January 17, 2004 
Hello and allow me to welcome you to another weekly edition of The Final Cut. A slightly late edition this week due to an earlier arranged meeting with a pub and some nice alcohol. But I digress.
The yearly roster cull is almost upon us as the majority of the mid-card looking nervously over their shoulders
Ultimo Dragon – I know what most people will say. Ultimo Dragon is a legend and he is capable of producing fantastic matches with the likes of Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, etc. But he is being completely wasted in the World Wrestling Entertainment right now and has been since his much publicised arrival.
My advice to Ultimo Dragon would be to leave, walk away from the cruiserphobic World Wrestling Entertainment. Smaller promotions will allow you to wrestle how you wish to wrestle rather than watering you down. And of course there is the added bonus of the wrestling fans being able to see Ultimo Dragon at his best against wrestling talent like AJ Styles and Low-ki
Although I would love to finally see the cruiserweight division utilised to it’s full potential, World Wrestling Entertainment is not going to change their views unless someone else steps onto the board and nudges Vince to the obvious conclusion that cruiserweight’s are worth more than a small beat down segment on Smackdown every couple of months.
Zach Gowen – Wow how many people still remember this guy? When Zach first broke onto the Smackdown show most of the fans were in awe of this malnourished one-legged guy doing a half decent moonsault and hopping around the ring.
But sadly for him the novelty wore off faster than anyone expected it to and his act become lame and sour. (when you’ve seen one malnourished one-legged guy doing a half decent moonsault and hopping around the ring you have seen them all, right?)
As the novelty of seeing this one-legged athletic was wearing off on the fans another problem was just beginning to grow. Zach started to grow a very big ego and he was not afraid of showing it. Working with Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Vince McMahon has obviously gone to the boys head.
I am as sensitive as the next guy but Zach, one leg or two legs, has no place with World Wrestling Entertainment. Maybe he can become a decent wrestler but with only one leg he is going to be nothing more than a freak-show.
Billy Gunn – Ah good old Bill Gunn, the man that continues to stink up buildings all over the world. I am still wondering what Vince sees in this guy. Vince obviously thinks that he can make Billy-boy a huge star, even though he has failed in his last 5,000 attempts with him.
Billy’s biggest success was as a part of The New Age Outlaws and even then he was mediocre. He has spent the last year or so struggling with several injuries to his shoulder.
They have tried numerous ideas to get Billy-boy over with the fans. They have gone from teaming him up with Road Dog, Chyna, Chuck Palumbo and even poor old Torrie Wilson was dragged into the pot. They also gave him title reigns to try and boost his status, all this still failed.
Billy Gunn is a dead weight around the mid-card of World Wrestling Entertainment and needs to be got rid of to allow other talented stars to shine through instead of the human vacuum that is Billy Gunn.
Mark Henry – Well he is big and he has been billed as the worlds strongest man thanks to winning a couple of competitions so he must be good, right? Well no. The problem with Mark Henry is that nobody cares about him at all.
Putting him in dire angles with Mae Young has only resulted in lowering the interest in him. Someone had the bright idea of putting him with Teddy Long which has helped a little but the only head he is getting is from the brilliant work of Teddy Long.
Mark has been with the company since about 1998 (I think) and has made no impact what so ever. In fact ask any fan what hi biggest contribution to World Wrestling Entertainment was and they will reply with the angle where he and Mae Young conceived a hand. That says it all.
Hardcore Holly – I do not think that Hardcore Holly has ever had any kind of interest shown in him by the fans, anywhere, ever!
Yet the writers still believe that he should be thrust into the main event picture over actual main event talent such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Big Show, amongst others. in fact I would go so far as to say that the entire Smackdown roster, the ring crew and even that weird nut who secretly stalks Michael Cole are more over and more talented than Hardcore Holly!!
Gail Kim – When Gail Kim inked the deal to join World Wrestling Entertainment a number of her fans went around telling anybody and everybody who would listen that Gail was the lady who would turn the women’s division into a main player for World Wrestling Entertainment.
Let us fast forward to several months and a good collection of matches later. There is only two things that we know about Gail is that she injures people in nearly every match she enters and that she is not as ready for a large promotion never mind a global promotion like World Wrestling Entertainment as her fans would have you believe.
There are female wrestlers out there such as Shannon Ward and Nikita who are actually very talented as well as attractive – Take note World Wrestling Entertainment!
Ernest Miller – “Somebody call my momma!” I wish someone would call Vince and ask him what in the hell he was thinking by hiring Ernest Miller. Sure he was mildly entertaining as a commissioner type role in World Championship Wrestling, but times have changed and his style or increase in talent has not.
And while I am on the subject. Who told Ernest Miller that he was a good commentator? Because whoever it was should be shot or whipped by Rico! Get rid of him and fast!
Rikishi – Rikishi was once a well known wrestler, gaining a nice segment of television time and was well over with the fans. When the nice storyline concerning him running over Steve Austin came along things were looking up for the Phat man.
Sadly that storyline did not last very long and Rikishi was reduced to dancing in the rings on second rate shows and fighting jobbers. Now things seemed to have slumped even further with him being reduced to small matches with Scotty Too Hotty once or twice a month or so on Smackdown.
Rikishi does not seem to be able to do anything else apart from dance and put out a decent looking superkick.
Scott Steiner – When it was first announced that Scott Steiner was coming to the World Wrestling Entertainment they brought him in with so much fanfare that it looked like no expense had been spared.
Alas when Scott Steiner finally wrestled it become abundantly clear to most of us who had vision and hearing that Scott Steiner more or less sucked inside the wrestling ring.
Couple that with the fact his promos seem to be conducted in some kind of inaudible language, plus he was shifted down to the mid-card rather quickly. It looks like World Wrestling Entertainment have wasted a bucket-load of money on him.
When many people consider Scott Steiner’s greatest contribution to be slipping off the apron whilst attempting to throw a punch at Test, then I would say it was time to call it a day.
A-Train – No matter how many times they continue trying this guy is NEVER going to get over with the fans. I like A-Train, but she should be making a name for himself on the smaller independent scene and not stinking up the World Wrestling Entertainment.
And no amount of great matches being dragged out of him by Chris Benoit will change my mind on this subject. According to various “reporters” A-Train is on a higher wage than most of the talent in his boat.
I thought I could handle A-Train when he had all that fur over his body but the last straw came when some bright spark put him in trunks. They should fire that genius as well!
There are obviously more people that we could see banished from World Wrestling Entertainment but this is depressing me.
Until next time.
