Exodus: WWE Begins To Clean House
I was shocked to learn of Mr. Kennedy’s departure from WWE two weeks ago, doubly shocked at Umaga’s firing last week, and triply shocked when it was announced Vickie Guerrero was parting ways with the company that same week.
It’s around this time of year that the WWE cleans house and gets rid of any unused or troublesome talent, in what many call “spring cleaning”. So no doubt there will be more releases in the weeks and months to come, in what I’m dubbing, the “exodus” of some of WWE’s top stars.
As the secrets behind the releases came to light, we discovered that Umaga had a drug problem and refused to go to rehab, Vickie was unhappy with the direction her character was heading in and wanted to spend more time with her family, and we all remember the ups and downs of Kennedy’s career. (If not, you can read my profile on his departure entitled “What Happened to Mr. Kennedy?” on the site.) For some, perhaps those releases didn’t come as a surprise at all.
As far as Umaga’s concerned, he suffered the same fate Jeff Hardy did back in early 2003, for avoiding rehab for substance abuse, among other issues. And in 2007, in the Chris Benoit aftermath, the WWE was ruthless in implementing the Wellness Policy, and suspending or terminating anyone who didn’t behave in accordance with it. Those who were made an example of by the Policy after June 2007 include Jeff Hardy in July 2007, and again in March 2008; Chavo Guerrero, Charlie Haas, William Regal, Edge, John Morrison, Gregory Helms and Funaki in August 2007; David Hart Smith in November 2007; Jimmy Wang Yang in June 2008; and Dolph Ziggler in October 2008. Chris Masters failed two drug tests in 2007, and was ultimately let go in November that year.
A major star who managed to wrangle his way out of a second suspension for drug test failure was Randy Orton, who served his first suspension in August 2006, and was found to have failed the test again a year later, but bypassed suspension as officials reasoned he had served his time the previous year.
Whether due to Wellness Policy violations or other reasons, last year’s terminated Superstars exceeded forty, and there were twenty firings in the month of August alone. 2008’s mass exodus of Superstars included: The Highlanders, Victoria, Domino, Braden Walker, James Curtis, Balls Mahony, Nunzio, Cherry, Big Daddy V, Nick Patrick, Wed Adams, Colin Delaney, Shannon Moore, Al Snow, Torrie Wilson, Nunzio, Dave Taylor, Steven Richards, Trevor Murdoch, and most notably, Ric Flair, Bobby Lashley, Jonathan Coachman, Mick Foley and Ashley Massaro. That’s not including the eighteen developmental wrestlers. Spring had definitely sprung for those talents.
My predictions for this year’s batch of talent to be released come in three categories: those that aren’t being used, such as Candice Michelle, Jamie Noble, Curt Hawkins, Sim Snuka, Jimmy Wang Yang (he would be a front-runner for contract termination due to his aforementioned Wellness Policy violation), Kung Fu Naki (although he has been with the company for ten years and has been sparingly used for most of those, he’s most likely safe this time around) and Mike Knox (whose involvement in a raid on his former home where drugs and WWE contracts were found could come back to haunt him); those who can’t seem to hit their stride storyline-wise, like Ricky Ortiz, Jesse, Festus, and The Brian Kendrick; and in a league of his own, Jeff Hardy, who’s been speculated to want out of his contract to focus on side projects, such as his music and art.
While some of those talents are obvious favourites to be cleaned out this year, I, for one, wouldn’t have picked the three big names— Mr. Kennedy, Umaga and Vickie Guerrero— who were first on this year’s list. Nor would I have picked a big name like Bobby Lashley to be let go last year, or the tragic deaths of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero in the two years prior to that. It just goes to show that the fans can’t always pick who’ll stay with the company and who’ll go. It also shows that WWE Superstars will screw up, whether in a drug-related incident or something else and, no matter how talented they are, if the timing or the storyline isn’t right, they are at the greatest risk of being let go. And finally, it demonstrates the WWE’s blatant favouritism of someone like Randy Orton, who has had several questionable incidents in his WWE career that could warrant termination or, at the very least, suspension, while other stars have a bitter pill to swallow (pardon the pun) when they meddle with performance enhancing drugs.
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re: spring cleaning.
no actor should be allowed to perform with a drug issue.
as to those that are not able to be put into a decent script, that is not the fault of the actors.
“I” would get rid of randy orton. and his 2 cohorts. I cannot stand them personally.
vickie g is just a bad performer, period.! I am happy she is gone.
and edge is no prize! his shtick is so old and tiresome.
I can understand, to a point, why they would get rid of some of the actors.
“I” for one would like to see some of them change face,…for a new look. why not get some of these bad guys to turn good guys.
and maybe some of the good guys to turn bad?
I remember back when, batista broke the arm of goldberg. he was a bad guy then.
now batista is a good guy.
flair is just too old now, and HIS shtick is past it’s time, along with the 4 horsemen.!
I realize no one cares about MY views but there ya have it!
someone needs to breathe new air into the trade,..and very soon. it is too predictable.
I remember, i went to an event, and was discussing matches, and said so and so will win,..and did every time. I was told to leave because they thought I worked for the WWE. I had to convince the place i am just able to see through the scripts!
SO SAD!!! their script lines stink,…..period!!!
To the guy above, I know you are not the only, nor the most verbal, but what is with all the Vickie haters, calling her a fat pig etc. She was one of the best heels in the company. It wore thin near the end, but she got more heat than anyone, with just one line “excuse me”. If anything I feel sorry for her. The writers blatantly have something against women.
