On the Recent Roster Cuts

Last week World Wrestling Entertainment announced the release of a number of superstars from their contracts. As you can imagine, it was quite a jolt to the locker-room morale to see that many go at once.

This roster pruning is becoming something of an annual event, and while it does clear valuable space for new stars to come up from the developmental territories like Ohio Valley Wrestling, it usually leaves at least one worthy competitor who hasn't been given a chance getting cut before he can prove himself.

Some of the names on this summer's list probably won't be missed too much (Mark Jindrak and Matt Morgan are pretty forgettable; the Dudleys' time is up, and Spike is reported to have a catalogue of injuries; and it seems Marty Jannetty had a spot of trouble with the law before his development stint even started) and others were to be expected (Jim Cornette's too old-school and knowledgeable for the failed sit-com writers in creative today) but a few are a genuine surprise.

Take Maven. While never setting the world on fire since winning his contract at the first Tough Enough, he was never really given a chance to shine or improve himself. His short-lived program with Shelton Benjamin proved that creative had little confidence in him, even though he was getting over as a heel. I might not have cared if he was cut while still a babyface, but now it's a shame to see him go.

The same goes for Billy Kidman and Akio. Surely if you start adding to the cruiserweight division - like they've done by hiring Super Crazy, Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera - it doesn't make sense to fire guys who could have some five-star matches with the new recruits. Kidman, and Akio especially, didn't have the most charismatic characters - but most of the fault for that lies with creative, not them. Letting them go was a dumb move in my opinion. (Maybe they were jealous of Akio's corkscrew moonsault. Who knows?)

It's the last we'll see of them for the time being. But the WWE has been known to change its mind and take people back, with a little persuading.