As some, or rather, many of you now know, WWE has released some of their most promising young athletes from their roster over the years. Whether by firing on impulse, or contract disputes, or even backstage politics, talents have been exiled, released, fired, or simply not renewed. These releases are ALL public knowledge and can be looked up at a moment's notice. To illustrate, I will, in this column, give as many of the main roster releases in a single year as I can. As I do, keep in mind their tenure in WWE AND the amount of credibility a win against them might have been to a young and hungry talent looking to break into the business. I'm going to start all the way back in 2008, just to show how many have been lost.....
2008....
Armando Estrada....manager for Umaga
Ashley Massaro....former Diva
Balls Mahoney.....ECW
Big Daddy V......ECW
Bobby Lashley......ECW
Braden Walker......Former TNA Chris Harris
Cherry.....former Diva
Chuck Palumbo
Colin Delaney.....ECW
Domino.....former Tag Team Champion
Elijah Burke.....TNA's Pope
Kenny Dykstra......Spirit Squad member
Lance Cade......former Tag Team Champion
Nunzio.....former Cruiserweight contender
Paul London.....former Tag Team Champion
Robbie McAllister.....former Tag Team contender
Rory McAllister.....former Tag Team contender
Shannon Moore......ECW
Steven Richards......ECW
Torrie Wilson.....former Diva
Trevor Murdoch......former Tag Team Champion
Keep in mind this is just in 2008. Some of these guys could have been used to elevate what we have now, but WWE's brass was more determined about cutting costs than they were about maintaining a working roster. Even worse than 2008's releases were those that came the following year......
2009.....
Candice Michelle.....former Diva
Jeff Hardy......former World Champion, etc.
JBL.....former World Champion, etc.
Mr. Kennedy.....former US Champion
Brian Kendrick......former Tag Team Champion
Victoria.....now TNA's Tara
Umaga......former Intercontinental Champion
Tazz.....TNA's color commentator
I'm holding a few names off the list HERE to make a point. These ARE HUGE NAME PEOPLE! In terms of what they gave to WWE, their releases were IMMENSE losses to the main roster. Out of these names do you know how many truly wanted to leave? By every report I have ever heard, there were only 5. Victoria, Torrie Wilson, Jeff Hardy, Tazz, and JBL. Even with those losses, WWE could have used the remainder of the people on the list, but without patience or the willingness to go to their audience and ask what THEY want, cuts were made, mistakes were made and now we're left with a company scrapping things together to make it work in a PG world that ties the hands of the writers who attempt to put things together that will sell.
Meanwhile, TNA's roster has a blend of veterans and homegrown talents who have invested their time into making this a great roster to build talents. WWE has a roster to do big things, the problem being that most of those top tier talents can't move out of the way and give the undercard something to fight for. Why? Because Vince and his writers believe that keeping the status quo will ultimately win out in a battle of popularity. For a time, it will work, but when the top tier's talents begin to crumble, there are few primed talents to carry the company from there. I've preached this time and time again. Once the legends of the Attitude Era have lost their usefulness and The Undertaker and Kane have run their course, there will be plenty cause to be worried.
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