WWE “future endeavored” a fair amount of their roster today. Perhaps some of these were necessary, but were some of them oversights on the company’s part?

Curt Hawkins

Hawkings began his stint way back in 2007 – which seems crazy when you think about it. He was paired up with Zack Ryder – at the time they were Brian and Brett Majors (AKA the Major Brothers) and went on to capture the tag titles. Eventually they would split up and go their separate ways. Unfortunately, Hawkins would play the Marty Jannetty to Zack Ryder’s Shawn Michaels – and that isn’t saying much. I struggle to think of the last time I saw Hawkins in a WWE ring. He would pop in once in a while or pair up with someone for a bit, but some people probably weren’t aware that he was still with the company. There was a lot of talent here and more could have probably been done, but WWE must not have seen it that way. This is probably the best move for him, as he could potentially find more success being used on the indie scene, rather than standing by idly on WWE’s roster.

Evan Bourne

Evan Bourne got the fans behind him and was extremely likable. Unfortunately, he made some bad decisions in a short amount of time. After professing that he studies ways to maximize his health (with an aspiration to be the longest living person in history) he found himself suspended for 30 days due to violating the wellness policy. He was using synthesized marijuana – which is an odd choice, seeing as how WWE will suspend you for this, but only fine you for using actual marijuana. After 30 days, Bourne returned to action and within about a week, received another suspension – this time a 60 day suspension as it was his second violation. In a little over a month, he was already at two strikes. Missing three months while you’re receiving a push is a good way completely deaden your momentum. He then would go on to suffer an unfortunate auto accident, which took him out of action for over a year. He surface on NXT sometime last year but was seldom to ever used. I reckon that WWE saw him as a major liability. After too many problems, one can only conclude that the subject in question either is the cause of their own problems, or just has extraordinary bad luck. Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the WWE to deal with either and cutting him loose is the right move.

Aksana

You know – Aksana, good looking woman, could work fairly well, except for almost blinding Naomi in one eye… – not sure this was a good idea. I think this could have been given a bit more of a chance. First she was Teddy Long’s femme fatale, then she was Cesaro’s valet (remember that?), and then she kind of floundered ever since. I think she had a look and a character that could have been utilized way better. Perhaps they thought Lana neutralized the need for Aksana (Aksana being Lithuanian and Lana being Russian, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?). Either way, I’m going nay on this. Bad move, WWE.

Teddy Long

I love Teddy Long. You have to love Teddy Long. He’s been in the business a long time, possibly before some of you reading this were even born. He carved out a decent career for himself – it’s hard to not enjoy seeing a cute little man in a double breasted suit dancing happily and then announcing a straight-up tag team match. That being said – he has had a successful, long, fruitful career. His on air role was that of the GM of Smackdown for the better part of a decade. The era of GMs seems to be coming to a close as far as I can tell. Although they exist in theory, they’re an afterthought. The Authority, that outranks GMs, is present on just about every show and therefore makes GMs redundant at most. Teddy, I love you man, I loved watching you, loved hearing you call people “playa,” but it’s time to go home and rest my man. You’ve earned it. I suspect a Hall of Fame spot will be waiting for you sometime in the next few years.

Yoshi Tatsu

WWE, this is an example of you missing the boat. This is a guy that you dropped into the show with just about no fanfare or build up – and he got over. The fans got behind him. He had a look, he was entertaining and funny, considering that his gimmick disallowed him to speak English, and he was an excellent worker. So what did you do? You forgot he existed and had him get beaten up backstage once in a while. Shame on you. Someone in the back wasn’t paying attention. I hope wherever he ends up, he makes a lot of money for the company he’s with as well as himself, and you guys kick yourselves for it.

Camacho

I can’t say much about Camacho, because we barely saw him! Seriously, can you remember one Camacho match? I’d like to say “if he was just hanging around the roster and not being used, it’s probably better that they got rid of him,” but I don’t see how you expected him to get over in the first place, WWE, if he got virtually no air time. I’m ruling fault of WWE on this one.

Brodus Clay

Brodus’s gimmick gave him what many know to be the “glass ceiling.” This isn’t his fault. The dancing thing, it was actually over. We all suspected that the time would come when he would abandon the goofy dinosaur gimmick and turn into a huge monster. For a time, it looked like this was the path we were about to go down. Unfortunately for Brodus, they didn’t seem to have any long term plans for this and after jobbing him out a few times, they seemed to lose him in the shuffle. They were able to find him to give him a pink slip, though. This is a bad decision. The only monsters you have on the roster right now are Kane – who is getting up there age-wise, and Brock Lesnar – who has three matches a year. I’m calling this one a mistake on WWE’s part.

Drew McIntyre

What is there to say? Vince clearly had a huge crush on this guy at first. Where did Drew go wrong? He did marry ‘Tiffany’ in real life, and only six months later they had a domestic dispute and news broke that they were divorcing. Maybe that incident was all it took to have him fall out of Vince’s good graces? Either way, he was lumped into 3MB. This definitely felt like a demotion – even though 3MB has since found a cult following. It’s hard to believe that Drew McIntyre was the Intercontinental champion five years ago already. Either way, I think this is a bad move. Drew McIntyre was a solid worker and could have been a real success if they didn’t push him so hard and then throttle him down for no apparent reason.

Jinder Mahal

Jinder never was over. His whole presence was a complete waste. He debuted as a random character thrown into a Great Khali story. The story (for those that forgot) was that he was marrying into the family and the family was tight on cash, but he came from means and they had to do whatever he said if they wanted his financial assistance… at least that’s what I remember. The story might not have been that interesting and I made it better in my brain. Anyway, within like, a month of Khali being a reluctant heel, he turned face again, defeated Jinder and that was the end of Jinder. He completely was a non-entity after that and also found himself lumped into 3MB, ironically this was a promotion for him. Being that he was the biggest jobber in the biggest jobber faction, I’d say he’s probably better off boosting his stock in another company.

JTG

While writing this, news broke that JTG was indeed let go. JTG not being let go was similar to the Undertaker’s streak. After a few times where you thought there were a chance the streak would come to an end, you accepted that it never would come to an end. We expected JTG to get fired since he didn’t even appear on air in over a year, but when he was finally let go – it was shocking in some weird way. You probably shouldn’t have been shocked, but you were. Suffice it to say, it was probably meant to be. JTG was a member of the roster for over 7 years. After they split up Cryme Tyme and went with the decision to have JTG go over Shad Gaspard – JTG never seemed to find his footing – not that there was much of a chance for him to do so. I’m not certain as to what a lower-carder makes in WWE when not being utilized in any matches, but I reckon he’ll probably be able to make as much, if not more, elsewhere, and actually get to practice his craft.