Brian Kendrick, known professionally as Spanky, has given notice to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Kendrick requested to be released on Tuesday 1/13 at 4 PM while at the Smackdown tapings as he wanted to go back to ZERO-ONE in Japan, where he had been a regular under the ring name Leonardo Spanky. He had been scheduled to work the taping with Paul London for this Saturday's Velocity against Akio and Sakoda, but once he asked for his release, they instead booked London to work a dark match against Akio.
ZERO-ONE has Kendrick scheduled to return shortly. He is expected to be a full-time gaijin again along with Steve Corino, Tom Howard, The Predator, and Low Ki.
I am told Kendrick's request being granted is an amicable situation, so the door is open for his return down the line as WWE management was impressed with the way he handled the situation.
Kendrick, who was trained by Shawn Michaels and Rudy Boy Gonzales, signed with WWE in October 2002. He had received a short Cruiserweight push under his real name prior to Wrestlemania 19 before morphing into his longtime persona Spanky during an angle with John Cena.
In recent months, he had been paired on the Smackdown roster with another Gonzales trainee, Paul London as a babyface tag team, working mostly on Velocity. Kendrick had been under a developmental deal several years back but was released.
There is more and more unhappiness among undercard wrestlers who feel they aren't getting their shot. Many of the veterans in the company will advise them that they have to grab their shot and not wait for it to be handed to them. At the same time, they are frustrated because of the feeling that it's impossible to grab anything when week after week the creative team tells them, "We don't have anything for you right now." That frustration worsens when suggestions the wrestlers make to the creative team (In essence helping them do their job) are shot down as well.
One wrestler likened it to me as watching the New York Yankees your entire life and making your way to the team to sit on the bench for an entire season. When you think about it, Spanky is following the veterans' advice, and grabbing his shot, just outside of WWE.
H-D 