– World Wrestling Entertainment announced tonight that Heidenreich had been released from the company. Several weeks back, Heidenreich checked himself into a hospital citing an ear infection. The story making the rounds is that when WWE agents came to collect Heidenreich to bring him to the next show on the loop, he turned them down saying he couldn’t deal with being on the road anymore. Heidenreich flew himself home and hasn’t appeared since.
Among the wrestlers, the word was going around that Heidenreich was dealing with some family problems, so it may be a case of WWE releasing him to deal with what he needs to take care of and leaving the door open for a return down the line. I was told that several workers had been trying to contact Heidenreich over the last week but hadn’t heard back. The release had been expected since WWE announced the lineup for an upcoming tours of Japan and New Zealand that featured Animal working tags with Matt Hardy.
Heidenreich was signed by WWE in 2001 and officially debuted in October 2003 on TV after a long run in Ohio Valley Wrestling as Big Bad John. The Louisiana native was managed for a heel run by Paul Heyman during a feud with The Undertaker. He was later turned babyface and teamed with Animal as one half of the new Legion of Doom, where they won the WWE Tag Team championships and feuded with MNM.
– WWE officials Dean Malenko and John Laurinaitis were in Lousville, Kentucky yesterday evaluating talent at Ohio Valley Wrestling. They signed manager Kara Slice and Cliff “Domino” Compton to developmental deals. Compton, who does what I am told is a hysterical impression of comedian Andrew “Dice” Clay has been teaming with WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka’s son Deuce Shade in what has been described to me as a 1950’s Greasers/Outsiders (the S.E. Hinton novel, not the NWO tag team) gimmick, complete with Slice on roller skates like a car hop waitress. Compton is originally from the Northeast and trained at the Monster Factory in New Jersey. He’s worked for a number of Northeastern indy companies including Afa’s WXW in Pennsylvania. Slice has been working as a valet in the Northeast for some time and moved to OVW a few months back hoping to earn a developmental contract. For those of you who want to check out some pictures of Kara, click here.