Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialSpring Cleaning of WWE Roster 2017: Miscellaneous Releases

Spring Cleaning of WWE Roster 2017: Miscellaneous Releases

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Welcome to the fourth and final part of the Spring Cleaning 2017 series! If you haven’t already checked out the Raw (part 1), SmackDown (part 2) and NXT (part 3) articles, browse those releases with their respective links.

For this edition, everything else will be lumped together, including broadcast personnel, the cruiserweight and United Kingdom division and anything else that might come to mind.

DISCLAIMER: Some people are getting the wrong impression about this series. None of this is based on any insider information that these releases will happen. This is entirely a thought exercise and a debate asking you who you would pick to release if you were in a situation where you had to do a “spring cleaning” adjustment for budgetary concerns. Try to keep in mind that this is not a petition to get people fired or anything malicious, but just a discussion on who in your mind might be the easiest to cut if necessary.

NOTE: Originally, I had Tajiri and Andrea D’Marco on this list, as I started working on it a few weeks back, but they are already gone from the company. You snooze, you lose out on two more paragraphs.

David Otunga

Many people have their favorites and least favorites when it comes to the commentary team, but I can’t seem to find a single person who actually likes David Otunga at the table.

This is a Harvard educated lawyer with a great look, but for some reason, the job WWE chose to give him was entirely dependent upon charisma and speaking when those are two of his weakest points. It’s very confusing.

Otunga lacks energy, enthusiasm, and a general purpose, it seems. When he was on SmackDown, Mauro Ranallo and/or Tom Phillips were handling play-by-play, JBL was sticking in some jabs with color commentary and then every once in a while, Otunga would basically chime in with “I agree” or “ooooh, that looked like it hurt.”

Perhaps that’s a positive that he doesn’t speak much at all, because what he does say doesn’t seem to really contribute whatsoever. He always feels more like a celebrity guest commentator that isn’t quite aware of what to say or how much to talk without overstepping his boundaries, but after months of experience, he should be more comfortable and used to doing this.

At first, there’s some room needed to learn, but by this point, he clearly just doesn’t get it and these weeks with Booker T replacing him have been a significant upgrade, which is saying a lot considering how weird Booker T can be, but at least that’s funny-weird and not awkwardly bad like Otunga).

Percy Watson

“Showtime” used to be his nickname, but nowadays, it seems like Watson dozes off in the middle of the show instead of having that exuberant energy.

To be fair, there’s a chance it would be annoying to have a guy talking on commentary the way Watson used to cut promos, but I was actually a fan of him back when he was teaming with Titus O’Neil and I thought he had a potentially bright future ahead of him, so when he was announced to make his return, I was excited despite it being on the commentary team instead of in the ring.

Since then, I’ve gone from thinking he would have to grow into the position, to being an apologist who fights to say he’ll get there, to just having to slowly admit that he’s not good, which is a shame.

In a similar way to Otunga, Watson doesn’t appear to really have all that much to chime in on. Most of the time, it seems like he’s only answering a question posed by Tom Phillips rather than jumping into the conversation on his own accord.

It would be one thing if he played the part of the color commentator on the team wherein he was a man of few words, but when he spoke, it injected a brand new element to the discussion like what Randy Savage used to do from time to time (and admittedly, Savage was far from the best commentator in that era), but Watson seems to be on mute the entire time, only referencing things that feel like they’ve been written for “generic announcer” to state. You could easily give his lines to Phillips and nobody would bat an eye, whereas if Michael Cole started yelling out “shucky ducky quack quack” and the nonsense Booker T says, it would seem like it was someone else’s voice.

Does this mean Watson has no personality? I doubt it. What I do think it means, though, is that his hands are tied and he either feels like he needs to reign it in and WWE’s okay with it, or he was flat out told to be this boring and he’s just going along with his instructions.

I want to see Watson let loose and be himself on commentary, because if he doesn’t, he’s going to be let loose in a different way.

Nigel McGuinness

Yes, another commentator, and sadly, the second from NXT.

I like Tom Phillips quite a bit—more than most people, probably…save for that woman he was texting—but he can’t handle dealing with two monotone people as his partners in the booth.

Percy Watson doesn’t speak much, and when he does, it’s completely useless, but Nigel McGuinness has the opposite problem: he talks quite a bit and at the same time, sounds like he doesn’t want to be there.

Is he just tired all the time? Is he afraid that if he gets too excited, he’ll sound like he’s “marking out bro” like Matt Striker (who, for the record, I think was very underrated commentator)? Is it some kind of cultural thing I’m unaware of where he’s used to a style that is more subdued and just hasn’t adapted to a more Americanized way to approach this?

When I listen to McGuinness provide commentary, I feel as though I’m watching the Olympics. Sure, he might know what he’s talking about, but I tune it out because I’m watching what’s happening on the screen and he’s not captivating my attention. Someone like Jim Ross knew how to do both at the same time, but McGuinness might as well be Todd Grisham all over again.

If WWE can find three new people to do commentary, I’d like to see Otunga, Watson and McGuinness gone. God knows who else you put in those positions, but I’m almost willing to try anybody else at this point. Maybe Christian? Could we give a woman a shot on commentary for once? I still think Mauro Ranallo could probably handle doing NXT on his own and it would be a better thing for his schedule and separate him from JBL, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

In any regard, those three should be in the crosshairs as far as I’m concerned, but there are still some others in the WWE family that I think should probably be on the list for spring cleaning this year…

Tyson Kidd

Oh boy am I going to catch flack for this.

In many regards, TJ Wilson is still under contract. While I definitely would like to see him work in the company in some fashion to be able to maintain a living and to be around the thing he loves, I think there needs to be some kind of formal announcement of his release as far as him being an in-ring competitor.

If he could ever get back into the ring safely, then by all means, I’d like to see him return. However, I don’t think that’s a possibility at this point, and instead of keeping it lingering in the unknown, I’d rather there be some closure.

Kevin Dunn

I’ll admit that this one is a bit of a leap of faith as Kevin Dunn is someone who works entirely behind the scenes, so we don’t know anywhere near as much of his value in comparison to the other talent.

However, isn’t it a bit strange that he seems to have very few supporters? Even Paul Bearer has accused him of being sexist and if Dunn had any control over the way women’s wrestling existed in WWE over the past few years, it has to be more on the negative side than the more positive Women’s Revolution we’ve seen.

If you believe the stories and dirt sheet reports from over the years, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon want to get rid of him and possibly some others on the production side. When you look at the recent changes in philosophy behind WWE where professional wrestling has taken more of the spotlight than before and shows like NXT thrive with little resources, it makes you wonder if someone like Kevin Dunn is holding WWE back from even greater heights.

Those are my picks for the other extra people I could see being justified to get rid of, but who do you think should be on the chopping block to be future endeavored? Tell us your ideas in the comments below!

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