The One WWE Superstar Cursed By Mass Firings
Unfortunately, one man has been through this process before.
They say you can't put a price on loyalty. As far as WWE understands the phrase, that means it's worthless.
Just look at some of the names the company has callously let go in the past 24 hours, as an ostensible response to America's current economic climate, but in reality a self-serving measure to ensure profit margins - and as such, stock prices - retain the value they did in January. Zack Ryder, an effective mascot for the brand who has stuck by the company through personal creative malfeasance for fifteen years. Shunted to the scrapheap. Dave Finlay, a producer who fell on his sword to protect WWE pet project The Miz from his own stupidity in 2011, before returning a year later and helping fashion a new paradigm of women's wrestling in the promotion. Gone. Mike Chioda - Mike Chioda! - a senior official whose tenure stretched back as far as Survivor Series '89, and one of the few remaining threads linking today's malformed WWE to the Golden Era. Three decades of service rewarded by a release, at a time when alternative employment is in short supply.
And what about those who risked the health of both themselves and their families to keep WWE ticking over as shutdowns spread across the States? This past Monday, both No Way José and Sarah Logan were in Florida for a Raw taping, despite what was surely a strong desire to stay home. The former even travelled all the way from the west coast to Orlando to fulfill his obligations. On Wednesday afternoon, he was handed his P45.
The details of any severance packages are not currently known, but the financial band aid of a golden handshake does not quell the existential crisis the majority, if not all, of the released employees now face. Some will be able to weather the blow better than others, whether through historic earnings or industry assurances that work will be waiting for them when this is mercifully over. Others will be plunged into a tailspin of panic. Where do NXT trainees Aleksandar Jaksic and MJ Jenkins - neither of whom had made a television appearance - go from here, when even a 'regular' job is unavailable? The situation with Jenkins is particularly heartbreaking; she just lost her brother-in-law and legal guardian to this awful illness. Now she's lost her livelihood too.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though this self-serving cost-cutting is done yet, and by the end of the week, we can probably expect a few dozen more names shuffled to WWE's Alumni page, heartlessly jettisoned into the industry's current fiscal black hole. They, like the ones already waking up today to their new circumstances, will be wondering what next.
Thankfully, as evil as the hierarchy at their ex-employers have proven themselves to be, dispensing basic human decency for the sake of maintaining an already robust profit margin, Black Wednesday has seen the wrestling fraternity rally round its brethren. Dolph Ziggler - increasingly disinvested from the WWE noise these days - invited fans to support those out of work through independent merchandise sales. The business' most respected journalist Dave Meltzer published the relevant information for independent contractors - WWE's classification of their shorn talent - to seek emergency unemployment assistance. Veteran announcer and no stranger of dropping the hatchet Jim Ross offered words of hope, urging: "WWE folks released, please realize this is not the end but can be your new beginning.
For one man given his marching orders, this scenario, whilst magnified many times over given the global circumstances, is all too familiar. Before the advent of AEW and WWE's desire to spitefully lock down as much talent as possible, the post-WrestleMania 'spring clean' was an annual tradition as reliable as the event itself. In the weeks that followed the Show of Shows - and crucially, before the end of the financial year - the company made a habit of CCing boilerplate 'future endeavour' copy to their locker room excess. Of course, such endeavours were usually an actual possibility.
The last time the company condensed its staff with a squeeze anything like yesterday's was six years ago, on 12 June 2014 - a 'spring clean' a little later than usual. Among the names were future WWE champions Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre, as well as seasoned ref and on-screen authority figure Theodore Long. One of the most tenured, if not necessarily most celebrated, performers to see their term end was Curt Hawkins, a developmental prospect who'd been with the company since 2006. Outside of a tag title run with Zack Ryder, in twelve years the New Yorker had never been able to break through on the main roster, and it probably felt like time for a fresh start.
Hawkin's contemporaneous reaction seemed to echo that sentiment. With good humour, he Tweeted: "My worst nightmare has come true... I now have to start playing for my wrist tape again!" It was a chance to prove to WWE - and perhaps to himself - that he had something to offer the business. And it was one he embraced; two years later, after a successful spell in Impact, Hawkins earned the call to help bolster SmackDown, the blue show looking to expand following the fresh brand split. Redemption - admittedly, following a lengthy though notable losing streak - came alongside his career buddy Zack Ryder at last year's WrestleMania, as the pair lifted the Raw tag team straps in one of the night's many feelgood moments.
Today, that seems a lifetime ago. Yesterday, both were released - Hawkins for a second time.
Hawkins - under his real name, Brian Meyers - once more tweeted about his departure. The mood this was time was considerably different:
"Last time I got fired I had a really funny tweet in response to it. Doesn’t really feel appropriate today. I will say this, a lot of very talented ppl lost their jobs today and out of this disaster the PRO WRESTLING community will rise stronger than ever!"
The sense of betrayal and hurt is clear from Meyers' language, but so too is the sense of hope. Though the circumstances are dramatically more challenging, he knows as well as anyone that, as dark as this tunnel of despair may seem right now, eventually a shaft of light will appear. After all, he's been through it before.