April 09, 2004 
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the fruit of my loins that I lovingly call The Final Cut, what is it that they say? Only a parent is blind to the ugliness of their child!
Anyway, silly unfunny intro aside this weeks column sees me still intoxicated from the huge news of Millwall gaining entry into the FA Cup final against Manchester United – we are 5-1 to beat them, has to be worth a tenner doesn’t it?
Whilst I was sitting here looking over the list of topics that I could cover for this week’s column there was one topic that was not on my little collection but was screaming at me from the back of my mind.
World Wrestling Entertainment have a habit of gorging themselves on the talent that cause a stir in the independent promotions all over the world. Some might say that Vince McMahon is just making sure that all the good talent are signed to his company preventing them from appearing on other shows without his approval.
And that is partly true, by signing up the available talent he hinders the smaller promotions and, whether we like it or not, this is what business is all about – beating the opposition.
But what happens when Vince and his merry men buy up all this talent? When was the last time you saw a good talent signing to World Wrestling Entertainment and actually making a success of it? I’m not talking about Goldberg, Scott Steiner or Hulk Hogan because they are not talented. I’m talking about the Brian Kendricks and the Paul Londons of this world.
The sad truth is once Vince gets his claws into these guys he has not got the slightest clue what to do with them once they are here so he relegates them to Velocity and Heat matches, thus wasting them.
Do not believe me? Here are a few examples:
Shannon Ward – Many wrestling fans will not be familiar with the name Shannon Ward, most will know her more as the screaming Daffney from World Championship Wrestling fame. But the difference between Shannon and the other girls on Nitro was that she could actually wrestle.
Shannon was signed to a development deal and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to get her ready for World Wrestling Entertainment television. Nothing was heard from her and a couple of months later it emerged that she had been released from her deal due to the yearly roster cull.
At the height of her fame in World Championship Wrestling Shannon became the only woman to win the WOW Cruiserweight championship and hold it for over a month. And for those of you who think Lita is talented, you should check out Shannon ward, she makes Lita look like an uncoordinated rhino in the ring (even more so!).
Shannon is now on the independent scene causing those great minds up in Stamford to regret letting her go.
Sean O’Haire – When Sean was about to make his return from injury they gave me a gimmick and started airing vignettes of his new persona and it came off very well, it was gaining interest from fans.
He debuted the gimmick backstage with hilarious segments against Spanky and others yet the idea was crushed without ever explaining the reason and Sean was left out in the cold.
Just when Sean thought his career could get any lower along came Roddy Piper to prove him and us all wrong. A rather slow and out of shape Piper “recruited” Sean as his bouncer against Zach Gowen and Hulk Hogan!
This bombed quicker than a fat man off a diving board and Sean found himself once again left out in the cold and as blamed for the angle going wrong.
When Mark Jindrak was drafted to Smackdown things were looking slightly up for Sean after all this time, his old tag team partner from World Championship Wrestling days was joining his roster, surely there was a reunion in the minds of the booking team? WRONG Sean!
No sooner had Jindrak arrived on Smackdown when Sean was told he would be released, oh and let us not forget about that 90-day no wrestling clause.
Ultimo Dragon – I have no idea what poor old Ultimo Dragon has done to Vince McMahon to be placed in the predicament he is currently situated in. Maybe he stepped on a leprechaun or two during some religious holiday.
Ultimo Dragon had limited success in World Championship Wrestling before opening his own promotion and touring the world putting on stellar performances.
The story goes that Vince McMahon sent a scout to look at some matches whilst in Japan and the scout came back gushing about this guy in a mask who was brilliant, Vince then gave the word to sign him up.
When Ultimo Dragon came into his office after signing his contract Vince asked him who the hell he was and where was Ultimo Dragon. Only an idiot would sign a talent to a contract without seeing him first!
Ultimo Dragon had one match on Smackdown before Vince in his wisdom banished him to Matches on Velocity, his crime? He did not wrestle to Vince’s liking. For those of you who have not seen Ultimo Dragon wrestle he is better than Rey Mysterio.
The times that he has been let out of the proverbial dog house he has put on entertaining matches against Rey Mysterio and in the Cruiserweight invitational at the recent Wrestlemania XX pay-per-view.
Paul London – Paul London, like Ultimo Dragon, is still employed by World Wrestling Entertainment but to be honest you really do have to question them here as well. Paul London is an exceptional talent and anyone who saw him wrestling for Frontier Wrestling Alliance and Ring of Honour will agree with me.
Obviously he was offered a contract and he signed on the dotted line and can now sit and watch his career nose dive down the toilet as he teams up with Spanky and now Billy Kidman on the occasional Velocity show.
Billy Kidman and Paul London have some fine chemistry inside the ring and they actually look good as a tandem unlike some of the teams we currently have on Raw and Smackdown. Giving Kidman and London a push on Smackdown would give the tag team division a good injection of fresh talent.
Brian Kendrick – Spanky, as he likes to be called for some bizarre reason, had been causing an absolute stir on the independent scene with promotions such as Ring of Honour (I spell honour the correct way god dammit!), NWA:TNA and even in Japan.
It was no surprise and only a matter of time until World Wrestling Entertainment snapped him up. Brian Kendrick could of added a lot to the deflated and boring cruiserweight division over on Smackdown, but World Wrestling Entertainment had other ideas.
They had absolutely no idea what to do with one of Shawn Michaels’ trainees so they reduced him to appearing monthly on Velocity tagging often with Paul London. This tag team was very popular and was often pulling out four star matches against other tag teams.
Brian tolerated being wasted and treated in this manner until he had finally had enough, handed his notice in and walked out on Vince McMahon and his nice secure contract.
What has become World Wrestling Entertainment loss is the wrestling worlds gain, since Vince and his company decided to squander Spanky’s talents he was depriving the wrestling fans of a great talent which can now be seen on the independent promotions.
The examples that I have listed above are all gifted stars who can pull out great matches after great matches and if they are given the chance and pushed onto Raw or Smackdown then they will help raise the ratings of the respected shows.
But then again Vince had to receive so much pressure to give Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero the pushes that they deserved, deep down he still craves to push a big man….
Until next time.
