In yesterday's post, I wrote about Lance Cade's departure from WWE and I speculated that it had something to do with a blown spot which occurred on one of the recent episodes of Monday Night Raw.
I was wrong. Partially.
Jim Ross - on his blog - made a post that, if you read between the lines, acknowledges that Cade's dismissal was due to a drug-related seizure the wrestler had whilst travelling on a aeroplane.
In this post Ross writes:
The story that I have read on many Internet sites about the reason for Cade's sudden dismissal isn't accurate. Many pundits speculate that Cade was dismissed because of a bad performance in a recent TV bout against DX on Raw which is absolutely untrue. Lance's dismissal had zero to do with his in ring performances or his lack of ability.
Was this blog one of the 'many Internet sites' ?
He goes on to state that:
Lance Cade was dismissed from the WWE because, like many humans, he made a major league mistake while utilizing bad judgment that cost him his job. This included Lance having a seizure on an airplane and having to have emergency medial care. Luckily, Lilian Garcia was on the same flight and was instrumental in helping Lance get taken to a hospital where a battery of tests were run that luckily determined that there was nothing seriously wrong with the young man such as a brain tumor, etc.
So, the implication here is that Cade reacted badly to a drug - or drugs - he had taken. I am just having a hard time buying that this was the only reason why he was released. I have a few examples to back this thought up.
In 2005, days after Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room, Nick Dinsmore (AKA Eugene) suffered a drug overdose in an English hotel. As this was at a time where a lot of eyes were on the company, WWE indefinitely suspended the wrestler and ordered him to check in to a rehabilitation facility. Dinsmore did and the suspension was lifted in January of 2006.
Then, there's Jeff Hardy.
Hardy refused to go to rehab in 2003. This prompted the company to fire him. Three years later, he was re-signed to WWE and nothing was said of the 'rehab or fired' ultimatum he was given during his last stint.
Since his return, Hardy has had two suspensions due to his drug usage and - in a twist of irony - a number of weeks ago there was an incident on an aeroplane where Hardy was deemed unfit to fly and was escorted from the plane.
The third and final strike was not struck.
Hardy announced that he had drunk too much and that was the line accepted by the company. After all, Hardy was a few weeks away from headlining their No Mercy pay-per-view. They couldn't afford to ruin one of their top matches.
It was a mid-morning flight. Didn't the company wonder why one of their top stars was wasted at 11:30am?
Let's also remind ourselves of two other examples of WWE stars going wild.
Santino Marella, one of the funniest midcard acts at the moment, was arrested for a DUI in Florida and nothing was done with him.
Michael Brendli (AKA Mikey from the Spirit Squad) was arrested for a DUI in Florida and ended up fired by WWE.
The 'being a black eye for the company' line doesn't work when you have precedences set on both sides of the coin.
Jeff Hardy and Santino Marella can make the company money - Lance Cade and Michael Brendli couldn't.
It's easy to see who WWE would protect the most.
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