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Gail Kim: She chose to quit, which is kind of interesting considering I wrote in The Wrap Up today that since she was obviously unhappy in WWE she should just do so. As you could tell from her recent tweets, she was miserable in WWE and didn't like the way that they use the women in the company. She is a talented wrestler who likes to work to the best of her abilities. She is not into the preening and mindlessness that often accompanies being a "WWE Diva". It was pretty clear she was ready to go this week when she wrote on Twitter that she eliminated herself from the Battle Royal on Raw just to see if anyone would notice. I could see her going back to TNA since she enjoyed her time there and only went to WWE for the paycheck. TNA would be wise to take her back as they actually push the wrestling aspect with their knockouts and she would be a great addition to the division.
Melina: Her recent social media postings, as well as some off camera incidents, helped put a bullseye on her. WWE doesn't like for their talent to go out and do embarrassing things in public and Melina has been doing just that lately. It has been clear for months that she wasn't going to get pushed and had become an enhancement diva. The interesting scenario here is that she is the significant other of John Morrison, so it will be interesting to see how her release affects him. Given the recent comments he made about getting the short stick at WrestleMania in his match, it's very possible WWE doesn't care how he takes the news. In the long run, it should be a positive for his career if he can get past this as without her to worry about in the workplace there will be less potential pitfalls in front of him. As for her, TNA and Shimmer are probably options but I can see TNA being a bit leery of picking up someone that they could perceive as being another WWE problem as they haven't hit all home runs doing so in the past. While Kurt Angle worked out great for the company, Matt and Jeff Hardy haven't exactly been banner acquisitions for TNA. She has already taken to social media to get people to write WWE and promises to tell stories on her website in the next few days. That is the exact wrong tact to take in returning.
David Hart Smith: I can't say him being released surprises me since he has fallen off of the grid lately. His fall from the public eye however does. He has great blood lines, excellent size and what I have seen from him in the ring has been good yet they separated him from Tyson Kidd and Smith disappeared. The potential is there but there has obviously been something that held him back in WWE's eyes. Without speculating on what that is, it certainly appears it's a non-wrestling issue. That makes it hard to speculate on his future. Hopefully whatever caused him to become the invisible man can be overcome and he gets another chance. There is a lot of potential there. Without knowing why he was de-pushed, it's hard to say what his future options are. He wrote on his Facebook page he is going to Japan so perhaps that is where he will start putting the piece back together. I hope he can do so.
Chris Masters: This one surprised me a bit since he has improved a lot since he returned to WWE. He was even getting wins on the house shows last weekend and now he is gone. He made a good impression on Hulk Hogan in the past so I think there is a really good chance he could end up in TNA. They like big, muscled up guys and Masters has improved to the point where he can have good matches now. Him going to TNA would be a good move for the company. Given how Masters started in the business, he has a lot to be proud of with him improvement.
Vladimir Kozlov: This doesn't shock me at all. He was a one trick pony and honestly when you are as big as he is and the company plays you as a comedy character, the writing is on the wall. Being broken away from your comedy partner puts the writing on the wall in permanent magic marker. I don't know what is ahead for him because he doesn't seem like a fit in TNA to me. His size and "MMA skills" have been so minimized by WWE that he will be hard to take seriously. He is like a George Wendte, who gets one great role and can really never work again because everyone will always see him as Norm from Cheers.
That does it for now. I will update this later if more talents get released.
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