Any way on topic, I always find it odd how guys like Funaki and Val Venis stay around for years as enhancement talent, but guys like Kennedy get fired. Why not just make him job for a while?
I was no fan of Vickie myself but the treatment she got in the end was totally uncalled for.
You cannot tell me that standing in front of thousands of people snorting at her and calling her a fat pig, and the pen wrestle, did not affect her personally.
No matter how professional or not you are, that had to get to her.
Edge calling her a man-beast only topped it.
I hope in the future they will treat women better in this industry.
In regards to the people being let go….
New blood is always good, and just because you are a WWE superstar does not give you license to do what ever you want. I am glad they put the hammer down and continue to do so.
Not sure what happened with Kennedy?
I agree about Vickie; I found myself cringing every time I heard her catchphrase but that’s exactly why she was such a great heel. People seem to occasionally forget that it’s entertainment and let rip with the misogynistic comments. I also agree that the writers have something against women, though wrestling IS still very much a “boy’s club” – especially the WWE. I wonder if that’s thanks to Vince’s micromanagement of creative or just inherent company culture.
And finally; “no actor should be allowed to perform with a drug issue” – well you’d better start throwing out all your music and plenty of movies, heh.
I know, I know, wrestling is a whole other deal and I do agree that because of the physical nature of the business (not to mention all the kids idolizing the athletes), wrestlers should be allowed to deal with their issues before being allowed to perform.
The physicality of it all is an intrinsic part of the problem though. You sustain one injury, you’re prescribed powerful painkillers that American doctors seem to love handing out, you recover, back in the ring, then another injury, more painkillers, and so on. That combined with constant traveling and a rock ‘n roll lifestyle simply seems to be too much for some people to handle.
Vickie was one of the greatest heel’s EVER. And one of the best we have seen in quite a while. I just love the people that comment on how sad the Eddie G thing was, and they wish he was still around etc etc and then in the other breath absolute abuse the crap out of Vickie for playing a character on TV. This was his wife people! The person apart from his kid’s that he loved most in the world. If you all loved Eddie so much you would show some fuckin respect and get over the petty little beef that you have with her.
GET OVER IT, AGAIN, SHE IS A CHARACTER ON A TV SHOW!! YOU IDIOTS.
You are the kind of people that would be walking down the street and see one of the terrorist characters from the “24″ TV show and accuse them of being an actual terroist.
Best of luck to Vickie and all the others that have been released and to all those “Anti – Vickie” bandwagoner’s take a look at Eddie’s HOF induction and see a nice, normal person that misses her husband and best friend dearly…
Ronnie09: No way should Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase be gone from WWE! Randy Orton is one of my favourite wrestlers, he’s super talented inside the ring and on the mic. While his attitude has been questionable in the past and his character is getting a bit stale, he has no doubt learnt from the best in Triple H and Ric Flair, and hopefully he will pass that knowledge onto Rhodes and DiBiase. Just because we don’t like a wrestler or character doesn’t mean they’re not good for business. Take John Cena, for example; a lot of people can’t stand him but he’s done a hell of a lot for WWE in the past five years. Personally, I find Batista and Rey Mysterio boring as all hell, but I can’t deny they’re a special part of WWE.
Keelan: I agree, Vickie Guerrero was a fantastic heel. While she should have sometimes kept her mouth shut and her shtick was getting a bit old towards the end of her run, her initial heel turn as SmackDown GM and Edge’s wife was priceless. And “Excuse Me!” was the best wrestling catchphrase in a long time!
Sypporrah: Vickie was treated horribly before she left, and while it was no secret she didn’t subscribe to the look all of the other “Divas” have, I don’t think it was right to deride her on television like that. Probably in the beginning she was happy to play along, but it just got out of hand by the end of it. The “Miss WrestleMania” thing was bullshit, and the legitimate women wrestlers like Beth Phoenix, Melina, Michelle McCool, Mickie James and Maryse would have recieved a big slap in the face by being put in the match at WrestleMania – and to top it all off, have “Santina” win it – rather than utilising their skills and the two women’s titles. Either Vickie was being tested (somewhat reminiscent of Trish Stratus barking like a dog in her underwear, who then went on to be one of the most celebrated female wrestlers ever), or punished for wanting out of her contract.
Pyrex: You raise an interesting point about drugs in other fields, such as acting and music. The tabloid magazines use people like Amy Winehouse and Lindsay Lohan to boost their sales by exploiting their drug problems, while professional wrestlers are vilified in the media for testing positive for drugs. On one hand, it’s a positive thing that WWE has that system and monitors their talent accordingly, but on the other hand the general public and the media expect it from the pro wrestling industry and use it to bolster their argument about steroids in the business (ie. the Chris Benoit ‘roid rage controversy), while everyone just stands aside and watches the train wreck that are the lives of the aforementioned celebrities. WWE should do more to put their stars into rehab and get them back on track, and in turn, the mainstream media could do well to report on that and show that some people with drug problems do go to rehab and come out the other side, rather than showing it as a trend that every second celebrity succumbs to.
And on a side note, Pyrex, I think it definitely matters what kind of person you are and how well you can cope with the “rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle” that wrestlers have. Guys like John Cena and Triple H seem to have their heads screwed on straight, and have breezed through their careers relatively scandal-free. But those with more addictive personalities, possibly the Scott Hall’s, Jeff Hardy’s and Eddie Guerrero’s of the wrestling world, have a harder time coping with the lifestyle of a professional wrestler. Thoughts?