?Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com

On Wednesday, July 6, 2005 at 4:11 AM EST

As time progresses toward October, and the move back to USA network, WWE has taken the liberty of cutting more superstars from the roster to prepare for the financial hit they are going to take with this new television deal. However, I think they missed the boat, in a big, big way.

First, let's go over who was released.

Mark Jindrak - The only released superstar that was affected by the draft lottery. Literally one day after the first Raw that Jindrak is supposed to appear, he's released. You can't tell me that this was decided before the lottery was to take place. Why trade Jindrak if he was going to be released? Put someone else on Raw, release this guy, and nobody's the wiser. Anyway, Jindrak's talent not with standing, and he DOES have some talent, his fate was pretty much sealed when he parted ways a mere few weeks after being taken under the wing of future GM Theodore Long. Since then, he has had little impact in any facet, briefly joining up with Kurt Angle, but never really taking the bull by the horns, and making an impact. A viable release, although it could backfire, if Jindrak plays his cards correctly.

Maven - It's funny. You have seven Tough Enough winners. Two from Seasons 1 through 3, and one in Season 4. Yet, out of 7, how many are left? 2 on the current active roster, Jackie and Johnny Nitro, and 1 in OVW, Matt Cappotelli. All the others, gone. Nidia, Linda Miles, Daniel Puder, and now Maven. I guess the careers they all expected didn't exactly pan out. Maven's run as a heel was less than stellar, to say the least. The very least.

Shannon Moore - Another victim of the WWE's new policy of when you get hurt, your job is on the line. See Test, see even Matt Hardy as well. Moore has the motorcycle accident, comes back from it, has a brief cup of tea back on Smackdown, and then disappears off the planet. Even with the new mohawk, gothic like gimmick in place, Moore never was able to make an impact in the cruiserweight division, and I have to doubt it was from a lack of trying. He ended up being a tomato can, the WWE's version of Shark Boy, if you will, and hence, he became expendable. Sad. Talent is obvious here, but the push never occurred.

James Yun (AKIO) - The obvious angle here was to team up Akio, Sakoda, Funaki, Suzuki, & Tajiri. You could've had one of the single most deadliest factions known to man based on the Far East. With the WWE's new interest in Japan, and Korea, and such, it would have made for tremendous television. Now, let's see. Funaki has a run as cruiserweight champion, and has since dropped off the face of the planet. Suzuki has disappeared, he's somewhere in the witness relocation program as far as I can tell. Sakoda has been gone for months, and Tajiri had a brief run with Regal as World tag champions, and now, is stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no partner, (Regal to Smackdown), and no real direction, outside of the possibility of an ECW revival, which as the weeks go by, seemingly grows dimmer and dimmer. All things considered, Akio was becoming expendable because WWE had no place to use him, or PUT him no place where he could take the ball and run with it. It seemingly has become the norm for cruiser weight matches to be interrupted by some other superstar, and in the process, force the two competitors to be pounded in to oblivion. Hence, the expendability of stars like Noble, Akio, and another couple on this list.

David Heath (GANGREL - After his brief stint as one of JBL's henchmen, he disappeared. To my knowledge, not even seen on Ohio Valley Wrestling as well. SO, when it comes to economics, if you're not working, you're not going to get paid. Here endeth the lesson.

Kevin Fertig - This guy is lucky to have garnered a paycheck as long as he has been since Mordecai bombed on the big roster. I'm sure somewhere in Maine, Scotty 2 Hotty, who had to job to this guy in his only PPV appearance to my knowledge, is sitting back laughing.

Billy Kidman - Will this release be the synonymous end to Torrie Wilson? Only time will tell. Kidman has loads of talent, but no charisma whatsoever. His shooting star is one of the best in the business, but what has he done for WWE lately? Yes, back in '02 he ran with the belt, but he hasn't seen hide nor hair of a push since. Whether deserved or undeserved, this release does not surprise me.

