Even More On Burke's WWE Firing, Major RAW Edit This Week, Chavo, More
It's interesting to note that Elijah Burke was originally slated to be moved to the Raw brand when Shelton Benjamin moved to ECW late last year, but head Raw writer Brian Gewirtz had no interest in using him and the plan was nixed. Around the same time, WWE had plans for Kofi Kingston to be called up to the main roster, but Gewirtz had no interest in him as well. Also, SmackDown head writer Michael Hayes didn't want him either, hence his move to ECW upon his debut.
In another interesting trivia note, Elijah Burke was originally tapped to be part of the Spirit Squad, but turned the spot down. He believed the gimmick would kill his career, so he decided to wait longer to be called up to WWE. As it turned out, considering what happened with pretty much everyone on the team, he lasted longer than everyone sans Nic Nemeth (a.k.a. Dolph Ziggler) and Kenny Dykstra, who was ironically cut the same day.
Burke was called up to the SmackDown roster in a pairing with Sylvester Terkay in the summer of 2006 and with the exception of Kenny Dykstra, the Spirit Squad members were sent back down to developmental by the end of the year. Around the same time, Burke really started to get noticed in WWE and he soon became the leader of the "New Breed." Some believed Burke had small attitude issues, but several people felt he was great with promos, and as a result, had potential to be a money star in the future. Hence, he became the lead heel of the "New Breed." However, the angle eventually ran its course and the company apparently gave up on him. Even though he was considered to be a success in his role with the "New Breed," nobody could give a good reason as to why he wasn't being used anymore, even those directly involved in the creative process.
All of the recent cuts were part of WWE's decision to release talent not being used as a result of the company's cost cutting directive. Burke had not been used since May and there were obviously no plans to use him anytime soon, hence his dismissal from the company.
Chavo Guerrero has an account on the WWE Universe site and has posted his first blog. He talks about people impersonating on the Internet and people not liking him. Guerrero wrote: "If someone is going to make an opinion about me, I'd like that person to have all the facts first. Then if they don't like me, well the don't like me. But they will not be liking me, not some person pretending to be me. Make any sense? I hope so. I know not everyone is going to like me, and to be honest, I don't care. I stopped trying to please EVERYONE a long time ago. We all get so caught up in trying to make people like us, that we lose who we truly are. If someone doesn't like the real you, then you shouldn't have to change who you are to please them. Stay true to yourself and the people who like you will be your true friends."
Monday's Raw taping in Manchester apparently went too long and one segment was cut as a result. JBL did an interview during the show, which was cut. He came out wearing a neck brace as a result of Undertaker's tombstone piledriver the week before on Raw, and built up his match at Survivor Series — which was announced on WWE.com after the show. JBL also did a Million Dollar Man-like segment where he would give money to a fan who could recite the last five U.S. presidents. The fan did, so he then made him recite the last five Vice Presidents, and the fan was unable to do so.