On Monday May 21st, Gregory Helms will be having neck fusion surgery to repair two cracked vertebrae. Helms will be out of action for at least a year. Helms provided WWE.com with a quote about the injury."It turns out that I have two cracked vertebrae, and one of them is pressing into my spinal cord. One is just demolished, and they told me that the pain I had outside my neck was pretty common; they call it pain referral. One is pressing so far into the spinal cord that I could risk paralysis if I kept going. We get bumps and bruises all the time, and I've been to the hospital before thinking something was wrong when I was just banged up, so I thought that this time too. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this pain is 24/7."
Of course, WWE is still reeling from injuries to Triple H, The Undertaker, Booker T, Ken Kennedy and Rey Mysterio.
Add to that the fact that Sabu, 2 Cold Scorpio, Vito, Rob Conway, Scotty 2 Hotty and Nick Mitchell (formerly of the Spirit Squad) have been let go.
WWE has also parted ways with Shelly Martinez, who played Arial in ECW. The gothy sexpot was given her walking papers – less than a year after the company told her to go get implants.
Martinez has this to say on her MySpace today:
"I just want to say thank you to all who support me and wish me well. Just so you know, don't feel bad, I'm off to bigger and better things. Soon as I got off the phone with WWE I got right back on it and made a tons of calls to connections in LA, NY and FL. It time to move and I am and I'm excited about doing other things. Stay tuned to this crazy life I lead....".
Toronto native, Angel Williams has also been cut. Funny how things work out.Had JBL not been forced into a premature retirement, Williams would have been called up from OVW as his manager late last summer. When that plan fell through, the creative department pretty much forgot about her.
The story right now is that it's Stephanie McMahon that is in fact responsible for all of these teminations. She was recently promoted to the talent relations spot and went through the roster with a fine tooth comb. One of the most hated men in the office, John Laurinitis is Stephanie's lead assistant and was the one who had to deliver the bad news to most of these stars.
In the case of Conway, Laurinitis lied to him, saying that creative had nothing for him - but Conway had just purchased new gimmicks and was set to debut in ECW in a revitilized La Resistance. Stephanie apparently called Conway a Jobber For Life that will never draw a cent.
Now keep in mind that names like Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Mike Knox, Jimmy Wang Yang have all been rumored to be on the WWE’s chopping block, and it sounds like Stephanie is really on the warpath.
Of course, it’s all but a done deal that Rob Van Dam is just wrapping up his WWE commitments before he’s taken off the road permanently.
Any time WWE has gone through these lay-off spurts, new faces seem to emerge and get a chance to really run with the ball. Who will step up from the existing rosters? Who in OVW is ready to jump up and make an impact? I can think of a few Canadians down there who are chomping at the bit waiting for their shot on the show.
It’s never fun to hear about someone getting hurt or losing their job… let’s hope that all of these people land on their feet and recover quickly.
3 comments: on "More Roster Cuts And Injuries"
Cody Rhodes is a guy who could take advantage of this. I know you're thinking more along the lines of TJ Wilson, Nattie and Harry, and that too may happen. But Cody Rhodes is a very talented guy, and as Dan-e-o said, learned the mic skills from one of the best.
The Gordy kid and Freakin' Deacon already got the call, although I don't understand why two weeks ago they were scheduled this week then didnt get a match, but oh well.
Hopefully Cabana and Ace Steel can get a call up and as I said on Tha O Show reform the Saints. It won't happen though, Cabana hasn't had time to learn the E style.
What is it though, the E goes through these injury cycles. It's kind of weird. I really hate that about Greg Helms, if he was given the chance he could be a main event player.
Didn't Shawn just blow out his knee as well?
i can't belive they get rid of the good talent like RVD, Sabu, Conway and Scotty 2 Hotty but they keep some of the worse like Khali and Mark Henry.
Also if they get rid of Sandman and some of the other ECW guys who the hell are they going to have to ECW's One NIght Stand" ppv, or should we call it ECW's "Last Stand".
It seems you can add Mark Canterbury (he of Henry O Godwinn fame) to the list.
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