Hey guys,

Yeppers, I'm back again with my monthly OTT...not to be confused with bi-weekly articles. No, OTT is a column I use to talk about more than one thing that's on my mind, so you know it should be a lengthy read.

This column, I'm feeling like discussing not just Toronto's loss of the Mecca of the hockey world title through players and personnel leaving...but also those who've found themselves on the unemployment line courtesy of WWE. The two-sport column is back.

First, I want to rant about the Hardcore Holly situation. I hated thinking this way, but now I see I was right. Holly was written out so weakly and disrespectfully after working for WWE for 15 years, I actually didn't feel totally bad about Vince being kicked in the head on Monday.

I feel concerned about Vince’s condition, but there’s a part of me that was happy to see that for all the superstars he mistreated-the latest of which being Bob Holly.

I understand the need to cut the fat in these horrible economic times, even though as a Canadian, I have it a bit better. I understand firing people who don’t get over with the fans.

I felt so bad for people like Sean Morley (Val Venis) and D-Lo Brown when they were canned because the Cena fans are the reason. They’re all young kids, most of whom never saw either in their prime. So, they finally were fired.

Bam Neely never had me, so I was less than surprised to see him go. But the recent firing of Bob Holly really got me hot. This man gave everything to WWE, even doing humiliating gimmicks (e.g. Sparky Plugg, Bombastic Bob in the Midnight Express redux) to keep moving along.

Since his debut in early 1993, he had won tag titles, been a jobber, got over slightly working as Hardcore Holly because, like a certain HOFer, he was allowed to be himself. After his injury in the early 2000s, his return to face Brock Lesnar even gave him his one and only chance at the WWE Title.

We all knew he wouldn’t win; the match was about revenge. But at least he got the match.

Holly became almost as respected backstage as the Undertaker and he conducted himself as a leader, albeit a very angry, mean one. He hated rookies and was expected to make them prove themselves through him, just as Taker was at points in his career.

So, he got into a thing with Cody Rhodes, a man who is second generation, being groomed to be bigger than his HOF daddy. The storyline started slow, I’ll grant you, but it really made Cody better, in the ring and on the mic.

Almost 16 years have passed since Holly was hired and presented as a race car driver who moonlighted as a wrestler. He may not have liked certain gimmicks, but he did them. He earned respect in the ring for his toughness and his prideful attitude. I know I’m not the only fan who thinks so.

To have a man like him, a solid wrestler who got a bad break in the charisma department, be written out by a double-cross that would’ve kept his character down realistically a couple of weeks...it was insulting.

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