WWE Releases The Dudleys & Other Superstars

[2pacnbiggie]

Dudleys, other superstars get ax

July 10, 2005

BY BLACKJACK BROWN Advertisement






Roster cuts are expected every year after ''WrestleMania,'' but nobody was quite ready for the severity of this year's layoffs. The terminations started Tuesday and just kept coming.

The biggest and most surprising was the announcement that the WWE no longer was trying to come to terms with the Dudley Boys on a contract extension. The WWE has let the tag-team division fall apart over the past few years as it just throws together two hot stars for a couple of matches and then moves on with little consideration for the tag titles.

With Rosey and the Hurricane as the tag champions, it's obvious tag-team wrestling is being ignored. Maybe the WWE should look at old ECW footage when the Gangstas, Eliminators, Pit Bulls and Dudleys were creating a blueprint for keeping fans interested in the tag-team division.

Others let go were Joy Giovanni, Kenzo Suzuki, Matt Morgan, Charlie Haas, Maven, Jackie Gayda, Marty Jannetty, Dawn Marie, Mark Jindrak, Shannon Moore, Akio, Gangrel, Billy Kidman, Spike Dudley and Mordecai.


AROUND THE RING: The WWE and Brock Lesnar have been negotiating for the past two weeks -- so expect to see the former WWE champ appear at ''SummerSlam.''

 

[tHuG $TyLe]

Mordecai?lol didn't he have like one match?

The Tag Team titles are a joke, there isnt a single decent tag team around.

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

It's true that the tag team division isn't shit now. It's quite sad really as tag team title matches used to be the biggest on the card behind the Heavyweight title & the Intercontinental.

And the Dudleys were a big draw a couple of years back as well.

 

[bigmack]

illuminatile already posted this info in the WWE thread

 

[Illuminattile]

The fact that Lesnar has signed might be a factor in WWE not renewing the Dudz contracts. Either the Dudz wanted more money or WWE wanted to pay them less. The team were pretty stale, but they'll be a big draw in TNA.

 

[Stone_Cold]

They need to pull the finger out and get the titles to mean something again. The only ones they seem to give a shit about are the 2 heavyweights and intercontinental. And firing the Dudleys isnt the way to go about having the SD tag titles mean something again, I think that they couldve had a pretty good feud with MNM (who at least look like a pretty decent team).
Are there even any legit teams on Raw that could go after Raws tag belts? Even if they had sent Charlie Haas over to Raw to reform the WGTT with Shelton it could have made it more interesting. Speaking of Shelton he dropped the IC belt 3 weeks ago and hasnt been seen for the last 2 weeks. Hopefully its to sell that nasty bump he took against Carlito and can go after his belt again.

The Crusierweight title has been buried for months. When the hell was the last time that Paul London had a match that wasnt interuppted? Now that Akio (who had some 5* matches with London) has gone, Kidman has gone and Chavo (excuse me Kerwin White) has been traded, hopefully the Mexicools will at least go after the CW belt and/or the Tag belts.

And when Christy Hemme gets a title shot at Wrestlemania ahead of Victoria and Molly then you know that they dont give a fuck about the Womens Championship either.

They should get rid of Snitsky and Masters instead of the Dudleys.

Thats my rant over

 

[tHuG $TyLe]

Are their tag champions on Smackdown? they should make it a joint brand tag titles.

 

[Get In The Van I Have Candy]

Are their tag champions on Smackdown? they should make it a joint brand tag titles.

Yup its the wwe tag team title held by MnM (Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury). While RAW has the world tag team title held by Hurricane & Rosie)

 

[Illuminattile]

The competition in the tag division is only slightly better than the competition in the "Women's division", in terms of the number of regular tag teams.

Regal/Tajiri, The Bashams, Akio/Kidman, Haas/Holly, Dean/Maven, La Res and The Dudleys are all gone/split, leaving us with:

MNM, The Heart Throbs, The Superfriends...

And, potentially, the bWo (Richards and Nova) and the Mexicools (Crazy and Psychosis). Plus the Chair Swining Freaks, if they do sign them, and the team of Nunzio and Big Vito, if that goes ahead.

It really is a sad state of affairs. Three teams "competing" over two belts.

 

[LAZARU$]

wow you guys take this real serious like a sport or something.so if i need my wwe info then ill know who to ask.

 

[pietro006]

Noooooo not Joy! she's so hot

 

[Rock]

I stopped watching wrestling like 3 years ago. btw old school Undertaker rules

 

[Quasimodo]

kidman and the dudley's shouldn't have been released... dayum.. i loved the dudley boyz - including spike... shit i met d-von, he was cool as fuck... thats just garbage! fuck the WWE!

