The WWE cleaned house this week releasing four superstars along with one WWE Diva quitting the company. While none of the releases are really that shocking, I don’t think it is coincidence that the news comes a day after WWE financials hit the market.
The biggest name on the list would probably be Melina Perez. Melina had been with the WWE for seven years, making her one of the longest tenured WWE Divas. Melina is a five time champion, holding the WWE Divas title twice and the WWE Women’s championship three times. Melina has long been known for starting trouble backstage so her release isn’t that surprising. Quite frankly most have been expecting this for awhile. With her five titles, she was the most decorated WWE superstar to hit the unemployment line today.
Personally, I like her. I interviewed her at my old job for phillyburbs.com and she couldn’t have been sweeter. It still amazes me that someone as nice and fun as her could have the reputation she does by many in the business.
Melina wrote on Twitter, “I love you all so dearly and reading all of your tweets. Seeing the trend… I know w/out a doubt, I’m a lucky woman!”
[adinserter block=”2″]Melina’s social media rival Gail Kim has left the WWE. Kim is the only one this week who quit, well at least that is what she claims on her Twitter account. This is about the least surprising exit of the future endeavored list. Kim has been whining and complaining for several weeks on Twitter about her television time, at times mocking the creative team. Just this past Monday she eliminated herself quickly in the Divas Battle Royal and noted this on Twitter. Once she made a mockery of it on Twitter it was expected she would be released. So whether she quit knowing the axe was coming or just decided she was finished, she quit.
Kim tweeted, “Hey I just wanted every1 to know that I officially quit WWE on monday. So thank u wwe fans! This won’t be the last u see of me. Love u guys 🙂”
Vladimir Kozlov is also history. The company released Vladimir today after a fairly uneventful five year run with the company. Most notable about Kozlov is how he entered the WWE. Former TNA Wrestling owner Jerry Jarrett actually brought Kozlov to the WWE which later resulted in a bad rift with his son Jeff. Kozlov probably lasted a lot longer than he should have in my opinion as he never really seemed to progress much after his initial ECW run.
David Hart Smith is probably the most surprising to me. Smith was always touted as a future WWE superstar. The son of the British Bulldog, nephew of Bret Hart, Smith was an accomplished international wrestler before joining the WWE. I don’t know if it had anything to do with it or not, but Smith’s mother Diana recently started making comments about Harry doing MMA on Twitter. The release is surprising since a) he is very talented and b) he is the nephew of Bret Hart. There may be more than meets the eyes on this one.
D.H. Smith’s mother Diana recently tweeted, “DH/Harry Smith’s good enough 2 b the best in the world 4 thse other 2 events & I think he’ll b the only 1 ever 2 do it all. YUP! Any guesses”
Chris Masters finds himself in the familiar place of getting future endeavored on WWE.com. Masters finishes up his second go-around with the WWE after being cut back in 2007 due to what many said was his immaturity. Masters never came close to getting the push he received during his first run with the company during his return. He became something of a comedy figure and really never seemed to live up the potential he had showed back in 2006.
Unfortunately for all of these professional wrestlers there aren’t many options at this point in the United States. TNA Wrestling is reportedly on a bit of a hiring freeze. I could see Kim returning to TNA since she had a real successful tenure there in the past. Melina is another one who could probably land in TNA. Dixie Carter seems to be something of a mark for former WWE Divas so it wouldn’t shock me at all to see these two pick up their social media war in TNA.
D.H. Smith could probably make a lot of money overseas if this were 1989. Unfortunately for him the landscape had changed and while he could make a decent living, it won’t be what someone as talented as him would have made in the 80s or 90s. His mother has repeatedly bragged about his MMA skills so maybe he goes in that direction. As for TNA, I don’t see him being much of a fit there. That isn’t a knock on him as it is on them and their use of wrestlers like him.
[adinserter block=”1″]As for Kozlov and Masters, I’d expect Masters to return to the independent pro wrestling scene. Masters hit the indys hard after he was fired by the WWE the first time and did a great job rehabbing his reputation. Kozlov could and should do the same thing, although I just don’t see many independent companies paying his price tag. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Antonio Inoki try and work out some deal with him overseas. He fits the mold of an Inoki wrestler.