Spike Dudley - Who would've thought the last time we'd see Spike Dudley in a WWE ring is when he brings lighter fluid to Bubba and D'Von mere moments before they powerbomb Tommy Dreamer through a flaming table at One Night Stand. I would have honestly thought Spike would have had a job as long as Bubba and D'Von remained on the roster. This one out of all of them does surprise me. Even as a heel, Spike had the charisma, and the heart to make some impact on the Smackdown roster, and his run as Cruiserweight champ was impressive. Have to be honest, I am going to miss the runt of the Dudley litter.

NOW, that we've dissected the releases, I got some of my own that I think should have bit the dust... Let's go through those...

Chris Masters - This oaf has a body like a greek God, but the mind of a flea. He is so charisma-deprived it's scary. Who in their right mind is going to get involved in a feud with this stiff, wanna be Lex Luger? Nobody. His "Masterlock" challenge is one of the dumbest segments on Raw I have seen in years. How many more mid card wrestlers have to be thrown at this guy before they finally realize this guy has zero talent, and zero promoting ability?

Kenzo Suzuki - He gets traded, but where the hell is he? He has disappeared off the planet since his run as WWE tag team champion with the mongrel team of himself and Rene Dupree. Again, the far east faction would have been the best for Kenzo, and his lack of television time should have been a clue to the powers that be that this guy is more expendable than, in my humble opinion, Spike, Kidman, or Jindrak.

Tyson Tomko - Goat Boy doesn't have a gig anymore as Christian's problem solver, and he's already off television this past week. He has zero talent, nobody hears from him except in the rarest of circumstances, yet he remains employed. Someone explain to me the logic here.

Sho Funaki - I love Funaki. I think he's fun. But, his loyalty to WWE only goes so far. His time is past. What else can he do? If he's not going to get another run as CW champ, then he's got to find something else to do, fast, before the axe falls on him.

Steve Romero (Announcer) - Marc Loyd may have been a nerd, and a bad announcer, but he was always there. This idiot calls in sick to work, (WHO THE HELL WOULD CALL IN SICK TO WORK IN WWE?????) You'd have to kill me to not come to work for this company. This guy has zero personality. His work ethic is repulsive. Why is he still employed?

Sylvain Grenier - Conway has a chance as a singles competitor. Dupree has shown he can do it on his own. This guy is too brittle. Too injury prone. And quite frankly, his voice irritates me to no end. With La Resistance going in a different direction, Sylvain better figure out his own direction, quickly.

There are some divas that I think have outlived their usefulness, as well.

Ivory - She's a great personality. I think she's tremendously attractive as well. But, with Experience dying after the move to USA, if she doesn't get back to wrestling, quickly, she's going to be in trouble. Significant trouble.

Sharmell Sullivan - Her days as Paisley are long behind her. She needs, and I think she has begun to see this, to return to the backstage area as Booker T's wife, in real life, and stop playing it on television. It's killing his career, and making her look bad.

Maria Kanellis - A smoking hot female, her new 'persona' is insulting. If she's going to announce, let her. If she's going to interview, let her. Don't make her act like a bimbo, just because you think it's going to get a rise out of people. It's insulting to her, and to the people you're trying to get a reaction to. If I was in Maria's shoes, I'd look for employment elsewhere. With her assets, it would not be hard to find.

Michelle McCool - I met her recently, and she was a pleasure to meet. But, her talent as a wrestler is limited at best, as shown heartily in her loss to Melina on Smackdown, and unless she grows in talent in the ring, immediately, her appearance will only get her so far, especially with the new arrival, Candice coming to Smackdown ASAP.

Personally, I think WWE is not done by a long shot with the releases, but let's see where the next roller coaster dip will take us. One guy on the Raw roster who ought to be thanking his lucky stars he's still employed is Val Venis. I cannot believe he survived this round of cuts.

Briefly, let me go over the draft, and it's final shakeup, and give you one sentence thoughts on each new talent for both shows...

