Welcome to part 2 of a four part series of Spring Cleaning for the 2017 WWE Roster!
Essentially, this is an evaluation of the men and women that WWE either will or perhaps should be releasing to free up some space on the roster, for whatever reason. This could be anything from a prolonged stay in the company with little to no improvement, pure lack of talent to begin with, no longer having anything left to contribute, or any other qualifiers that may put someone in danger.
Last time, we focused on the Raw roster, but this time, we’ll be setting our sights on the blue brand.
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.
James Ellsworth
Boy did that act die fast, didn’t it? WWE burned the candle at both ends with Ellsworth, using him as one of the most featured members of the SmackDown roster for a few months and forcing an oversaturation of his character to the point where by the start of 2017, nobody cared.
A few months later, people care even less. When’s the last time he was utilized in a way that was actually funny and worth keeping him around?
There may be some ways to do something with him by pairing him up with another superstar in a tag team or by keeping him as a go-to loser on the house show circuit, but as far as an on-screen character goes, he seems to have tapped out.
Nearly every comedic character overstays his or her welcome, even if they’re someone like Santino Marella or Eugene. Ellsworth just happens to be the latest in the long line of jokes that isn’t humorous anymore, and it’s unfortunate for him that there weren’t a few more months where he could ride that wave some more. Now, we might as well just watch that clock for the inevitable release, similar to what we did with JTG a few years back.
Eva Marie
When last we saw Eva Marie, she was dodging her matches and had a wardrobe malfunction. Following that, she’s spent her time having zero matches and strategically wearing sexy clothing for photoshoots. You’d think nothing has changed, but at this point, it’s basically a done deal that she’s gone from WWE.
Whenever someone removes all references to an employer from their social media information and almost actively tries to distance themselves by pushing other projects at the forefront instead, it’s a pretty good sign they’re no longer affiliated, so all we’re waiting on is the official announcement regarding her release.
This is both a smart move and an unfortunate one. For fans of Total Divas, the lack of Eva Marie will no doubt be a blow, as she was always treated as one of the standouts of that program. For most of us—the audience who doesn’t give two shits about Total Divas—it depends on your perspective of what you’d like to see in the women’s division. If you’re all about just ogling some sexy ladies, then this sucks, but if you want quality in-ring action, you’re probably ecstatic Eva Marie will be gone soon.
Kane
By no means is this in any way a similar situation to the other examples we’ve talked about so far. Everybody on the Raw side and the two above for SmackDown are people you could get rid of because they don’t serve much of a purpose on the roster and aren’t worth their contracts, but Kane is far from that type of performer.
The issue here is that Kane simply isn’t performing anymore.
Being a legend, Kane will always have a presence in WWE for as long as he wants to. He’s a surefire (no pun intended) first-ballot Hall of Famer who will be an amazing ambassador for the company and a great member of the family until his dying day, I’m sure. But his time as an in-ring wrestler and a member of the true roster seems to have come to an end.
He missed the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania this year and has spent months and months healing from nagging injuries and busying himself with other projects like his insurance company—a job that will carry him into his retirement if there isn’t another position that eats up his time instead, which is, of course, his mayoral campaign.
If he takes office, there’s absolutely no way we’ll be seeing Kane in the squared circle. Even if he doesn’t, he may want to stay outside the ropes just for his own health and by feeling like he has nothing else to accomplish, wanting to focus on his company instead.
In that scenario, WWE obviously should, in essence, renegotiate his contract to either the legend/ambassador role or perhaps not even any official ties to the company, allowing him to do things on a per-appearance deal if he were to speak at an event or do a signing or something down the line.
Sin Cara
A few years back, Sin Cara was one of Triple H’s big moves for the future as WWE tried to effectively replace Rey Mysterio. Well, that didn’t work out, did it?
In the span of a few years, we had Hunico and Sin Cara as two separate entities, then the dual Sin Cara Negro/Azul feud, Hunico ditching the mask, the original Sin Cara being replaced with Hunico, the pairing of Sin Cara with Kalisto and now he’s back to the solo game and doing nothing (save for getting into a fight with Simon Gotch).
If the audience really loved the character, the merchandise sales would be high enough that WWE never would have stopped pushing him, but that’s clearly not the case. Now, Kalisto is a bigger deal, and even he has been struggling for a good year. Plus, there’s newer masked stars like Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik (and even El Vagabundo for a minute there) who can easily target the same market and bring something fresh to the table.
Those are my picks for the SmackDown roster, but who do you think should be on the chopping block to be future endeavored? Tell us your ideas in the comments below!
