Ok, suffice to say I am pretty pissed off at WWE. Its a two fold argument I intend to dish out, so here comes the venom.
First, the easier topic.
It’s being reported Ric Flair has been informed by WWE to step down as ROH Ambassador due to his ongoing work with the company. How many times is WWE going to flaunt its power with a man who is not wrestling, and who is desperately searching for paychecks in any way he can get them?? I don’t know jack squat about Flair’s financial situation, and I’m not going to claim I know anything about what WWE is paying him and ROH is paying him, but for WWE to be so freaking paranoid as to pull Flair off of an ROH show that is not likely to air for close to six weeks after this date, LONG AFTER Vince will lose interest in using Flair and boot him to the curb for the umpteenth time, is just pathetic.
And, yes, I’m biased on this, because I am suspecting that because of this move, Flair will be pulled off his upcoming ROH appearances, which includes June 13th at Hammerstein in New York City, a show which I will be in attendance. Any chance to see Naitch perform is worth the price of admission, and I paid a hefty sum to watch the Nature Boy and the rest of ROH’s talented performers style & profile. I’m pissed that WWE is pulling this type of power trip. I was pissed when ROH lost the TNA guys because of their TV exposure, but I could accept that because they’re all active wrestlers now, and they were then. This is just silly, because Flair does not provide a majior role in ROH outside of name recognition.
When you think of Ric Flair, you think of WCW, and then WWE. Not ROH. Any chance for a casual wrestling fan to see Ric Flair in an ROH ring may make that person sit back and check out the talent, which makes the sport win, the company win, and the talent win. Yes, I said it in that order, it makes the SPORT WIN. Isn’t that the general consensus here?? In an era when 20 year old punks don’t run out fly balls to the catcher when they’ve had less than a dozen majior league appearances, isn’t there somewhere and sometime where some ego doesn’t have to enter in to the equation, and the product being put on the table for consumption by the public is actually something the public wants and enjoys?
I know I’m living in a fantasy world here, ladies and gentlemen, but I admit, I’m pissed off. I know people are going to tell me to go fly a kite off a cliff and that I’m delusional to think this way, but frankly scarlet, I could give a damn. It’s the way I feel.
Now, to the other piece of insanity that transpired.
Due to life changing circumstances, I’m off this week and next, so I had the chance to watch Raw this past week. I watched the whole Denver/Laker thing, which was OK. I was intrigued to find out who the mystery guy would be for the Laker team in the ten man tag. I was happy when it was Kennedy. Kennedy is a hell of a talent, and just needs some luck to stay injury free. Kennedy took a good beating out of that match, and seemed to be in good shape as he posed as Raw went off the air.
Less than a week later, he’s off the roster, and unemployed.
HUH?
Let’s look this over from a couple of different perspectives here. 1. Ken Kennedy is injury prone, I admit that. But if that is the case, tell me why guys like Mike Knox still have a job within WWE? Knox looks like a bad copy of Nord the Barbarian, a significantly less talented, and less charismatic clone of Nord the Barbarian, and his matches are so bowling shoe ugly that its impossible to watch. Other names out there on the I can’t believe they still have a job with the company list, DJ Gabriel, Alicia Fox, Hornswoggle, Goldust, I couild continue, but that’s enough for right now.
I know WWE is needing to cut cost, but if they were planning on doing this, why return him for a week, let him do a main event on Raw, and then make him disappear? How ya gonna spin that one, Vinnie Mac?? This explanation oughta be full of juicy tidbits that we will never ever see.
Something had to go down that was pitifully bad for Kennedy to be future endeavoured. I think it’s really a bad job on WWE’s part. WWE needs some star power, and even though Kennedy has been away due to the injury problems, his star is there, and he could have been a valuable resource on the rosters until the big guns like Taker and HBK come back and play. Going down the road that this saga has gone is just sad. And it truly is something that I believe WWE will regret in the long run.
Bottom line here, WWE needs to concentrate on its product on television right now, and not worry about what a nearly 60 year old man is doing when he is retired from the ring, whether by choice or storyline, and whether or not a talent that has returned is likely to fall prey to the injury bug again. Accidents happen, things go down, and life goes on. Right now, WWE has much bigger things to worry about. Topics I’ll discuss at another time.
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