Saturday, August 16, 2014

The Alberto Del Rio Edition

Welcome back to Inside The Wrestling Ring. Last week we had a very surprising release from the WWE. I find it interesting that he wasn't wished the best in his future endeavors, just flat out released.

A multiple time champion, a Money In The Bank winner, and a Royal Rumble winner, Alberto Del Rio was fired last week for "unprofessional conduct." While nothing has been confirmed yet, a staff member on WWE.com was asked to clean his plate, he turned around and said something along the lines of "I shouldn't have to, that's something for a guy like Del Rio to do," Del Rio didn't take kindly to this. Del Rio confronted the staff member who simply smiled at Del Rio, so Alberto slapped him.

It was a terrible joke that the staff member made. Could it be perceived as a racist joke? Yes, I think it could. But, quite frankly, you can perceive just about anything you want as being racist. Did the staff member, Cody Barbierri, deserve to be slapped? No, I don't think so. I am not saying what he said was right, but Barbierri should have been suspended. We live in a time where Political Correctness is running wild. Barbierri stepped over a line with his comment. Jokingly said or not, there is no reason to make that kind of joke. Not even "just among friends." It was a terribly insensitive of him.

In the same regard though, I don't think that Del Rio should have been fired either. He acted out in defense of his nationality. I believe a suspension would have been better for Del Rio than to be fired. I am sure that his contract with the company was rather large. And with their desperation over the WWE Network and $9.99, some have viewed this as a cost cutting measure as well.

Barbierri is just lucky that Del Rio didn't slap the Cross Arm Breaker on him. He would have definitely been sorry for his not-funny comment then!

I wasn't a fan of Del Rio. I found him to be boring at times. My biggest issue with him is that he got too much too soon. Within his first year in the company he had climbed the top of the ladder. I did enjoy that his move set varied match to match and he would throw out moves that he didn't use every single match. Del Rio was a workhorse for them though. I think it is safe to say his presence will be missed in the company.

After news of the firing was released, former WWE and WCW wrestler Konnan accused the WWE of racism. I know that Barberri's comment was racist, but does that make the entire organization racist? I don't think so. And just to be ironic, Konnan started a hashtag #FreeRey to get Rey Mysterio out of his contract. I guess he didn't have a problem when WCW had an African American wrestler named GI Bro. I mean, clearly, that isn't racist at all. I'm sorry, but to me this seems like Konnan trying to keep his name relevant, when really he hasn't been for a decade. Maybe I am wrong; maybe I am not seeing what Konnan is seeing.
 
Tell me what you think?

Special thanks to my wonderful wife and editor for helping me with my blogs!

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Friday, August 8, 2014

The 2014 Black Thursday Edition


Welcome to the brand new Inside the Wrestling Ring blog. Inspired by the return of the Peverett Phile, I thought it was time to bring back my blogs as well. I have missed a lot in the world of professional wrestling over the past few months so hopefully I will be able to catch up with all that I missed. 

Before we get started, hopefully everyone likes the new logo!

I know this is very late, but it's been sitting on the shelf for a while.

On Thursday, June 12th was a tough day for several now former WWE superstars. In all 11 superstars were future endeavored.  There has been a lot of speculation as to why. Does it have to do with the WWE Network not being nearly as successful as the company had expected? Does it mean that a huge signing had been made and roster spots had to be cleared? Did it have to do with the great losses of money Vince McMahon had recently had? These are all speculations on the web. I guess really only Mr. McMahon and the a few select other people know the answer.

I thought I would take this opportunity to give my reaction to the recently released. 

Even though she wasn't part of the June 12th releases, the WWE also recently released Emma after a bizarre shoplifting incident at a local Wal-Mart.

Referee Marc Harris was released on June 12th. He had recently been in the news for botching a finish of a match and then reacting kind of badly about it on Twitter. So it wasn't entirely that much of a shock that he was released.

The Funkasaurus Brodus Clay was among the others released that day. This was a little bit of a surprise to me. He had fallen off the main roster following his brief feud with Xavier Woods and the end of his tag team with Tensai. But he was living up to his self made moniker of the Main Event Playa, at least main eventing NXT. He had a series of matches with NXT champion Adrian Neville. Perhaps his release had to do with him knocking out two of Neville's front teeth (My editor and now wife Lori thinks this is the case, and I tend to agree). For a big man he had a good amount of speed and flexibility. I wouldn't be surprised if he caught on somewhere else that needs talent.

Among the others released that day was Evan Bourne. That really came as no surprise to anyone. He hadn't been seen on television since 2011 due to two separate suspensions and a car accident. It's a shame because I think that he was talented but with two strikes against him, the WWE just decided it was time to call it quits with him. I will admit that I had expected him to make a return in say a Royal Rumble, but I guess it was never meant to be.

I interpret this blog with BREAKING NEWS. Emma was just re-instated. Shortest release of all time!

Aksana was also one of the released. When I was told a diva was released, she was my first guess. Nothing against her, but I saw little improvement from her days of NXT. She had a unique look, but she didn't offer anything in the ring or on the microphone. 

Also released was Curt Hawkins. I could not tell you the last time he was on television. But I still think this was bad. I think he could have had a role similar to what Tyson Kidd is doing now in NXT. He is a former tag team champion that just needed a little bit of repackaging and some good luck. Again, I have no doubt he will catch on somewhere else.

Another superstar that seemed to be getting on track down in NXT was Camacho. He had a few matches against Adam Rose and had started a rivalry with him. But I guess WWE thought they had done enough with Camacho as they could.

Yoshi Tatsu was also among the recently released. He started off on fire when he debuted on ECW, but after moves to Raw and Smackdown became more of a comedy talent which turned into an enhancement talent and later seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth. This surprised me a little that he was released since WWE is all about the global performers sometimes. But he was never going to move up in the company, so in the end I guess it made a little sense to release him.

Now hold on, playa. What do you mean they released Tag Team Teddy Long? Sad but true, but former referee/manager/GM Teddy Long was also released. It made sense in the fact that there was too many authority figures. But I think he could have gone back to being a manager. Other then Lana and Paul Heyman, there aren't any managers left. I would have liked that more then flat out releasing him.

And then there is the curious case of JTG. Every year it seemed when cuts were being made, he would survive despite rarely being on TV if at all. There were rumors online that he saved Mr. McMahon's life and that's why he was still on the roster. I think other then the "There was two Ultimate Warriors" rumor this is my favorite. But in the end, the last one to be released on this day was indeed JTG. He just couldn't get on his feet without his former tag team partner Shad. After Shad's release (and previous feud) JTG was left without a storyline. Sadly that happened in 2010. 

But perhaps the biggest surprises of the releases happend to Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre. These are two guys that unlike the previously named wrestlers were on television almost every week, sometimes on both Raw and Smackdown. Granted they lost all the time they were on TV. It makes me very curious why two thirds of 3MB were released. Maybe they have big plans for Heath Slater. I am not sure why they are since he was never referred to as the Chosen One.

In a recent interview, McIntyre stated "It's a matter of when I return to the WWE, not If". I hope that he does, as it is well documented that I was a fan of his. I thought that putting him in 3MB was punishment but after he was out of the dog house good things would happen to him. I hope he is right.

Well that is it for now. I will be back real soon with another new blog. 


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