{"id":18462,"date":"2016-05-06T11:53:23","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T16:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=18462"},"modified":"2016-05-08T01:44:23","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T06:44:23","slug":"keller-instant-take-wwe-cutback-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/05\/06\/keller-instant-take-wwe-cutback-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"KELLER INSTANT TAKE &#8211; Reaction to WWE&#8217;s roster cutbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2299942524\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>-No huge\u00a0surprises on the initial list of WWE cutbacks today. I had heard this morning they were coming. Actually, earlier this week at TV wrestlers were buzzing about it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2015\/12\/StaffKeller08_120.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4633 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2015\/12\/StaffKeller08_120.jpg\" alt=\"Wade Keller, editor\" width=\"120\" height=\"138\" \/><\/a>-The cutback of Zeb Colter seems a bit harsh if only because he had been a confidant of Vince McMahon on the booking side in recent years, a trusted ear to bounce ideas off of. He also dealt with severe health issues last year which is why he was in a wheelchair although he was private about the details. That said, serving Wall Street is a priority. Dutch, though, seems like someone WWE would benefit from having on staff to critique shows, if nothing else, as he&#8217;s a good seasoned respected wrestling mind who is willing to be blunt with his opinions.<\/p>\n<p>-Santino hadn&#8217;t been used lately, and with his in-ring career coming to an end, this felt inevitable. I suppose they could have\u00a0introduced a weekly\u00a0interview segment for him to host every week on Smackdown that might have been a nice exclusive hook for Smackdown each week. There are fans who love his personality and would make an effort to tune in or at least watch the segment on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>-Hornswoggle is a surprise if only because it seems he&#8217;s been around forever. Mid-card comedy acts in wrestling have a shelf life and they probably felt they had done all they could with him. As is often the case with cutbacks, sometimes politics plays a significant role.<\/p>\n<p>-Alex Riley is no surprise. His character on NXT was just sad over the last year or so. He was basically portraying a quarterback who no longer had it and just couldn&#8217;t give it up. He looked frustrated and lost. I did think he took a slight turn for the better as he went from the pretty boy in his 20s look to a rough-around-the-edges look and a new coarser, grittier attitude. Still, no surprise. Not sure if there&#8217;s anywhere for him to land given his resume, although I could see him getting a look from TNA.<\/p>\n<p>-Nothing to say about Cameron and El Torito.<\/p>\n<p>-Wade Barrett also just announced on Twitter he agreed to part ways with WWE a few weeks early. He was a vastly underutilized wrestler on the roster. When he first debuted on Raw, he seemed like a sure-fire 10+ year main event heel. Vince McMahon just lost his enthusiasm for him, and I know the criticism I heard of him, including his &#8220;size&#8221; (muscle-mass) from people in the industry, always felt weak to me.<\/p>\n<p>To learn a LOT about WWE behind-the-scenes happenings from 2011-2014, check out yesterday&#8217;s 90+ minute exclusive <a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/2016\/05\/05\/next-livecast-episode-former-wwe-writer-kevin-eck-wwade-keller-100-p-m-est\/\">PWTorch Livecast interview with ex-WWE creative team member Kevin Eck<\/a>. It&#8217;s getting a ton of praise on Twitter since yesterday and is one of those &#8220;must-listen podcasts.&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/2016\/05\/05\/next-livecast-episode-former-wwe-writer-kevin-eck-wwade-keller-100-p-m-est\/\">LINK<\/a>.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3475380086\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>[Hornswoggle art credit Neal Obermeyer]<\/p>\n<p><em>(Wade Keller is editor and founder of Pro Wrestling Torch and winner of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame &#8220;Jim Melby Award for Excellence in Writing on Professional Wrestling&#8221; in the class of 2015. Listen to him Tuesdays and Thursdays on the <a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/\">PWTorch Livecast<\/a>\u00a0and every single day as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">VIP member<\/a> with the Daily Wade Keller Hotline breaking news, reacting to news, reviewing Raw, and answering VIP member questions throughout the week.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2267779414\"><div id=\"pwtor-1812794485\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>-No huge\u00a0surprises on the initial list of WWE cutbacks today. I had heard this morning they were coming. Actually, earlier this week at TV wrestlers were buzzing about it. -The cutback of Zeb Colter seems <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/05\/06\/keller-instant-take-wwe-cutback-thoughts\/\" title=\"KELLER INSTANT TAKE &#8211; Reaction to WWE&#8217;s roster cutbacks\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,54,53],"tags":[2531,2639,2637,2636,414,651,2633,2634],"class_list":["post-18462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_keller","category-opinion_stafftakes","tag-alex-riley","tag-cutbacks","tag-hornswoggle","tag-kellers-take","tag-santino","tag-wade-barrett","tag-wwe-roster-cuts","tag-zeb-colter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/05\/Hornswoggle_NO_400.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18560,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18462\/revisions\/18560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}