WWE continues to clean out the ranks, and yet somehow Funaki not only keeps his job once again, but he gets a new piece of merchandise. I love this company.
Opening Witty Banter
I’m exhausted from too much work and too much drinking this weekend, so let’s just get on with the meat ‘n’ potatoes of the column.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
For the second week in a row the big news of the week around Titan Towers is bad news, as many more talents have been released.
First up on Tuesday was the release of former WWF World Heavyweight Champion Sgt. Slaughter and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons.
I expect both Slaughter and Simmons to appear in WWE again sometime down the road, just in special appearances rather than being full-time company employees.
Then the next day word came out referee Mickey Henson had received his walking papers as well. Henson had been a wrestling official for over twenty years at this point, including a long stint in the old World Championship Wrestling. He was currently off TV for medical leave.
Matters got worse as it was Matt Cappotelli had been released at the same as well. Cappotelli broke into the wrestling business in 2003 by winning the third season of the WWE reality show “Tough Enough.†He worked in WWE’s developmental territories but a series of unfortunate injuries kept him from being promoted to the main roster. In December 2005 he was diagnosed with having a brain tumor after visiting the doctor for other ailments. He hasn’t wrestled since the tumor was diagnosed, but did have the tumor successfully removed on May 1, 2007. He was currently going through chemotherapy and training to begin wrestling again.
It’s really too bad that WWE would release a guy who more than likely got injured while on their dime, but to their credit they have paid him for three years without him being in the ring making the company a profit. From a business point of view, I guess I can see why they released him but it still sucks. Here’s hoping they maybe bring him back some day in a non-wrestling capacity when business is better, as I wouldn’t be too keen on letting him get back in the ring unless he can get a full bill of health from some solid physicians.
Early the next morning, developmental talent Hade Vansen was also terminated. Vansen of course was scheduled to be brought up to the main WWE roster in December 2008 but videos for his new in-ring character were pulled after one showing. All plans for the character were shelved at that point.
Poor guy really couldn’t catch a break could he?
The big one of the week for me personally was the release of Hardcore Holly. Holy of course was one of the long-standing veteran members of the WWE roster, having begun work for the World Wrestling Federation back in late 1993, and had been on the active roster this entire time (barring injuries.) Behind The Undertaker, Holly had been on the longest continuous run as a roster member, clocking at just over fifteen years solid.
Holly was known for his legit, tough guy attitude and mean demeanor towards rookies in the business. He gained notoriety on the WWE reality show “Tough Enough,†as the token “bad ass†instructor. In fact during the show’s third season he legitimately attacked fellow out-of-work former co-worker Matt Cappotelli, who was a trainee at the time, during a training session in order to “teach him a lesson.â€
Holly had been off TV since June 2008 and frankly his release doesn’t come to much of a surprise to wrestling nerds like myself. I figured the writing was on the wall for him once I saw a fellow veteran like Val Venis given his walking papers well. Really Funaki is the last of a dying breed when it comes to those jobbers who were brought up during the “Attitude†era now that guys like Billy Gunn, Bob Holly, Val Venis, Scotty 2 Hotty and Stevie Richards are all gone.
Since January 9 the list of released talents appears as follows:
* Bob Holly
* Hade Vansen
* Matt Cappotelli
* Referee Mickey Jay
* Backstage Agent/Producer Sgt. Slaughter
* Ron Simmons
* Gavin Spears
* Mike Kruel
* Kevin Thorn
* Backstage Agent/Producer Tim White
* Referee Jimmy Korderas
* Referee Mike Posey
* Val Venis
* Bam Neely
* D-Lo Brown
* Referee Kevin Keenan
With all the recent releases, the writing team managed to come away unscathed due to their lack of current numbers. Brian Gerwitz, Ed Koskey and Dave Kapoor (Ranjin Singh) are handling RAW. Michael Hayes, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Christopher DeJosephs (Big Dick Johnson) are the SmackDown team and John Carle and Jen Bloodsworth are assistants. Koskey is also the head writer of ECW, and gets contributions from everybody else to round out the show. Not surprisingly there have been complaints from the writers about their long hours, the lack of direct consultation time with Vince McMahon, the workload increasing with WWE Superstars returning in April, their salaries being frozen and a general lack of appreciation.
