Bad news (foreshadowing) if you’re a fan of underused or underutilized WWE talent — it’s the annual tradition of massive company layoffs.
Here are the names of those unlucky superstars getting pink slips today…
WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstars Damien Sandow, King Barrett, Santino Marella, Cameron, Hornswoggle, Alex Riley, El Torito and Zeb Colter as of today, Friday, May 6, 2016. WWE wishes them the best in all of their future endeavors.
Before jumping into the absolutely bullshit move of releasing Damien Sandow, let’s discuss the other WWE superstars no longer with the company.
King Barrett — he was rumored to be leaving for months but this just makes it official. Barrett was on a strong run as Bad News but then got injured and never really got his juice back. He won the pointless King of the Ring crown, had a forgettable feud with Neville, and got lost among the League of Nations. Barrett is a guy with enough skills and on the mic to quickly get work, maybe in TNA (if that’s actually a job) or possibly New Japan.
Santino Marella — Eh.
Alex Riley — It feels like this is the tenth time he’s been let go but he was actually down in NXT with really nowhere lower left to go.
Cameron — Wow, didn’t see THAT coming. Kidding. Yes, I did.
Hornswoggle and El Torito — Bad news for the little guys. Hornswoggle was coming up on 10 years with he WWE but was suspended for wellness policy issues. El Torito got dumped by Los Matadores after they dumped the gimmick and took work with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
Zeb Colter — The on again/off again manager of Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio was a good idea that just never stuck.
And now to the real pisser in all these cuts, Damien Sandow. This is the second time he’s been let go and he’s a guy who, from the outside, appears to have done EVERYTHING the company asked of him. He was arguably the hottest worker in the company last year as “stunt double” Mizdow, came out on top in the feud, only to then get screwed over by Summer Rae and have to drop the Mizdow persona. Miz walks away to get a hundred more pushes while Sandow morphs into Macho Mizdow and now I don’t want to even fucking talk about it.
There are more cuts coming, I can feel it…
[via With Spandex]