Paul London has been in the dog-house with WWE ever since he gurned at Vince McMahon live on Raw in June 2007, shortly before Vince’s limo exploded. The explosion had been taped the night before but the footage leading up to it was done live and the roster was instructed to have sombre and disdainful looks as Vince walked past them. London went with a gurn instead.
There was also backstage heat on him for numerous other reasons. One time he was told to deliver a heartfelt promo about losing the Cruiserweight Title but as he didn’t like Dave Lagana’s ideas for it, he instead cut a goofy comedy promo of his own, which did not go down too well. A number of people felt that he had the goods to be a bigger star than he was. He had great in-ring talent, a good look, an acting background from his college days and was also bilingual, which is a strong asset for WWE nowadays. However, his attitude hindered him, particularly when he asked for time off because he was not sure he wanted to commit his life to the wrestling business. That saw him labelled as someone that could not be trusted with a major push and, after getting the time off and returning with renewed vigour, the same issues soon reappeared.
London also had a relationship with Ashley Massaro, which for whatever reason got him even more backstage heat. A planned on-screen angle with London having a crush on Ashley was soon dropped. A planned push for him and Brian Kendrick as a modern Rock & Roll Express style tag team was hurt when London failed to perform well on the pre-taped promos for the team, most of which were never aired. A big break-up angle for the team was also planned but never came to fruition, with London getting a reputation as a headache to work with amongst the creative team.
London’s first big chance to break through was his 2004 feud with Billy Kidman, which Vince McMahon was very into at first. It was hurt by Kidman lacking a dominant heel persona and then London got injured and took time off after their No Mercy match. By the time he returned the angle had been forgotten and he was already getting a reputation for being aloof.
Ultimately, whilst London never tried to pitch an idea to make up for his gurning at Vince on the Limogate episode of Raw, Kendrick did. He spoke with Vince at the end of 2007 about how he was frustrated and did not want to be seen in the same light as London. Vince saw that as passion and so Kendrick wound up with a major push on Smackdown in 2008 and London got released. London has a 90 day no-compete clause. AAA is interested in bringing him in but there is a lot of internal pressure there right now regarding overseas guys taking all the top spots from domestic stars.
Super Crazy, who quit WWE last week, also had heat with the main event wrestlers for taking time off for minor injuries when most of them keep on working unless surgery is required. WWE was also not happy about how he let himself get out of shape. He has waived his non-compete clause so he can work in Mexico, which means he will not get paid by WWE for that period and more than likely would have had to agree to not go to TNA.
Dykstra had first been spotted by Jim Ross when he was about 14, on the recommendation of his trainer Killer Kowalski. Ross told Dykstra to finish high school and eventually Ross’ replacement in talent relations, John Laurinaitis, did sign him to a developmental deal. Jim Cornette worked with Dykstra in OVW and compared him on numerous occasions to Randy Orton, only saying that Dykstra was a better worker and talker at the same stage of his career. However, Dykstra started to get a reputation for his attitude, so much so that people pulled pranks on him to try and send a message to him. He was said to act goofy at inopportune moments and had a high-school like reaction to his relationship with Mickie James ending. He wound up on Smackdown but Michael Hayes, head writer there, saw nothing in him, felt that he had been made into a lost cause by his Spirit Squad stint on Raw, and was not mature enough to be trusted with a sustained push.
Elijah Burke was actually slated to be a member of the Spirit Squad but he turned it down, feeling that the gimmick would kill his career. There were some small concerns about Burke’s attitude as well, although nothing major enough to explain why they gave up on him altogether after the New Breed angle finished. He was meant to be moved to Raw in exchange for Shelton Benjamin but Brian Gerwitz did not want him on the show, so he wound up in no man’s land. Even when WWE decided to try and push more African-Americans on TV, Burke was left out in the cold.
Credit: Wrestling Observer