Maybe Freddie Prinze can get some of his Hollywood buddies to come and shore up the ranks.
During the recent cutbacks, the WWE.com staff took a bigger hit than other departments. Apparently Vince McMahon remains convinced that the economy is going to get even worse in 2009, due to his negative reaction to Barack Obama winning the presidential election.
When the smoke cleared, it is expected that WWE would save around $8 million per year in salary and benefits, but are taking a one-off $3 million hit for severance packages. Pus the Asia Pacific office in Sydney was completely closed down and all of its employees were let go.
So I guess that means we won’t be seeing President-elect Obama being invited to WrestleMania 25 huh?
Instead of getting her walking papers, Victoria left under her own accord. Her match this past week on SmackDown! against Michelle McCool was her final WWE match. She hasn’t made known her future plans other than some well-deserved vacation.
I’ve never been a big women’s wrestling fan, but Victoria was one of the best WWE has ever had. She was the last of the group still in WWE that brought the company’s women’s division to new heights in the early part of the millennium as the others like Lita, Trish, Molly, Ivory, Jazz and Jacqueline are all long gone as well. She herself hadn’t played much of a role on WWE TV for a while so from that perspective she won’t be missed too much on WWE TV. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to see her show up in TNA about LockDown time to challenge The Awesome Kong.
Jim Ross broke the news on his blog that the company is working on “Greatest Tag Teams” DVD and a “Greatest Superstars of the ‘90s.” The ‘90s DVD, will be a sequel to the “Greatest Superstars of the ‘80s†DVD from a few years ago, and will feature stars of the Attitude Era, the original ECW, and the Monday Night Wars. The ‘90s DVD is set for release in April while the Tag Teams disc doesn’t have a set release date yet.
More great DVD goodness that I’m sure I will be spending money on once they hit the shelves.
“Cowboy†Bill Watts broke the news in an e-mail to friends this past week that he will be a part of this year’s Hall of Fame class. The normally headstrong Watts was very gracious and humble in the e-mail and was excited about the prospect of being included in the WWE’s version of the Hall of Fame. He has asked Jim Ross to induct him at the ceremony.
Of course this hasn’t been confirmed by WWE officially yet, but don’t be surprised if there’s a certain announcement tomorrow night on RAW.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, It’s been said that Stone Cold Steve Austin wants Ric Flair to induct him into the Hall. Apparently WWE is keen on the idea because they don’t want to give Flair, who is no longer contracted to the company, any free advertising. WWE is thinking that Flair’s induction got big ratings on the USA Network last year so maybe his name could help pull in ratings for this year’s event as well.
I’m sure Austin will get his wish because well he’s Austin and he pretty much gets what he wants I would imagine. The trolls are all wound up about why Flair is inducting Austin as opposed to someone like Vince, Bret or Steamboat, but frankly I think Flair is a great choice.
The Charleston Post Courier recently caught up with Flair this past week to get his thoughts about the Hall of Fame rumors. Flair said “I heard that too, and I didn’t know if it was true or not. That would be cool as hell. I would love to do it.”
If Austin wants it and Flair wants it, then make it happen.
At the recent Florida Championship Wrestling tapings, Low Ki worked under then ring name “Kawal”, which looks to be the name he will work under in WWE.
That sounds like a cool name I guess. Better than Senshi.
The idea for Low Ki being brought in to WWE was to have a rival for Rey Mysterio, someone who is close to Rey’s size.
