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Holy C%?P so many releases the past days. With Sandow gone, Barrett and most likely Ryback, the WWE has now released great future talent. what is your view on these releases? As you stated, Sandow was one of the Fan's fave's and had/has huge potential! with the League of Nations split even a Barrett could have gotten a great Push/Feud with Sheamus and Rusev which could have been very entertaining (we have not seen any heel vs heel feuds in a long time). With Ryback I am 50/50: he has gotten better in the ring, that's true but I never really had the feeling after losing to Cena that he had a major chance at the WWE. His character seemed a little bit bland and he could be way better booked than a cocky "I am better than Little Guys" wrestler.
Mike Epsenhart and I spent a good amount of time at the start of yesterday’s show on this subject so feel free to listen to that for a more in-depth answer (you can try the Elite site for free days free below if you aren’t a member). I think the biggest, most stupid decision was releasing Sandow. Vince McMahon famously said that guys need to grab the brass ring. Well, Sandow tried to do that and look where it got him. The fans love him. They wanted him so badly to beat The Miz and go out on his own. Vince decided to spite them and had Miz win, then buried Sandow. Sandow then came back with the Macho Mandow gimmick and got over again. Hell, last month the fans went nuts for him and what does Vince do? Have him get eliminated right away. It makes no sense at all to me. Yes, Sandow got over organically instead of by Creative’s design. So what! To me, I would take that in a second and run with it. Alex Riley is another one that baffles me. Like Sandow, the crowd so wanted him to get the better of Miz so the smart booking is to do it, and then see what you have in the guy. Instead, they buried him. I have no idea what the mindset is there. With Barrett, I think he knew what they thought of them after almost a decade there. He had made it clear he was not resigning, so they cut him loose. Santino can’t wrestle anymore so that was no surprise. Hornswoggle and Torito filled comedy roles so they didn’t surprise me either. Cameron didn’t surprise me either, especially after her supporting Ryback. She was brought in at a time when women were supposed to be eye candy and now the division has changed to being more physical. I respect that she tried to make the transition instead of just walking away. I think she will be fine. Zeb Colter didn’t surprise me either. There really wasn’t a role there for him now (not due to anything he did).
As for Ryback, other than the “equal pay” part of his piece, I agree with him. Here is a guy that had some potential but was booked badly most of the time. Then, when his contract comes up, he has to hear the people that didn’t give him a fair chance to excel tell him he isn’t worth what he wants because he hasn’t excelled. It’s ridiculous reasoning when you think about it. As pointed out above, Riley, Sandow and Barrett were all booked badly. So WWE is the one that hurt their value, not the wrestlers themselves.
What's with the latest on why the WWE released several main roster talents? I thought the WWE just lets contracts expire.
Generally they do. This time, they went a different tact, and their stock went up. The way I see it, by announcing what they did, the market saw them make a million dollars or so in cuts, and liked the move. With them reporting their financials on Tuesday, it could be tied into that as well.
Ever since Shane McMahon returned there have been rumors of a brand split happening. It seems ridiculous to me, but the IWC insists on keeping this rumor going. The previous brand split ended because they did not have enough top stars, which they have done nothing to correct since then. What are your thoughts on this rumor and would WWE be crazy for trying to attempt it again at this time?
I don’t know who IWC is so I can’t comment on what he/she/it/they say or said. The initial idea, from before WrestleMania, would be that they would use a separation of the TV shows to have younger talent on one brand and give the product a different feel. Instead, they just integrated it into Raw.
What’s the best plan for Finn Balor once he hits the main roster? Align with Anderson, Gallows, and Styles to form “Balor Club” or fly solo?
To me, the best plan for him is to PUSH HIM STRONGLY. He needs to come up and be given a strong push, like the company used to do with debuting talents. They have to get away from this pattern where new guys quickly blend in with everyone else. Apollo Crews? He was tossed in a largely meaningless battle royal by Sheamus. If he doesn’t go in a program with Sheamus and whip his butt, he is just another guy. Baron Corbin is having problems beating a guy everyone beats (and I don’t mean any disrespect to Dolph Ziggler, it’s how they have booked him). So with Balor, he is a special talent. He needs to be presented as such, no matter who they do or don’t align him with.
Now that Jericho is done with WWE for the time being, what should the WWE do now with Dean Ambrose?
Ah, you just learned you can’t ever trust what Jericho says on Twitter. Hell, I interviewed him not that long ago and talked about how he was going to be appearing on the UK, and he denied it. Even though he was already advertised for it by WWE! I take what he says with a grain of salt. Or a thousand grains. For whatever reason, Jericho seems to get off on “working the fans”.
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