2022 WRESTLERS LEAVING COMPANIES THREAD (Releases, FAs, etc...)

[Ziggy]

Why is it that much of a stretch that Mickie James is in the Royal Rumble. They've had about 4 or 5 Women's Rumbles with a loaded roster between 3 brands 4 if you count NXTUK even before the Covid and had to pick through a random legend. Don't get me wrong people like Jacqueline, Lita , Ivory and Trish , its nice to see alot of these women get to go out there, for longer than 10, 15 minutes and interact with the current era women. It feels like even more so with the women they are just filling up spots. Especially as time goes on.

[Gorman]

It's surprising because Mickie is the current champion of another company, and she publicly complained that WWE returned her gear in a trash bag when they released her.

[AxB]

It is interesting that they've decided to announce Rumble entrants ahead of time though. Like, back in the day they were all about getting the big surprise pop on the night, whereas now they seem to be wanting to get the surprise pop on social media, in the build up. It's an intriguing strategy.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

22 minutes ago, Gorman said:

It's surprising because Mickie is the current champion of another company, and she publicly complained that WWE returned her gear in a trash bag when they released her.

It seems like maybe Mickie is less bitter about the trashbag incident than some fans want her to be.  Same with Regal. if what he said on social media after his release is how he really feels.

Mickie being TNA champion at the time is interesting, though I have no idea what Impact contracts are like these days, or if Mickie even has a contract that makes her exclusive to Impact.  I'm more interested in seeing her than most of the actual women's roster, for what that's worth.  If I was going to bring somebody in from Impact, though, it'd be Deonna Purrazzo.  

[AxB]

I thought Mickie's contract was with the NWA, not Impact. But apparently she might be unsigned completely.

In terms of what they've done in Impact, Deonna is by far the bigger name. But to WWE, the only thing that counts is what you've done in WWE, and Deonna was a forgettable NXT JTTS when she worked there. I mean, she wasn't, she was a great worker, but she was booked weakly.

[Ziggy]

57 minutes ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

It seems like maybe Mickie is less bitter about the trashbag incident than some fans want her to be.  Same with Regal. if what he said on social media after his release is how he really feels.

Mickie being TNA champion at the time is interesting, though I have no idea what Impact contracts are like these days, or if Mickie even has a contract that makes her exclusive to Impact.  I'm more interested in seeing her than most of the actual women's roster, for what that's worth.  If I was going to bring somebody in from Impact, though, it'd be Deonna Purrazzo.  

Man I forgot about the trash bag thing, no wonder they are rolling out the red carpet. 

Why would Regal be bitter? I sure most of us would agree that he's one one greatest workers ever and probably the best eye for talent top but even he I don't believe would have imagined he would be in WWF/E 2 decades. Especially considering he credits them for saving his life. I don't see him being like Dean or Arn and just quickly moving on to AEW or New Japan. I don't think he should take his time to make his next move but I don't see him signing with AEW on the first offer

[Dog]

5 hours ago, Gorman said:

It's surprising because Mickie is the current champion of another company, and she publicly complained that WWE returned her gear in a trash bag when they released her.

And WWE picks and chooses when they even acknowledge the NXTs (the commentators having no recollection of Dijakovic, Piper Niven), so recognizing a whole-ass other company is pretty left field.

[HarryArchieGus]

Is there any discussion concerning WWE shrinking down to one roster for both shows?

[EVA]

If Scott D’Amore is playing chess, he has Mickie drop the belt to Deonna at Hard to Kill, so Impact gets the pub from this announcement but doesn’t risk WWE embarrassing their champ somehow in the Rumble.

Edited January 8, 2022 by EVA

[odessasteps]

17 minutes ago, EVA said:

If Scott D’Amore is playing chess, he has Mickie drop the belt to Deanna at Hard to Kill, so Impact gets the pub from this announcement but doesn’t risk WWE embarrassing their champ somehow in the Rumble.

This is what I figured as soon as I heard about it. 

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Is there any discussion concerning WWE shrinking down to one roster for both shows?

I think the issue is Fox doesn’t want the same Superstars~! on both shows.  And/or both networks want their own roster.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Technico Support

[Johnny Sorrow]

13 hours ago, Ziggy said:

Man I forgot about the trash bag thing, no wonder they are rolling out the red carpet. 

Why would Regal be bitter? I sure most of us would agree that he's one one greatest workers ever and probably the best eye for talent top but even he I don't believe would have imagined he would be in WWF/E 2 decades. Especially considering he credits them for saving his life. I don't see him being like Dean or Arn and just quickly moving on to AEW or New Japan. I don't think he should take his time to make his next move but I don't see him signing with AEW on the first offer

As much as old folks love WCW Regal and those matches with Finley, Regal was at his best in WWF. His character work there was just incredible.  Regal confronting HHH as Eugene's mentor is in my top three all time greatest moments in wrestling history.

