source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
A number of the recent WWE releases were due to the numbers game.” In recent weeks they’ve been calling up several wrestlers from Florida Championship Wrestling and they had to let some people go to make way for them. At most, WWE holds up to 110 performers on the main roster. Basically, whenever a wrestler gets called up to the main roster, that’s one more main roster wrestler that will eventually have to be let go sooner or later, and WWE finally dropped the axe on a number of fringe performers this month.
Stevie Richards fell into “the numbers game” category. While he always worked hard, it’s been clear for a number of years that no matter how hard he worked, he was always going to be slotted at a low level in WWE. The road agents praised his work at house shows, but the creative team wasn’t too fond of him. Richards would often come up with storyline ideas for himself, which the creative team actually doesn’t mind, however, he was said to aggressive about telling people his ideas, which turned some key people off. Some people labeled him as a poor politician. Also, some key people in WWE saw him as a minor league wrestler due to his ECW stigma, which he never really shook off in their eyes. Basically, some key people in WWE are of the belief that the stars of the old ECW weren’t real stars. Richards was well aware for a number of years that he could be cut at any time, so he’s prepared to deal with his unemployment. Vince McMahon’s take on Richards was pretty much indifference as he didn’t care about him all that much. Also, Richards would often be used to get Shane McMahon ready and in shape for matches whenever he would come back to wrestle.
Labels: stevie richards