At the end of the day while I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, I won’t shed a tear for anyone fired from the WWE. There are thousands of pro wrestlers on the independent scene that would give anything in the world to have a run in the WWE. I consider all of these talents extremely lucky and fortunate that they got to live their dreams and be paid well for it. I don’t think anyone is owed a WWE contract and when someone like Gail Kim gets on Twitter and complains about working there, it makes me angry.
Best of luck to all, the talented ones will land on their feet I am sure.
For more information on the releases, check out the news on WWE.com.
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Gail overstated her importance to the WWE programming and they showed they can live without her. Gail is talented, but face it, she will be easily replaced.
Melina I am sorry to see go. She's is the real deal in terms of loving the job, but not the best wrestler.
Just because WWE can live without Gail Kim doesn't mean it was the best idea. Gail has consistently been one of the top female wrestlers in the world since she debuted on a national stage, and with good reason. Yes, she can and will probably be replaced, but that doesn't mean that her replacement will even be a tenth as good as her. Considering that the WWE has now brought the unintentionally funny yet terrible in the ring Aksana, there's a perfect example for you. As for other potential divas waiting in the wings, the WWE doesn't have one with any actual talent (that I'm aware of) currently in developmental. In fact, of them, the only two I've actually seen perform are Maxine and Naomi. While Naomi's okay in the ring, she's nowhere near as good as some have tried to get her over as, and while Maxine may look good and be semi-decent on the microphone, she absolutely sucks in the ring. At this point, I wish Kharma the best and hope she is able to come back when expected, as she is exactly the kind of wrestler that the WWE divas division needs.
Oh, and while it may be a storyline, the heel turns that Beth Phoenix and Natalya have taken recently are perfect when you consider the reason why they are turning heel. Both were correct in their promos when they basically said that the WWE needs to stop pushing talentless stick figures like Kelly Kelly.
And honestly, it's time to bring up some of these guys from FCW and see what they can do. Johnny Curtis is already up, but not far behind should be Titus O'Neal, Lucky Cannon, and Big E Langston.
Titus O'Neill is not good, regardless of how he's being pushed on NXT this season. As for Lucky Cannon, I heard he was released today.
Cole, I said Gail Kim was living her dream of being a WWE superstar that's all.
How was she living that dream? Wrestling on superstars =/= living your dream as a WWE wrestler. She was working the equivalent of dark matches, if she worked at all. She was a modern-day jobber, and very few people want that for themselves. Apparently, she wasn't one of them. Don't be surprised if other wrestlers in the same situation start leaving.
Iruel, thanks for stopping by. Great stuff but we do disagree. I don't understand how a Divas championship means anything? It is more or less the least meaningful title in the WWE. Ill give you plenty of examples but at the end of the day, she needs to look in the mirror. Could it be her attitude?
I think the author is completely off concerning Gail. I think she had every right to complain when she never got a decent push since returning to WWE, and had to put over a lot of divas who didn't have half the talent she does. She did not get a single championship run since returning to WWE, whereas they have given championships to divas like Brie, Layla, Eve, Kelly, Maryse, and Alicia, none of whom are anywhere near as talented as Gail. And she is entirely correct about her TV time as well. Give me one example of a diva who has been wasted and held down more than Gail in the last 5 years. Or even 10.
Clearly more anti Canadian bias with the dismissal of GK 🙂
Clearly more anti Canadian bias with the dismissal of GK 🙂
Going to miss Melina though….sexy times
What? I never said she wasn't a wrestler. If you think her dream is to either job quick or wrestle on NXT's even less popular cousin, then I think maybe you should quit being a wrestling journalist. She quit for a reason. She had a right to be unhappy, and she left once she was unhappy enough.
Me too Dustin on DH. I think he is extremely talented. Hopefully he comes back or gets a push elsewhere.
Her dream wasn't to be a wrestler? Really? Dude I dont even know why you come to the site. All you ever do is nit pick the littlest details, half the time being wrong. I don't mind criticism but maybe you should just stick to reading WWE.com.
It's called quitting in that she was having a hard time having any self-respect anymore with how she was being used (only my opinion). She was barely used, and even when she was, it was demoted to Superstars, so while the money may have been decent, not being able to respect who you are turning into and what you are doing can go just as long as being important as the money is.
Gail Kim wasn't living her dream though.
Can't say I'm surprised by any of these. I'm disappointed they couldn't do more with Smith, and I've always kind of liked Chris Masters. He was rumored to be in for a fairly heavy push after the Royal Rumble, but obviously that never happened.