Think of your favorite TV show for a moment. If a character was on that show for years, they would be written off it on-air once the actor decided to leave, the storyline they were in has run its course, or if theyre fired. Its a courtesy to both the person playing the role and the audience.There is a storyline reason for their disappearance, and were given a chance to say goodbye. But not in wrestling. Where does everyone go? Let's go back five years in time to WrestleMania XXVI. John Morrison opened the show in a tag match. John had held the ECW Title, and the Tag Team Titles and Intercontinental Title on multiple occasions. He was a seven year employee who competed in hundreds of matches, filling up many hours of WWE TV. Then, in one match he had against The Miz he was injured. That was the end. It was like Minkus on Boy Meets World, he was suddenly gone. Sodid the Morrison character quit? Is he dead? Elsewhere on that card was Michelle McCool who was later beaten up by Kharma and disappeared forever. Rey Mysterio, one of the most popular babyfaces the company ever had was at Mania too. When his contract was up, he never got to say goodbye and the announcers didn't say anything about him. What were his millions of fans thinking? Sure, Edge and HBK from that year's Mania did get farewells, but not Edges tag partner Christian. A former Heavyweight Champion just stopped showing up for work, in terms of the storyline at least. Even someone as focal to WWE as CM Punk was just gone one day. Sure, Stephanie McMahon made a reference a few months later about him quitting, but that was it. The hardcore fans chanted his name every week, while the casual ones had no clue where their hero was. This was a star character on Raw for years! Imagine Khaleesi on Game of Thrones not showing up next season, and not being mentioned a single time. This is what WWE does to us. So why cant WWE bother to write any sort of storyline exit, or at the very least, have someone cut a promo saying theyre leaving? They just assume well forget about them or not notice. To them, the brand itself is more important, the characters that you become invested in over the course of years, and cheer them on over the course of their journey are simply interchangeable and soon forgotten. Lucky you.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
