13th July

Ever felt like you’ve been conned?

Remember a guy called Brian Heffron? Remember a while back, how at the end of ECW’s One Night Stand, JBL came into the ring and literally battered the hell out of Heffron? Remember those photos that appeared on the Internet? Remember the countless interviews we read about how pissed off everyone was at JBL for what he did? Remember how Tracey Smothers challenged JBL to a shoot fight? Remember how Heffron said he was considering legal action against JBL and the WWE?

Remember what happened next?

Remember a guy called Matt Hardy? Remember a few months back when news broke that his girlfriend, Amy Dumas, had been having an affair with one his best friends, Adam Copeland? Remember how Matt was released from the WWE because he went public about the whole situation on his website? Remember how sorry we felt for the guy, and how much we all hated and despised Adam & Amy? Remember all those interviews in magazines and on websites about how much Matt hated WWE for what they did to him?

Remember what happened next?

There appears to be a new rule of thumb in the professional wrestling world. If it doesn’t appear on wwe.com, then it’s real. If an appears on wwe.com, then it’s a work. Which is why you didn’t see any mention of Tracey Smothers on the WWE’s website.

The line between reality and fiction just got bit hazier.

It makes you wonder sometimes just how the WWE brain trust works at times. When the draft lottery was complete, we heard a great deal about the various trades that were made. Now look how some of those traded from Raw to Smackdown have been treated.

Kenzo Suzuki was at one time being touted as the next big Japanese thing in the WWE. Rumour has it that he was being brought in challenge Chris Benoit for the World title at Summerslam last year, which is why Benoit was suddenly being billed as living in Atlanta, under the name of Hirohito. This would have been a throwback to the good old days, where Japanese wrestlers were the hated enemies, and would “Pearl Harbour” they opponents.

Suzuki ended up on Smackdown, and enjoyed moderate success, including a reign as WWE tag-team champion. An injury put him on the sidelines, before he was traded to Raw.

Last year Mark Jindrak was traded to Smackdown, where he became Narcissist#2, a copy of Lex Luger’s first WWE gimmick as the Reflection of Perfection. The gimmick didn’t last long because his manager, Teddy Long, became Smackdown GM. Jindrak later joined Team Angle V2, before feuding with Luther Reigns. He was then traded to Raw.

Just days after their trades were announced, both Suzuki and Jindrak were handed their cards, and you have to wonder what would might have been.

If Suzuki had been billed as Hirohito, then the PC brigade would have been up in arms. References to Japan’s part in World War II would have caused an out roar, because, after all, we in the global village are meant to be one big, happy family now.

Jindrak was touted as one of the brightest young stars when he broke through in WCW in 2000, as the partner of Sean O’Haire. The Jindrak/O’Haire team showed a great deal of promise, but the WCW creatives broke the team up too early, and when WWE took over his contract in 2001, WWE showed no interest in re-forming the Natural Born Thrillaz team. And there was definitely no chance of it happening when O’Haire was released last year.

Jindrak and Suzuki probably won’t be missed by the WWE faithful. Unlike some other wrestlers who were released from their contracts.

The release of the Dudleys shows just how seriously the WWE creative team take the tag-team division at the moment. Apart from MNM and the Heart-throbs, there’s literally no full-time team on the roster at the moment, and the fact that the current World champions, Rosey & The Hurricane, didn’t defend the belts on pay-per-view says a lot.

The creative team sent the Dudleys home for months because they apparently didn’t have anything for them to do. This line is getting tired and boring now. Just look at the reception they got during the run-in to One Night Stand. The release of the Dudleys could signal the end of tag-team wrestling in the WWE, and I for one will be mourning the loss.

One thing I find really amusing about the whole release thing is that when a release is announced, those wrestlers let go are expected to do an interview for wwe.com. What a bloody cheek! “Okay, we’re firing your ass, but before you go, can you give us an exclusive interview?” If I was in the shoes of a released wrestler, I’d tell them where to stick their interview.

But the problem seems to be that now, with all of these releases, we may finally be seeing the long-term results of WWE’s monopoly of the national and international wrestling scene. The WWE is the only promotion that can offer guaranteed spots in the wrestling business. Despite what they say, this is something TNA can’t. TNA may be touted as the number two promotion in America right now, but there’s no way they can compete with the promotional and financial power of Vince McMahon. Although they have had constant backers for over a year now, the constant changes in the creative department can’t be good for business. What TNA need is a team with long-term plans and goals. Maybe Scott D’Amore and his men will last a lot longer than Dusty Rhodes and Vince Russo did. It’s this kind of continuity, as well as a national television contract, that TNA needs right now.


Going back to the WWE/Matt Hardy situation, several promotions here in Britain have advertised Hardy as being on their super shows, most notably the Universal Uproar show at the Coventry Skydome in November. A great number of people over here think that even if Hardy is signed to a long-term contract, that he’ll honour his commitments to those shows. But what people seem to forget that to a multi-million dollar company like WWE, paying these promotions off because of Hardy’s new commitments wouldn’t mean much to them. The only people that would really lose out is the British fans.