Big D has been keeping you up to date on the latest WWE cuts. Rather than continuing to create new posts on the new releases, we’re just going to keep updating this post with the dates in which the news is released.

2/26/10
Paul Burchill
Shane Helms
Maria Kanellis
Scott Armstrong

2/28/10
Charlie Haas

I didn’t even hear about this one, but apparently from PWInsider, Charlie Haas has been let go (again) from WWE. I’m surprised it took them this long.

Other releases this weekend:

- Referee Scott Armstrong
- Maria
- Hurricane Helms
- Paul Burchill

More to come.

From Cactus Jim who is live in San Jose:

1. Tobar beat Nguyen by way of 2nd round submission – rear naked choke.

2. Arenal over Miller by way of 1st round TKO. Cactus Jim said it was non-stop action.

3. Bracamnonte beat Stewart by way of 3rd round TKO. Bracamnonte dominated and it was waved off by the ref in the 3rd.

4. Phillips beat Lawson by way of 1st round submission – arm bar.

Fitch and Cain are right behind me. The Diaz bros just walked in. Gilbert and Hershel are right in front of me.

5. Medeiros beat Castillo by decision. Jim said it was pretty boring compared to undercard. Castillo wouldn’t engage much. 30-27 on all cards.

6. Tarec S beat Terry by decision. One sided most of the fight.

7. Luke Rockhold beat Paul Bradley by 1st round TKO.

8. Prangley technical draw with Amoussou. Prangley accidentally poked Amoussou in the eye in round 1. Amoussou wanted to continue, but doctor wouldn’t let him. He seemed OK.

Ladies up next.

9. Sarah Kaufman beat Takayo Hashi by unanimous decision.

According to PWInsider, World Wrestling Entertainment also released former pro wrestler turned referee Scott Armstrong today. Armstrong will most likely be remembered as the son of Bullet Bob Armstrong and the brother of BG James a.k.a. The Road Dog. He worked as enhancement talent in WCW as well.

This appears to be the end of the releases for today.

According to PWInsider.com, WWE has come to terms with the release of WWE Diva Maria Kanellis. Maria has been a WWE Diva since 2005 when she entered the company as a lovable “ditzy” babyface and was soon paired with Santino for comedy. Most recently she was involved in an angle with Dolph Ziggler as his girlfriend and then hanging around Matt Hardy’s jock. She is also the 2008 version of the WWE’s Playboy diva and the last WWE diva to be featured in Playboy (since it’s PG now).

This release is pretty surprising considering that she was one of the stars to be featured on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump.

More releases to come.

Just as many experts in the business predicted, with the elimination of ECW and the recent financial stockholders conference, WWE has already begun releasing talent from the roster.

Paul Burchill, known for his “Ripper” and “Pirate Paul” personas has been let go by World Wrestling Entertainment. He’s been a heel on ECW for the his most recent run and had pretty decent runs as a face on Smackdown in 2006. There was a lot of potential shown in OVW years ago, but WWE never capitalized on it. Katie Lea is still under contract (and no, they are not really siblings).

In addition, Shane Helms, better known to fans as Gregory Helms or the Hurricane, was also given his walking papers. There was speculation that after the incident with Chris Jericho and Matt Hardy a few weeks back (the alleged taxi cab “fight” that made TMZ headlines), that Helms would be the weakest link (with Jericho getting the World Title). Helms has a history of alcoholistic shenanigans. What surprises me is that Shane is actually one of the few talents who has been with WWE consistently, (not including a one year absence due to a neck injury) since 2001 when WWF bought WCW.

Irony that they were both feuding with each other last.

More releases to come, we’ll keep you updated.

(I want to have this up by Tuesday usually, but because of WWE NXT, I decided to push it back one day. And then it became two days. Sorry ’bout that.)