"It was ME, Sunshine!"

Edited January 9, 2022 by Johnny Sorrow

[Ziggy]

12 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I think the issue is Fox doesn’t want the same Superstars~! on both shows.  And/or both networks want their own roster.

I've found this most interesting that FOX since WWE started airing Smackdown has taken the brand split more serious than WWE has lol. Vince obviously doesn't really care to stick to the parameters he's set up and changes every season concerning the to or 3 Brands. 

I think in FOX mind the whole Raw and Smackdown thing keeps the whole sports dynamic and makes guys like Roman or Brock more important by keeping them exclusive to a certain brand.

With them continuing to trip the " fat" as far as releasing people and with the pandemic they'll have no choice but to end it all together and have one touring brand and developmental.

[Technico Support]

Right.  I think Fox’s point of view is, why would we want to pay for the same wrestlers people already see on Monday, making ours a secondary product?  And that makes sense.  But as you said, I’m not sure they can keep a satisfactory brand split if they keep firing guys.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Fox and USA supposedly want their own champions, according to Meltzer.  That's another obstacle to consolidating titles/rosters.

Going to back to Elias, is there a reason he seems to be just sitting out his contract?  I've never really heard anything about him wanting out or having heat with the front office.  I thought he was still fairly over up to the Phil Shatter feud.  It feels like they just gave up on him overnight, which seems odd.

For that matter, Asuka?  I remember talk she needed some time off for dental surgery, but that was about seven months ago.  I don't think they've mentioned her since.

[Ramo2653]

Auska had some kind of shoulder surgery. In pic of her getting her teeth fixed, she's in an arm sling so I assume it was just her getting that taken care of at the same time. Granted that was in August and her social media since then is mostly her photoshopping herself.

No rumblings from the sheetz~! about her return either so who knows. 

[caley]

2 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Fox and USA supposedly want their own champions, according to Meltzer.  That's another obstacle to consolidating titles/rosters.

Going to back to Elias, is there a reason he seems to be just sitting out his contract?  I've never really heard anything about him wanting out or having heat with the front office.  I thought he was still fairly over up to the Phil Shatter feud.  It feels like they just gave up on him overnight, which seems odd.

There was that story that they had Elias drop the musician gimmick by filming vignettes of him burning his guitar in a graveyard but had absolutely no follow-up planned and that when he did return Vince felt he looked too much like Randy Savage so they just stopped writing for him altogether.

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

I am not following WWE (and loving it every minute of it, Jerry) but wouldn't it make perfect sense that Asuka is going to surprise return at the next big PPV? The peanut gallery "but the WWE booking never makes sense" comments are implied, but she seems to past the recovery date and they haven't referred to her apparently in recent weeks, so... I do so love thee Asuka, and her YouTubes is a delight.

[username]

The wonder with Elias is that they kept him with the concert/music gimmick throughout the entire pandemic era despite the lack of a live crowd rendering it kinda pointless, only to have him drop it shortly after they start performing in front of actual audiences again. Even by WWE standards that's fairly remarkable.

[Go2Sleep]

On 1/7/2022 at 3:13 AM, Ultimo Necro said:

From Vince / Nick Khans point of view, looking at it from purely business view, they will think “did old NXT uncover a Rock, Cena, Lesnar level talent? No. Was it costing a lot to run? Yes.” So the recent decisions do make sense.

I'll preface this by saying I disagree with your talent grouping there. The Rock is on a level all his own. No developmental is going to consistently pump out Hollywood A-listers who make 9-figure-grossing movies every year. Your metric for a developmental should probably be more like finding HHH/Orton/Roman level guys somewhat consistently, that can at least main event some Manias and have multiple credible title runs.

By that metric, old NXT found 3 of those at least. Becky, Sasha, and Charlotte. There was a window for Finn, KO, and Keith Lee too, but ya know... Booking.

On top of that, not everyone is going to be a main eventer and NXT has consistently churned out midcard talent for years, most of which can be considered upper midcard that can get occasional main event runs. Sami, Neville, Breeze, Bayley, Alexa, Nia, Joe, Nakamura, Shayna, Asuka, Corbin, Revival, Roode, Ricochet, Black, Riddle, Bianca. If that's not good enough for a few years of scouting, I don't know what is.

I suspect in a few years when we can factor in success in other promotions, the talent level of 2014-2020 NXT is going to look even more ridiculous.

[supremebve]

2 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

I'll preface this by saying I disagree with your talent grouping there. The Rock is on a level all his own. No developmental is going to consistently pump out Hollywood A-listers who make 9-figure-grossing movies every year. Your metric for a developmental should probably be more like finding HHH/Orton/Roman level guys somewhat consistently, that can at least main event some Manias and have multiple credible title runs.