Sweet! Some Rey-Low Ki matches would be great on RAW. Now if they would just bring back the Cruiserweight Title for them and Evan Bourne to fight over…
Speaking of Mysterio, he and John Laurinaitis have agreed to terms on a new contract, which looks to be for three-years, with a two-year option.
Hey that’s cool I guess. Good for Rey-Rey.
Best Buy is giving away a bonus music CD when you buy WWE The Music: Volume 9. The bonus CD includes:
* “I Won’t Do What You Tell Me” — Stone Cold Steve Austin
* “Ultimatum” — Ultimate Warrior
* “Rowdy” — Roddy Piper
* “I Want You” — Sgt. Slaughter
* “Blue Blood” — Hunter Hearst Helmsley
* “Perfection” — Mr. Perfect
* “Rest in Peace” — Undertaker
* “Do You Trust Me?” — Jake The Snake
* “If You Smell…?” — The Rock
There is some awesomeness on that extra CD right there with the Warrior track, some old-school Stone Cold and Jake “The Snake.â€
WWE Shopzone has released a Kung Fu Naki headband.
That is so glorious. This is the first piece of Funaki merchandise available since his totally awesome “EVIL/INDEED†Kaientai shirt from back in 2001, that I once owned but seemed to have walked out of my closest and into a drunken friends while back in grad school. I want my shirt back Hammer!
The Road to…Royal Rumble
30 Man Royal Rumble Match
Participants:
Triple H, Vladimir Kozlov, The Big Show, Shelton Benjamin, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, John Morrison, Kane, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Santino Marella, The Brian Kendrick, R-Truth, Carlito
World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) v. JBL (accompanied by Shawn Michaels)
WWE Championship
Jeff Hardy (c) v. Edge
ECW Championship
Matt Hardy v. Jack Swagger (c)
Women’s Championship
Melina v. Beth Phoenix (c)
Wrestler of the Week
Week of January 12 – 18: Jack Swagger
Young Jack Swagger made a huge impact this past week when he became he new ECW Champion. Swagger now holds the record for winning a “World†Championship in the quickest amount of time, doing it at just over four months into his debut on WWE television. The previous record holder? Brock Lesnar of course. And of course you have to argue to the validity of the ECW Championship as a World Title anymore. It’s something I kind of go back and forth about depending on the day, kind of like how WWE does too. Congrats to Jack, I don’t think he’ll flake out like Lesnar or Lashley have before him, like so many naysayer are fearing.
Speaking of that belt, here’s a little bit of trivia regarding the ECW Championship. Since the rebirth of the ECW Title, Swagger has now become the 11th different man to hold the “new” ECW Title. But surprisingly from 1994-2001, during the “original ECW,” only 14 different men held the title.
Those men include: Shane Douglas, Sabu, Terry Funk, Sandman, Mikey Whipwreck, Raven, Bam Bam Bigelow, Taz, Mike Awesome, Masato Tanaka, Tommy Dreamer, Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino, Rhino
RAW’s On Tonight!
Mr. McMahon is back tonight on RAW and that is all you need to know. No but seriously, I’d imagine McMahon’s return and the build-up is probably going to eat up about half the show so you’ve got that to look forward to. Plus will Chris Jericho remain fired? Will Punk-Regal 3 live up the build-up or it will it be another schmozz leading to the Royal Rumble? With DH Smith join The Legacy? So many meaningless questions; so little time to find the answers.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Our TV show coverage is back at full strength with some soldiers joining the ranks.
Marshall and new guy Victor Malar like it RAW.
New guy Kevin Innarelli and Bones go to the EXTREME!
Norine and Victor put a little SmackDown! on it.
How They Rated
SmackDown! (1.9.09) – 2.2
A.M. RAW (1.11.09) – .5
RAW (1.12.09) – 3.5
ECW (1.13.09) – 1.1
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswellexamines what HDNet’s offer to Ring of Honor means for both sides.
Marshall breaks down the MASH unit that the TNA locker room has become.
Kirschner talks King of Trios~!
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
