Maria, Hurricane, Paul Burchill released

WWE announced three releases from the company yesterday in Maria, Shane “Hurricane” Helms and Paul Burchill.  None of these come as a huge surprise.

According to some, Maria has been looking to move on from wrestling and expand her opportunities, a la Stacy Keibler.  She has not had much to do on her own lately, as the Celebrity Apprentice has limited her storyline possibilities.  That makes two WWE Divas lost to reality TV appearances.

Helms (who WWE finally announced was the Hurricane) was finally rising through the ranks of Smackdown as a bitter heel, but was stopped flat when a neck injury took him out of action for over a year.  When he came back, he was inexplicably turned to a backstage announcer, which eventually transitioned back to his popular Hurricane character.  Unfortunately, a recent arrest for drunkenness pulled him from the air, and he was gone once ECW ended.  Look for him in TNA.

Paul Burchill really perplexes me.  Not that he was released, but that he was never really used.  He’s got a good look, size and talent, but the WWE simply never used him.  His pirate gimmick was crazy over with the fans, but got nixed quickly.  He did an awesome job in OVW, but came back to WWE and was used mainly as a jobber.  Really a tragic waste.  I’d expect to see him in ROH before TNA, as I’m not sure a talented young guy would have a place in the Hogan regime.

“Talent Search” shows and their results

Few people will likely come forward and announce “I think the Diva Search was a great idea!” or “Tough Enough is what this industry needs to build itself upon!”  You will likely find more detractors than supporters, both now and when they aired.  The winners are flagged as stars who quickly fizzled out or who simply never made it, while holding back developmental guys who here ‘paying their dues’.  And there is some truth to that.

But to really judge the merit of these shows gone by and the talent they produced, one must look beyond the winners and look at the noteworthy talent that also got their feet in the door.  And in doing so, we’ll take a look and see what is better in these situations – to be the winner and take the prize, or simply to be noticed.

We’ll begin with the first Tough Enough:

The Winners
Maven Huffman – Maven was very, very green when he first started, but the WWF didn’t try to force him down throats.  Instead, they let him learn as he went, but made him viable in the fans’ eyes by having him eliminate the Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble.  From there, though, Maven floundered in the midcard, while slowly developing his skills.  His big break came around the 2004 Survivor Series, when he inexplicably became a member of the main event babyface team seeking control of Raw.  The next night, he gave himself a title shot against Triple H and really shined.  I believed, for that night, that Maven could be World Heavyweight champion.  Unfortunately, after that he was turned heel (despite a positive fan reaction), teamed with Simon Dean and released right as he was coming into his own as a cocky heel.  He later ended up on the Surreal Life.

Nidia Guenard – Nidia was put as the trailer-trash girlfriend of Jamie Noble, and actually shined in the role.  She did particularly well when she was “blinded” by Tajiri’s green for some time.  Eventually, she was traded to Raw, dropped any semblance of a character, and tagged with Victoria on Heat until being released.

Notable Runners Up
Josh Lomberger – While never becoming an active wrestler, Josh became a regular presence on WWE broadcasts as Josh Matthews, hosting the likes of Heat and Velocity, as well as the pre-PPV recap shows.  He is currently doing play-by-play on ECW where he is rather despised by our own Man of 1004 Gimmicks (who is a Striker/Grisham mark).

Christopher Nowinski – Nowinski had a great act as a cocky Harvard grad with a superiority complex.  Think Jack Swagger, only smarter, smaller and without a lisp.  He had excellent heel tendencies, and became the first white client of Theodore Long’s management service (matched up with the likes of Mark Henry, Rodney Mack and Jazz).  Unfortunately, his career was cut very short when he received a concussion and suffered from post-concussive syndrome.  He now supports research on concussion-releated illnesses.

Advantage
I’m giving it to the runners up.  Lomberger is still employed by the WWE and Nowinski had far more potential in a far shorter time than either Maven or Nidia demonstrated.

The Big Red Monster Kicks Off ECW Homecoming: 12/15/09

The night started off with GM Tiffany in the ring being very proud of her brands contribution to the TLC PPV.  So excited in fact, that she had Shelton Benjamin and ECW Champion Christian come out to the ring to personally thank them both.  Both superstars hobbled to the ring as the should as their  match was pretty pains-taking. Benjamin said that he was very proud to have been in the match but was a little disappointed in himself for not reaching his Gold Standard goal and wanted to do it again requesting a rematch.  Right on cue, William Regal interrupts Tiffany’s important announcement regarding that potential rematch with one word…Poppycock!

Seriously, that’s what he called it then questioned the GM’s sanity as to why she’d bring back the Big Red Monster Kane to ECW.  She explained:  Leading to the Royal Rumble, ECW will be having a Homecoming Tournament for the #1 Contender’s spot featuring past ECW Champions competing against current ECW superstars over the next few weeks.  This weeks qualifier matches were Vladimir Kozlov vs. Ezekiel Jackson and Kane vs. Zack Ryder.  Poor Zack Ryder. Christian and Benjamin have a well deserved night off.