WWE Releases Five Superstars, Referee

World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms on the release of ECW Superstars Stevie Richards and Colin Delaney, Raw tag team Robbie & Rory of The Highlanders, Smackdown Diva Cherry, and WWE referee Wes Adams as of August 15, 2008.

Richards' last televised match was on August 1st, when he was defeated by The Brian Kendrick. Delaney just wrestled this past Tuesday on ECW in a losing effort to Tommy Dreamer in an Extreme Rules Match. Robbie & Rory got their first televised match in months this past Monday, losing to Cryme Tyme. Cherry was on the losing end in the Six Diva Olympic Tag Team Match last Friday night on Smackdown. Wes Adams was a referee on Smackdown.

Most of these releases don't come as a surprise to me. With the recent release of Nunzio, I knew it was only a matter of time before Stevie Richards and/or Super Crazy would get the axe. ECW originals are dropping like flies, and I would put Tommy Dreamer in that boat if he wasn't getting a moderate push on ECW every week. But now that his feud with Colin is over, how much longer does he have? Colin Delaney was nothing more than a novelty wrestler. No one actually believed he was going to make it big or headline any show. The kid is 175 pounds soaking wet, there is no one on the roster he should be able to wrestle and legitimately have a chance of beating. This is long overdue. The Highlanders were just floating under the radar for the longest time. I was expecting this release far earlier, around Wrestlemania this year when Robbie was shown on TNA Impact. After that, you never saw them teaming up on Raw, and Robbie had maybe one squash match. It's just one less tag team you have to worry about on Raw. Cherry was the only release that shocked me. Once Deuce and Domino split up, I expected them both to get released quickly, and Cherry become a mainstay on the new Smackdown Diva division. Domino was released last week, as expected, but Deuce is still a part of Raw, probably because of who father is. If he isn't seen on Raw by the end of the month, expect him to get released as well. But as for Cherry, she didn't do a whole lot when she wrestled, mainly because she was thrown into tag matches all the time, but I think she had potential. And then Wes Adams...well...Smackdown could always use new referees.

In closing, I am going to make some predictions as to the next batch of releases. I've been predicting since the beginning of the year that Charlie Haas would be released...but to avail, he still has a job! But his time is running thin. I'd say at least 3 of these people will be released the next time WWE does some "summer cleaning": Charlie Haas, Super Crazy, Chuck Palumbo, D.H. Smith, Funaki and Kenny Dykstra. I am actually willing to put money that Dykstra is out the door soon. He is wrestling Triple H on Smackdown this week, and is obvious going to get destroyed. Recently, all these released wrestlers are getting one last match on TV before they are shown the door. I see this in Dykstra's future as well.