Back in 2005... Joey Styles cut this highly scripted promo live on RAW (c'mon now, we all know everything said is scripted...why else would they pay Brain Gewirtz?)
"You want to apologize, like nothing happened; like you didn't knock me on my ass in front of millions of people worldwide? And I'm going to come down there and work with you? I'm not coming back. And now, thanks to the magic of live television, I'm going to show the whole world why for seven years in ECW I was the unscripted, uncensored, loose cannon of commentary!
"Six months ago, WWE called ME! I didn't call this company because I was looking for a job, I didn't need a job. WWE called ME, because they had humiliated and fired, again, Jim Ross. So I get JR's spot. And from week one, week after week, I've got an ongoing lecture about the differences in professional wrestling and sports entertainment. I'm not allowed to say 'pro wrestling,' I'm not allowed to say 'wrestler.' I have to say 'sports entertainment' and refer to the wrestlers as 'superstars'.
"I'm told to deliberately ignore the moves and the holds during the matches so I can tell stories. Well, ignoring the moves and the holds is damned insulting to the athletes, the 'wrestlers' not the 'entertainers,' who leave their families 300 days a year to ply their craft in that ring!
"Here's the best part. Because I'm not a 'sports entertainment storyteller,' I get pulled from Wrestlemania. And the reason I'm given is, "because I don't sound like Jim Ross," who is the guy they fired in the first place. That makes sense, right? So I swallow the bitter pill, I'm a company guy. I get bumped from Wrestlemania.
"Then I get bumped from Backlash?! I'm not good enough to call Backlash?! In ECW, I called live pay-per-views on my own, solo. No color commentators dragging me down. Wasn't done before me, hasn't been done since. But I'm not good enough to call Backlash, because I'm not a 'sports entertainment storyteller.'
"Well you know what? I am sick of sports entertainment. I am sick of male cheerleaders. I am sick of boogers, and bathroom humor, and semen, and I am sick of our chairman who likes to talk about his own semen and mocks God. He mocks God! And makes out with the Divas all to feed his own insatiable ego. I am sick of sports entertainment. And most of all, I am sick of you fans who actually buy into that ****! This sports entertainment circus!
"I never needed this job, and I don't want this job anymore! I quit!"
It's funny how quickly that was forgotten whenever Joey Styles is mocked for being pulled from TV
Way way back in 2003, Triple H said this to Ric Flair during an epsiode of RAW:
"Just lay down, and I'll take care of the rest."
Now... to have some fun with this, I'm just going to bet Stephanie McMahon said that to him plenty of times over the years cause it resulted in two kids. HA!
The more and more I think about it, a lot of RAW's rating problems that are casued by content can be traced back to the Head Writter of the show, Brian Gewirtz and here's how I can justified it: The guy is a geek.
Now as a geek myself, I can safely call him one cause only a geek would come up Santina Marella and waste the lives of millions of fans of parading around the guy Jim Cornett beat the hell out of around in a dress. Only a geek could up with Hornswoggle passing out after seeing Santina's wing-dang-doddle. Only a geek would actually want Fudgie the Whale on RAW... Only a geek would come up with with the "Trump vs Rosie" and "Obama vs Clinton" matches. Only a geek would book a near twenty minute long segement around Johnny Knoxville getting his ass kicked... you see my point?
Now let's face it, wrestling is about a bunch of men fighting over honor, pride, over women, sex, drugs and rock and roll. That's wrestling at it's very core, and RAW's head writter is a guy who's best work was writting Edge and Christian when their characters were geeks (2000-01) and everything he's done since then has helped crippled RAW on countless occasions.
Hell if it wasn't for John Cena, Kofi Kingston and now The Miz along with the RAW Brand Divas, I woildn't even bother with RAW at all. It's no small wonder that Rey Mysterio wanted to get the hell out of working under Gewirtz and get back to SmackDown where Michael 'Hand him a drink' Hayes is the head writter and that Jim Ross reported that Rey was happy like a like a pig in slop (not in those exact words but you get my point)
WWE is apparently claiming the rights to the "Superstar" Billy Graham name and his character's trademark likeness as the letter specifies that he is forever precluded from "using any names, likeness, costumes, props, gimmicks, gestures, routines, themes, personalities, or caricatures, which refer or relate to, or which are confusingly similar to those [he] used while bound by the contract."
They are also requesting that Graham return any property belonging to the company prior to the termination date of his contract, citing championship belts and costumes.
Ok morons.... one just has to go check out the United States Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov) and search their database and you will see that the WWE DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS to Superstar Billy Graham's name, character, likeness and everything else related to him.
Now how is that a low to the ground guy from New Jersey like myself can actually go that extra mile? Simple, it's called doing the right thing! The WWE HAS NO RIGHT to claim anything in regards to Superstar Graham. Hell I'm shocked as hell they are doing this considering that Brutus Beefcake cleaned their clocks last year over the same legal issue. I'd love to see the WWE just to try and pull this stunt with Shawn Michaels down the road... or better yet, let's see them try it with Ricky Steamboat!
