Dear WWE, Please Release John Morrison from his Contract

Five years ago, I found myself skipping WWE’s Flagship Programming (SmackDown and RAW) in favor of the WWE’s red headed step child, ECW. After almost two years of watching John Cena and Dave Batista clean out the red and blue brands, I decided that I’d tune into ECW for some unpredictable programming.  After a few months of stellar ECW programming, the WWE began airing vignettes for the debut of CM Punk.

Initially, I was intrigued by Punk and his straightedge gimmick to the point where I anticipated his debut more than the return of my then favorite WWE Superstar, Dave Batista. Unsurprisingly, Punk delivered and I’ve remained his biggest fan to this day.  Thing is, I admired Punk to a point where I despised all of his adversaries.

You can imagine how I felt about Hardcore Holly when he ended his undefeated streak.

Nonetheless, when Punk finally set his sights on the ECW Championship the following year, I was star struck when I realized he would be facing the Rabid Wolverine, Chris Benoit. Benoit was also a favorite amongst yours truly as he was my go to guy whenever I wanted a quality matchup.

When Benoit and Punk defeated Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von in singles matches to determine who would face off for the vacant ECW Championship, I was thrilled. However, a match that occurred on that same edition of ECW also thrilled yours truly.

ECW Newcomer, Johnny Nitro, defeated Nunzio in his largely ignored debut. To be honest, I didn’t like Johnny Nitro and figured this matchup would be a snore. To my surprise, Nitro put on a great match while displaying some of the most unique offense I’ve ever witnessed.

Don’t get me started on the corkscrew neckbreaker.

I lightened my opinion of Johnny Nitro that night and considered him “okay” in my book.

When Vengeance Night of Champions rolled around, I was surprised to learn that Nitro would replace Benoit because of some problems Chris Benoit had. I wasn’t thrilled when I learned of the news but considering Nitro’s performance against Nunzio a few days before.

However, my fandom of CM Punk ruled out any possibility of Nitro picking up the win.

At the time, I didn’t use the internet as much as had no knowledge of Vince McMahon’s hatred of CM Punk and his gimmick.

Johnny Nitro won the match with an elevated corkscrew neckbreaker while I was left in awe.

To be honest, I was infuriated by this decision and was hoping Punk or Benoit would win the championship from Nitro the first chance they got. Unfortunately, Chris Benoit’s life had met its horrific end and the actions of Chris Benoit overshadowed anything WWE related.

I realized that it was in everyone’s best interest to move on and forget the actions of Chris Benoit while enjoying WWE programming.

As the weeks passed, Johnny Nitro began to grow on me through his exquisite performances against John Cena and Tommy Dreamer. I “liked” Nitro but it was just something about his character that kept me from adopting this guy as a favorite amongst myself. That’s when the transformation of Johnny Nitro to John Morrison occurred.

John Morrison had it.

The arrogance, swagger, and wrestling style that clicked with a fan like myself.

John Morrison became my favorite WWE Superstar that day (besides Punk) and remains my favorite to this day. As I look back on his transformation and additional time in the WWE, it brings about a feeling out bitterness and anger.

Why?

He’s leaving the WWE soon.

Yes, the proverbial writing on the wall has been apparent to me for quite some time. Instead of thinking realistically like I am accustom to, I tried to remain positive and ignore the fact that he was losing every match he had partaken in since his return.

My positivity forced me to ignore the incidents with Trish Stratus, derogatory comments on Twitter, and relationship with Melina as possible factors for a dismissal/departure from the WWE.

Reality hit me in the face over the course of a 47 second squash match that saw Del Rio destroy Morrison with ease. In the weeks that followed, Morrison’s undeniable losing streak continued with him laying down in fatal four way and singles matchup’s.

Last night, I got a glimmer of hope when he faced Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship. The fact that Cody Rhodes defeated Morrison in formal attire displays the fact that the match was meant for Rhodes to go over and the WWE to bury JoMo for no apparent reason.

I thought that this may’ve been the WWE’s way of sparking a feud between Morrison and Rhodes but I was in for a rude awakening tonight.

As Mark Henry stood calmly in the ring for a matchup on Monday Night RAW, I whispered to myself “please don’t be Morrison”.

Moments later, there he was making his way to the ring with the infamous tune by Stonefree Experience playing in the background. Unsurprisingly, Morrison was easily defeated by Mark Henry under two minutes.

While I’ve become accustom to Morrison jobbing on a constant basis, the fact that the WWE went through with this on his birthday is absolutely disgusting.

Despite my wave of emotions to this and the WWE as a whole, I can truthfully say this guy is the only reason I remain a viewer of WWE programming. Despite this, I firmly believe he should go through with his departure or the WWE should release him from his contract.

This consistent and pointless burying is getting to a point where Morrison won’t be able to recover if this is punishment for some of Morrison’s questionable actions.

I observe the cases of Montel Vontavious Porter and Randal Keith Orton as kind notions to my opinion. MVP was too cocky backstage and was buried by WWE management until they decided they would use him properly once again. Thing is, Porter’s burial had gotten to a point where he couldn’t recover from it.

It was that bad.

On the other hand, I use Orton to display the double standard in the WWE.

A few months back, Orton aired out Kelly Kelly and her promiscuous ways on a radio show while criticizing a number of his colleagues. There was indeed backstage heat on Orton but nothing came of it. The Viper got away with his derogatory comments while Morrison is undoubtedly paying for his.

It infuriates me to continue watching this treatment when others have done/said worse and have gotten the proverbial “slap on the wrist”.

Now that the end of this burial is nowhere in sight, I hope I read Morrison’s name on a future endeavored list soon as the WWE is tarnishing him for the fans who have admire him for years.

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