Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Carlito recently said some comments that surely upset his employer Vince McMahon. On the eve of the biggest show of the year Carlito found the platform to vent about his current position with the company. He told the Edmonton Starr, “I’m not going to cry or be bitter, there’s always next year… and I don’t want to get fired. But they’re showing disrespect by not having Ric Flair at WrestleMania and even more disrespect by not having Carlito there.” Furthermore he said, “Apparently, they had to make space for Kane vs. Khali and Melina vs. Ashley. How can I be at WrestleMania? If I politic and kiss ass, I should make it.” This wasn’t getting into hot water- this was diving head-first.

People were quick to jump all over Carlito for his comments but that is kind of ignoring what is at issue here. It’s also leaving out what Carlito has known. The problem in WWE is they find a way to de-push someone and come up with the logic for it later. It leaves us with the question-which comes first: A bad attitude, or half-hearted booking?

Carlito entered the WWE in 2003 and was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He impressed the higher-ups, and had an act that they deemed was good enough to call up. His first night on Smackdown he was given the United States title beating John Cena in Boston. The push he was about to get seemed endless. That was until he ran into Hardcore Holly who decided to work stiff with Carlito at a house show and separated his shoulder. That stalled Carlito’s push. He was put into a high profile segment at Wrestlemania 21 and then after that wa shuttled to Raw where he won the Intercontinental Title his first night in. After that though the push subsided.

It was at this time when he was pushed into a tag team with Chris Masters, and then pushed into a feud where he played on-camera punk to Randy Orton. What changed in those months with Carlito? He still had the same gimmick, same demeanor, was still serviceable in the ring. Yet WWE felt he was not worthy of the push. It’s more the backwards philosophy of WWE at play.

WWE has this habit for giving young guys a big push then pulling it back to teach them who is boss. That’s not always the case but it is definitely the norm. What happens though is it leads to situations like they are facing with Carlito. He was feuding with Flair and a match with the Nature Boy at Wrestlemania 23 could’ve been enough to push Carlito to the next level. However it was more important to teach him some kind of lesson- even if it spited The Nature Boy in the process. There is a whole batch of undercard wrestlers- Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, C.M. Punk, Carlito, Matt Hardy, etc.- who are frustrated becasue there seems to be a lack of faith shwon in them. Yet the WWE continually pushes a guy like Randy Orton who is nothing but a hassle behind the scenes. He also is extremely boring and vanilla in the ring which is ironic considering most of the young guys are being punished for reports from agents that say these guys are bad at house shows.

The young guys like to say bad booking is what gets us frustrated- WWE likes to say lack of passion makes us unwilling to push these young guys. What you end up spiraling into is a vicious circle of guys never stepping up until there is a full force push behind them. If WWE showed some faith- even in small doses- the young guys would respond better. The frustration some of these guys feel being left off Wrestlemania is widespread- Carlito is the only guy who felt the need to speak up. This week the feud with Flair was restarted again. Maybe talking is what some of these guys need to do.