RAW
WWE ChampionJohn Cena - Shocking. IMHO, the beginning of the end for Smackdown as a show.
Carlito - Blossoming in to a tremendous personality. Hate his guts for beating Shelton, but he is coming in to his own.
Big Show - Improving his talent with his decreased weight, has potential to be major player, if booked properly.
Kurt Angle - If his neck is stable, still one of the best in the business. Angle vs. Triple H, one more time.
Rob Van Dam - Hopefully, the beginning of an ECW invasion, full time.
Mark Jindrak - Doomed from the word go.
Rene Dupree - Potential began to show on Smackdown, teaming with Conway may assist.
Danny Basham - Real test to see how he does as a singles competitor. Confidence has to be down by no appearance last week.
Kenzo Suzuki & Hiroko - Have to be somewhere in the witness protection program. It's been that long since we've seen them.
Chavo Guerrero - What the hell is Kerwin White? I will talk about this after this section.

SMACKDOWN
Chris Benoit - Still one of the best. Needs another run as champion. Possibility good if show remains on air.
Randy Orton - Future of the business. Needs to stay away from Batista. Undertaker feud legendary approaching.
Muhammad Hassan & Daivari - If they turn this feud with 'Taker in to some terrorist thing, like it looks like they're doing, they're going to tick me off something fierce.
Christian - Perhaps here he will finally gain his main event status that everybody but me claims he has earned.
World Heavyweight ChampionBatista - Beating HHH three times in a row is shocking enough. But, this one was a no brainer after Cena's pick. Could be long time champion on SD, once he disposes of JBL.
William Regal - His partnerships with Eugene and Tajiri behind him, the possibilities of his singles career taking off are limited, due to his health, and whatever push WWE gives him.
Candice Michelle - The only diva involved in the draft. Has the personality to take things in to her own hands. Let's see what she does with her "ass"ets.
Sylvain Grenier - I think, as I said before, his time in WWE is limited. Unless he shows them something, quickly.
Simon Dean - ECW One Night Stand probably saved his job, because of what transpired this past week on Smackdown. I won't spoil it, but believe me, it's a step up from this character.
Steven Richards - See Simon Dean.

Who in the hell is Kerwin White?

Now I've seen some stupid gimmicks in my day. I've seen Mordecai. I've see Katie Vick. I've seen Bastion Booger. I've seen Skinner, just to name a few. But, the talent and personality of Chavito Guerrero to be changed to a preppy looking college drop out named Kerwin White? You CANNOT tell me that Chavo is condoning this. He HAS to be doing this at the company's request, only. He has to be hating this changeover. I mean, come on. Chavo Guerreo is one of the most talented cruiserweights, hell superstars in this business, and now, he has to do this? I can understand trading him to give him a fresh set of opponents, and take him on a new pathway, but why take away the Guerrero name? It has drawing power. It has stature. It has legend written all over it, yet WWE spits on that legendary status by creating Kerwin White. I think it's sickening, personally.

Shawn Michaels turns heel

Well, now. Is DX going to reform next? With HBK going bad, are we going to be forced to look at the red & Yellow try and get revenge? Or is my boy John Cena, the glorified Hulkamaniac, (not that it's a bad thing, I was even a Hulkamaniac back in the day), going to take up the charge for Hulk Hogan, and go after Michaels, leading up to a showdown at Summerslam? I would think it's possible, be that Cena and Michaels already have been introduced, so to speak, from last week's six man tag, but, what does the Chris Jericho factor do to that possible storyline?

Is Hulk Hogan that desperate for promotion that he's willing to go through 7 weeks of hell in WWE to get his 50 plus year old ass pounded by guys who are in their prime? God, I hope not.

Shawn turning heel was the right thing to do at the right time to do it, being July 4th, with no ratings a probability. It leaves a lot of open ended questions that I am not sure I want answered, however.

The shakeup from the draft has begun. Where it goes from here is anybody's guess. It does make things kind of interesting.

Debate me on this. I welcome it. Click here to drop me a line.

Till next time.

Kimosabe, Sumo?!?!?!?