursday, August 26, 2010

5. Comment #5

   *Slow applauds.
   
   *Turns to standing ovation.
   
   
   As a wannabe writer and as a wreslting fan, I watch wrestling more so now for the action. And yes, if creative cant figure what to do with them, then they should be fired. Give me any wrestler, and I could write an angle for them. Basicly someone isnt going to be getting a paycheck because some guy on a computer has writers block!
   
   This was well done. Good job

   Posted by Devil D on Friday, August 27, 2010

6. Comment #6

   I don't know. WWE seems to be getting some new faces in: Bryan Danielson, Alberto del Rio, McIntyre
   and has given new people push: Kingston, Sheamus, Bourne, Ziggler, Nexus
   Though I don't see most of them getting a World Championship soon.

   Posted by Dr Frank on Friday, August 27, 2010

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