WWE Releases 10 people

[Lover Boy]

WWE has come to terms on the release of the following Superstars and Diva as of today, June 12, 2014:

Drew McIntyre
Jinder Mahal
Aksana
Curt Hawkins
Theodore Long
Camacho
Brodus Clay
Evan Bourne
Yoshi Tatsu
Marc Harris (referee)

WWE wishes them the best in all their future endeavors.

Heath Slater is a one man band.

 

[Wang Chung]

Not shocked at all by the names on here I wonder if Brodus called his momma

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[Fanged Fury]

The only one that shocks me is aksana because she was partnered with Alicia, but everybody else is no surprise to me.

 

[Postman Dave]

Drew McIntyre
Jinder Mahal
NOOOOOOOOOO. Well this blows. Good news for Drew at least is that British Indy wrestling is experiencing a bit of a rebirth with PCW, PROGRESS & his home country promotion ICW so he should have no problem getting work. If I was Jinder, I'd stick with Drew these next few months as much as possible. I can definitely see PCW wanting to book the 2 Man Band.

Aksana
Shit in the ring, not in the higher tier of Divas. No loss whatsoever. Be interesting to see if she sticks with wrestling

Curt Hawkins
Predicted this release a couple months back I believe. He started his own school late last year so seemed to be preparing for post WWE life way in advance. Definitely see a PWG appearance in his future.

Theodore Long
Sort of weird as he's been there in some capacity for so long. Between the convention circuit, random WWE appearances and Indy show special appearances, Teddy should be fine. Or he'll finally retire if he's saved well, but who knows.

Camacho
Barely used since Hunico's injury all that time ago. Not surprising. Can see him getting in some lower level Indy appearances.

Brodus Clay
Man, all he needed was a decent repackage and he was all good to go. Hey, let's go back to his Funkasaurus debut 2 years ago!

It has a charm to it, I just struggle to get behind it. I don't see it going anywhere for him.

It's just I like Brodus and feel he could be a big deal one day. It certainly won't be under this gimmick though, and I can see it hindering him rather than helping.

The lesson here? Always listen to LB

Evan Bourne
Top talent, but used up his second and third chances ages ago. I'm sure he'll be fine on the Indy's where he doesn't have a bunch of corporate rules to follow. Waste of good talent though.

Yoshi Tatsu
Never did much once ECW folded. Should get work in Japan pretty easily though.

Marc Harris (referee)
Sucks that a man is out of work, but who gives a damn about referees? Hope he saved some money.

 

[Postman Dave]

Also, sorry to double post but the biggest shock isn't any of these individuals, it's the fact that WWE have released them all. WWE havn't been releasing people without good reason (Abe Washington, Chris Hero) or the talent has requested it themselves. Only a couple of months ago Ezekiel Jackson left simply because his contract had expired.

Ever since the last Linda campaign, WWE have been very careful releasing people because they want to be seen as a good employer. This is the first time in a long time that they've had a purge like this. What's changed? The Network hasn't been performing as well as forecasted, and shareholders have been very vocal in their displeasure recently, maybe WWE are cutting back costs to try and save some money?

All I'm saying is that this isn't as straight forward a story as you think. Something notable has happened behind the curtain to cause this.

 

[Castiel]

Agree with Dave's last post. It's been a long time since something like this so even if the names aren't big this situation is.

Anyway, as you all know I've always been a giant Hawkins fan but I'm also the indy mod... so I'm pumped to see Hawkins make it into "my" section. He has never hid his love for the indies or friendships with the guys on the scene and that should benefit him for this inevitable thing that's finally happened. Hopefully he ends up like Trent. Other than that, I know it's horrible to wish for someone to lose their job but I would love for Slater to leave with his band of brothers and show up in CHIKARA's King of Trios. C'mon, that would be incredible! Evan Bourne will finally be wrestling again, so that's exciting.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

maybe WWE are cutting back costs to try and save some money?

That's exactly what I'm thinking, keep in mind, Vince's shares did drop 29% with the NBC deal just last month.

Guess along with the superstars their financial analyst is probably gone too. :

 

[Postman Dave]

add JTG to the list. Yep, he's finally gone.

First the Undertaker's streak. Then the Shield's break up. Now this. 2014 is wack.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

Truly the end of an era damn.

 

[Lover Boy]

add JTG to the list. Yep, he's finally gone.

First the Undertaker's streak. Then the Shield's break up. Now this. 2014 is wack.

This is by far the worst though.

 

[Fanged Fury]

The only guy I'm really going to miss because I have been a huge mark of his forever is Evan Bourne. I agree with Dave that he used his second and third chances. When you're a smaller guy you can't make mistakes.

 

[Sabretooth]

This makes me nervous on wwe's financial state. 10 fucking people? Jesus Christ. I mean this could just be a case of wwe has nothing for them and they want to focus more on their bigger stars. This could also be a classic case of wwe not wanting to build up stars so I can't wait for the IWC to have a field day. They literally released every jobber.


I don't care about any of them except Brodus clay and Evan Bourne. Brodus could have been a monster heel and I wanted to see Evan make his return just because he's been away for so long I wanted to see how he'd do.
Curt Hawkins I guess could have been alright but I don't think he fits in the current crop of stars.


But yeah this is a shock.


Oh and BTW here's some tweets from the stars.

Curt Hawkins:

"My worst nightmare has come true... I now have to start paying for my own wrist tape again! Shit. Now, who wants me on their show this weekend? E-mail: CreateAProWrestling@yahoo.com Ok... let's fill up the calendar: BookCurtHawkins@gmail.com"

Mark Henry posted a photo of himself this morning and mentioned being with WWE for 18 years this August. Hawkins replied:

"Your colleagues lose their jobs & you tweet that? You're an idiot Mark."

Brodus Clay:

"Is it Better 2be held down, held back or let go I'm proud of all the obstacles I fought through wwe and now greatness is on me #MonsteousBC"

Jinder Mahal:

"Thanks to @WWE for the amazing opportunity. Got a chance to see the world and do many amazing things. Excited to see what the future brings."

JTG:

"Damn ! Why I pick up my phone !"

 

[Swinny]

Had to happen soon, it's been way too long without a rash of releases like this and none of them are too shocking.

 

[Postman Dave]

This makes me nervous on wwe's financial state. 10 fucking people? Jesus Christ. I mean this could just be a case of wwe has nothing for them and they want to focus more on their bigger stars. This could also be a classic case of wwe not wanting to build up stars so I can't wait for the IWC to have a field day. They literally released every jobber.

Oh no, let's be clear, it probably is a financially driven decision, but WWE aren't in major financial peril.

It's only Jinder & Drew who have been on TV on a regular basis, which is why they are the most surprising. Everyone else has had extended spells off TV or on NXT. So WWE have been basically paying these guys to sit at home. Yes, that's WWE's fault for having nothing for them to do, put still, they're paying for talent they are seeing zero return on.

If they start releasing a bunch of more important, higher earning guys like TNA did, then you can start raising eyebrows. Otherwise, WWE are doing just fine. This may be just to appease some shareholders who have seen a list of long term inactive talent and want justification for it.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Not to diss you Sabs, but I think it's kind of funny considering you're in fear of WWE's financial state.

WWE's been the number one wrestling company in the world for the last 30 years and a mass media giant for the last 12 years... even if they lose their wrestling itself, they'd still have film to fall back on seeing as WWE studios rolls in quite a bit too.