After Smackdown, WWE Elimination Chamber, and now Raw, we have three pretty big matches for WrestleMania XXVI. I know some of you will disagree with what I’m going to say next and it’s probably going to be unpopular, but I truly believe it.

Raw on Monday was the perfect wrestling show. I know, I know. There wasn’t any good matches. It was chock full of angles. There was more talking than anything else. There was very little wrestling. I get that, you get that, everyone gets that.

But it begs the question – what should Raw, Smackdown, and Impact be? Should they be stand alone episodes which is what TNA seems to want Impact to be? Or should they be marketing vehicles in order to get us to pay for the actual wrestling? Here comes Mr. Unpopular. I say the second.

I honestly don’t care about great wrestling on weekly television. It’s nice to have, but I’m rarely paying attention close enough and there’s already too much wrestling on TV to begin with. I don’t miss the in ring work. That’s why I buy the PPV shows. If the PPV shows don’t deliver the wrestling that I want to see, then fine, that’s a good gripe to have.
Continue Reading »

ESPN are reporting that Golden Boy promotions have signed US amateur standout Frankie Gomez to a multi year contract. Gomez, who is just 18, won a silver medal in last years World Amateur Championship. I truly believe that the World Championships are the tougher competition in boxing to medal in. Gomez was one of the youngest boxers in the tournament, and he made a serious statement in going all the way to the final. I viewed him as Team USA’s best prospect for 2012, and losing him at this stage has to be considered a huge blow to American amateur boxing.
Continue Reading »

We all generally liked the former No Way Out. If Elimination Chamber was a two hour show, it might’ve been one of the great PPVs of our time. Sadly, there was a middle hour that dropped it down a notch.

Here’s what we had to say about the show:

Big D
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Smackdown Chamber
Worst Match: Maryse and Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool and Layla

We talked about it in detail on the last edition of FGB Radio. Show had an awesome opener and closer with the chambers and successfully set up a multitude of matches for Wrestlemania without sacrificing match-quality. I liked the surprise of Batista and HBK (even I predicted it verbatim on our Rumble postgame) and it’s good to see Jericho with the belt again.

Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Smackdown Chamber
Worst Match: Drew McIntyre vs. KaneContinue Reading »

I wanted to give a few thoughts on the new WWE NXT show. It’s very unpolished. I’m not sure they even have an idea for what they want to do. It seems like it was decided to go this route very late in the game and it’s just all over the place.

I have a some quick thoughts:
- It took Daniel Bryan a little while to get going, but I thought he out-promoed The Miz, and I love The Miz’s work. I think The Miz overdid it a bit simply to highlight their differences in personalities. But yikes, Miz looked like a giant next to Bryan.
- Why would you have a mentor even wrestle a rookie? Do you get these guys over by just beating them quickly and easily? When has that ever worked?
- When David Otunga said that he was going to win NXT, what the heck did he mean? And Otunga needs a bra badly. But I did like his catchphrase, “Come on man, Google me.” It should be, “Thanks to my fiance Jennifer Hudson, I’m not on bad reality television trying to win the love of someone Flavor Flav said no to anymore.”
- Darren Young looks like Orlando Jordan. Has to be a rib right?
- Is there any more proof that they had no content for this show than going to commercial three times before Bryan and Jericho finally wrestled?
- Matt Striker as the sideline reporter comes off as a complete joke, but then again, maybe that’s what it’s supposed to be.
- Why did they have Michael Cole take the heel role and not Striker when it came to shooting down wrestling fans?
- If Bryan is a rookie, then what does that make generic guys on Raw and Smackdown who get pinned quickly on TV?

Overall, I was very unimpressed with the show. On the positive tip, we got to see about 10% of Bryan Danielson’s work, but it was still better than any match on Raw yesterday thanks to both he and Jericho.

Also, if this is an introductory show, why were all the guys not introduced? It just seems that they really don’t know what they want to do with the concept and I would’ve rather seen either a reality show like Tough Enough or just a spruced up version of FCW.