By that metric, old NXT found 3 of those at least. Becky, Sasha, and Charlotte. There was a window for Finn, KO, and Keith Lee too, but ya know... Booking.

On top of that, not everyone is going to be a main eventer and NXT has consistently churned out midcard talent for years, most of which can be considered upper midcard that can get occasional main event runs. Sami, Neville, Breeze, Bayley, Alexa, Nia, Joe, Nakamura, Shayna, Asuka, Corbin, Revival, Roode, Ricochet, Black, Riddle, Bianca. If that's not good enough for a few years of scouting, I don't know what is.

I suspect in a few years when we can factor in success in other promotions, the talent level of 2014-2020 NXT is going to look even more ridiculous.

I 100% agree with all of this.  I was just talking to my friend about how looking for the next Steve Austin and/or Rock is like looking for the next 2pac.  We haven't found the next one, because there isn't a next one.  You can't manufacture once in a lifetime figures, even if you had two of them at the same time.  This is the biggest problem with WWE in my opinion.  Instead of looking at the massive amount of talent that they have and using it to the best of their ability, they pick apart everyone who isn't immediately a cross over phenomenon and undercut them before they can actually build a following.  The amount of talent that has gone through NXT and was eventually squandered is an indictment of the company not the talent.

[EVA]

2 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

On top of that, not everyone is going to be a main eventer and NXT has consistently churned out midcard talent for years, most of which can be considered upper midcard that can get occasional main event runs. Sami, Neville, Breeze, Bayley, Alexa, Nia, Joe, Nakamura, Shayna, Asuka, Corbin, Revival, Roode, Ricochet, Black, Riddle, Bianca. If that's not good enough for a few years of scouting, I don't know what is.

I’m not sure I agree with this—and for either of us to know, we’d have to be smartened up on financial calculus that none of us have access to—but I have my doubts that investing 5 years worth of developmental capital into, for instance, Tyler Breeze, who didn’t draw a dime on the main roster, was really worth it for WWE, especially when you could’ve just...not signed him to developmental and signed him (or a veteran Breeze-equivalent) to be a job/comedy guy on the main roster whenever you felt like you needed one. Same deal with, like, Dax Harwood. Why invest 5 years into developing a guy for a position on the card that you technically need but also do not care about at all (tag team wrestler)? Just sign an experienced dude when you need one. Save your money!

It is really not that hard for an Indie vet to learn to work to the hard cam, never use pronouns, watch TV at an angle, and respond like a trained monkey when the ref tells them to act mad/surprised after a kickout. There is no need to send them through developmental for that.

[Go2Sleep]

I'll concede that we'll never know for sure since we don't have the proper data, but I don't think you weigh the entire PC budget against two of the more "replaceable" parts. How much were they paying Tyler Breeze specifically? Probably the same amount they're paying Joe Gacy right now, and I'm betting Breezango moved more merch than Gacy ever will. Even then, I think you're undervaluing Breeze and using the wrong guy to make your point. Finding a steady guy to do the comedy matches on house shows, put over the bigger names, mentor new guys, and (as a bonus) build up enough good will with the fans to get a feel-good tag team push with some merchandising opportunities is worth 50-100k he cost in NXT. They spent the same amount on Tino Sabatelli and got way less for it. I think even a good developmental system is going to be close to 50% busts. Think about all those "new signing" group pics and how many actually even end up on tv, let alone successfully.

When you weigh the PC budget, you have to look at it against the 4HW (by far the HHH era's biggest success), and huge merch movers (Finn, KO, etc). Maybe WWE thinks they can downsize and still get comparable results for the main rosters, but I'm leery of the effect the lack of actual talent and quality training in the pipeline will have over time. Not that it will put WWE out of business or anything, but I think it lessens their chances of finding that coveted cross-over star, since all their previous ones started out being good at wrestling first.

[Technico Support]

@supremebveDon’t forget WWE didn’t even have anything to do with Rock or Austin breaking out.  Vince’s initial ideas for both, Rocky Maivia and The Ringmaster, were garbage.  The best thing Vince did for them was get out of their way once both men found their groove.  Now everything is so controlled, these current guys will never have room to figure it out like Rock and Austin did.    Nobody is allowed to go out there and cut their own promos, let alone radically change their character on their own.  So what hope do they really have of ever having a breakout superstar again?

Maybe to put it more succinctly, the biggest stars WWE ever had developed on their own, usually in spite of creative, not because of it. Now WWE doesn’t allow that.  They’re fucked.

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Technico Support

[Dog]

I was with you until "they're fucked." They'll do fine as a sanitized IP factory.