 

[bigmack]

The fact that Lesnar has signed might be a factor in WWE not renewing the Dudz contracts. Either the Dudz wanted more money or WWE wanted to pay them less. The team were pretty stale, but they'll be a big draw in TNA.

its a fact the dudleyz wanted more money. and on top of that wwe creative team couldnt find them a new storyline. and since wwe is doing budget cuts,well it makes sense.

 

[Illuminattile]

The cruiserweight division is at a bit of a standstill, but if we get a Juvi/London feud I'll be happy. There's also CM Punk if they bring him in to the Cruiser division, he'd add a lot to it. Akio and Kidman put on some stellar matches with London (and each other) so its a shame to see them go. Akio's wages can't have been too much of a strain. The Cruiser division would really beneift, IMO, if you had Tajiri over there going after the belt. He's not a high flier like most of the division so the difference in styles would be interesting. Plus he's a relatively big name. The cuts/draft did a lot of harm to the Cruiser division, come to think of it:

Kidman, Akio, Shannon Moore, Chavo - plus Rey is too popular for the Cruiser division ATM.

Leaving us with:

Paul London, Juventud, Psychosis, Super Crazy, Nova/Dean, Nunzio (for now)

I'd suggest putting Hurricane there too, but the tag division needs him.

its a fact the dudleyz wanted more money. and on top of that wwe creative team couldnt find them a new storyline. and since wwe is doing budget cuts,well it makes sense.

I don't really buy the "budget cuts" idea. They must be paying Hogan a fair sum per appearance, and he's been on RAW twice in a row now and is obviously going to come back and have a match with HBK at some point. They've re-signed Brock Lesnar, his deal's gotta be pretty big. Plus, The Dudleys sell tickets and move merchandise, unlike people like Tomko, Heidenreich, Masters and Snitsky. The fans were rabid for the Dudleys at ONS, anything ECW-related is big seller right now.

With all the hype about ECW, I would thought it would be obvious to bring the Dudleys back as non-nonsense hardcore brawlers and stick them in a feud with MNM. Even if there's no big storyline for them, it's good to have them around.

 

[CalcuoCuchicheo]

I don't really buy the "budget cuts" idea. They must be paying Hogan a fair sum per appearance, and he's been on RAW twice in a row now and is obviously going to come back and have a match with HBK at some point. They've re-signed Brock Lesnar, his deal's gotta be pretty big. Plus, The Dudleys sell tickets and move merchandise, unlike people like Tomko, Heidenreich, Masters and Snitsky. The fans were rabid for the Dudleys at ONS, anything ECW-related is big seller right now.

With all the hype about ECW, I would thought it would be obvious to bring the Dudleys back as non-nonsense hardcore brawlers and stick them in a feud with MNM. Even if there's no big storyline for them, it's good to have them around.

True :thumb:

 

[Stone_Cold]

Plus, The Dudleys sell tickets and move merchandise, unlike people like Tomko, Heidenreich, Masters and Snitsky. The fans were rabid for the Dudleys at ONS, anything ECW-related is big seller right now.

With all the hype about ECW, I would thought it would be obvious to bring the Dudleys back as non-nonsense hardcore brawlers and stick them in a feud with MNM. Even if there's no big storyline for them, it's good to have them around.

Exactly, ive been waiting for the Dudleys return for ages and was so hyped when they appeared on Raw before ONS. The thing with the Dudleys is that they dont always need to have a big storyline because they are such a good team, they want the titles so they go after them, and if there were one or 2 other decent teams then other feuds could be built on the side. I was so looking forward to a feud with MNM & the Dudleys (and seeing Melina get some wood).

On another note, I assume that "The Boogeyman" is joining Smackdown cos they just aired a promo on Afterburn. I havent seen anything of him since he was kicked off Tough Enough for lying about his age, but i hope hes got some talent and isnt just another big guy that Vince has a fetish for, or as Spike put it " a big guy with the wrestling ability of a dead walrus". Anyone know if hes any good or not?

 

[Illuminattile]

I didn't see him on Tough Enough and I've never seen him wrestle. I'll ask around.

That said, there's a good chance the video on Velocity was promoting the DVD release of the film rather than promoting the wrestler.

By the way, if anyone here is a puro fan:

Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese Legend, Passes Away

Legendary Japanese wrestler, Shinya Hashimoto, passed away this past Sunday night, due to a cerebral infection. He recently turned 40 years old, as his birthday was July 3rd, 1965.

Shinya was the former owner of Zero-1 Wrestling. In his career, he won the following championships:

IWGP Tag Team title w/Masa Saito
IWGP Tag Team title w/Junji Hirata
IWGP Heavyweight title (3)
NWA Heavyweight title
NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles w/Naoya Ogawa
NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles w/Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Super Grade Tag League w/Riki Choshu (1992)
Super Grade Tag League w/Scott Norton (1996)
G1 Climax (1998)
AJPW Triple Crown

The DOI sends our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Shinya Hashimoto.

www.declarationofindependents.net