Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter
One of the most surprising names released, given the amount of television time devoted to her, was Ariel, real name Shelly Martinez. The release appears to be related to a backstage incident involving Martinez and Batista at last Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings in Baltimore, Maryland.
The two of them got into an argument in front of a number of talents while watching the taping on a monitor backstage. Whatever the argument was about hasn’t come out yet, but the feeling among those spoken to was that Martinez was defending herself against Batista. Seeing how she was on the wrong side of things politically, she ended up in the crosshairs of the company. When push came to shove, she became an enemy of Batista, who happens to be a friend of Triple H, husband of the woman who can now fire you.
Stephanie McMahon, who is now in charge of who gets fired and who gets hired, was never a fan of her. She also felt as though that she didn’t have the “WWE Diva look.” It also didn’t help matters that she was a talent hand-picked by Paul Heyman for ECW when it was originally launched, and as we all know, Stephanie absolutely loathes Heyman. All those factors worked against her and she was shown the door.
With the departure of Ariel, Kevin Thorn has been told that he may be receiving a makeover/new look, which leads some to believe that the darker/vampire elements of his character will go away. There were a few people who felt that since ECW writer Dave Lagana isn’t one to rock the boat, he’s going to go with whatever WWE management wants, instead of trying to fight for the characters and making it work.
