Hello and welcome once again to The Trademark Rants. With the Draft Lottery history and Release-A-Palooza 2005 in full swing, let’s for a moment ask the very obvious question… What the hell is WWE thinking letting the Dudley Boys go?! Do they realize that they just handed away the biggest tag team in wrestling since the Road Warriors to Free Agency? Do they realize that the Dudleys could, at any time (once their contracts and subsequent no-compete clauses run their course), jump on board to any company that wishes to become the #2 promotion in the game and MAKE them the #2 company in the industry? No, I’m serious. Does anyone realize the draw that Bubba and D-Von have? Okay, maybe some of you don’t, but I would like to believe most of you do. It doesn’t take a wrestling promoter to know what kind of a potentially HUGE mistake WWE made this week. But then again, it’s only obvious to us who choose to live OUTSIDE of the “wrestling bubble”, where logic, and not JBL’s loyalty to the company, rules all.
Now, let’s look at everyone else who got the axe this week… The recently married Charlie Haas and Jackie Gayda, the recently knocked-up Dawn Marie, Spike Dudley, Akio, Shannon Moore, SmackDown Rookie Diva of the Year Joy Giovanni, Billy Kidman, Matt Morgan, Kenzo and Hiroko Suzuki, Gangrel, Maven, Mark Jindrak, the former Mordecai Kevin Fertig, Marty Jannetty (who, since being signed, hasn’t made a single TV appearance), and Jim Cornette. And, before we move on, let’s all keep in mind that while all of these people are now forced to find other ways to support themselves and (in most cases) their families… Viscera is in the midst of the biggest push of his career. It really makes one wonder, doesn’t it?
Okay, so it doesn’t really. Kenzo Suzuki was probably one of the worst acquisitions to the WWE in the past ten years, but, unlike Mark Henry, wasn’t signed for a guaranteed decade. Billy Kidman has been injuring just about everything lately. Then there’s Shannon Moore, who just happens to be a friend of Matt Hardy and, right now, that could cost you your job. No, seriously… And how DARE Dawn Marie get pregnant! Please, note the sarcasm there.
But, I guess the release that gets to me the most is Jim Cornette’s. Now, technically, WWE had a very good reason to fire Cornette. Jim has been losing his cool a lot lately at the OVW camp. But, let’s keep this in mind… Brock Lesnar came from OVW. Actually, not just Brock, but every no-dues-paying brat that WWE coddles from nothing to something in their developmental program comes from OVW. Jim Cornette has to put up with people like Brock CONSTANTLY! I mean, Jim slapped some kid that was asking for it, some punk who doesn’t respect the business, who’s getting a free ride because he impressed someone during the Million-Dollar Tough Enough try-out or some equally stupid reason that doesn’t involve working your ass off on the Indy Circuit and EARNING your way into the WWE like wrestlers are SUPPOSED to (including many in OVW, who hopefully realize that I’m NOT talking about THEM right now). After a while, I’d probably want to slap the hell out of some of those people, too! Personally, I don’t blame Jim Cornette for what he did. What I do blame Jim Cornette for is not slapping the hell out of Paul Heyman like he’s said so many times that he’s wanted to. Not that I personally agree with Cornette’s reasons for wanting to assault Heyman (Cornette claims that Heyman screwed “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert out of ECW and took over, which is, well… probably true), but I would have rather heard that Jim Cornette got fired for attacking Paul Heyman than heard that Cornette was fired for attacking some punk kid that probably deserved the slap-fest. THAT would have made for an interesting column. But NOOOOO… Jim has to beat up someone who probably deserved it, and now, his genius and wrestling knowledge will have to be used elsewhere because of it! It’s just tragic…
So, well… I didn’t have a whole lot to say this week. I’m still kicking myself for not taping SmackDown this week so I could replay The Blue Meanie pinning JBL over and over and over again… Oh, well. Just the fact that it happened is enough for me. Actually, no, it’s not… JBL still has a job and a liquor supply. One of them has to go. Your choice, fans. Does JBL lose his job or his beer? No, really. I want you to write me in and tell me what you’d like to see JBL lose most – His Job, or His Beer.
I’ll see you later. E-Mail is still TheMaverickMJ@yahoo.com. Write me, if for no better reason than to remind me to write another column.
