WWE News: JBL Frustrated With Wrestling Career, The Latest On Carlito, Hardys Kept In The Dark On The Draft

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

--
There is talk going on regarding JBL's in-ring future. His back is
still in a lot of pain (the original reason for his hiatus) and he is
frustrated that he can't wrestle at the level he'd like. His back
problems likely hinder his ability to train as effectively as he'd
like, not to mention that he's in his forties and presumably not on
anything, which is why his physique sometimes doesn't look up to par in
comparison to the other wrestlers.

-- At the moment, Carlito is
talking like he's staying put in WWE. He was said to be really unhappy
with his push, particularly after Raw two weeks ago when he and Marella
jobbed to Cryme Tyme. At one point it looked like Marella & Carlito
were going to get the tag titles, but it never materialized. The
company made the decision for them not to get the belts due to
storyline plans involving Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly,
and he was said to be really upset. Carlito gave his notice at the end
of last year but Vince McMahon talked him into staying, saying he would
get a bigger push. The push never materialized and he got upset again.
He got conflicting stories from the Raw creative team on his long-term
future, and he got a sense that head writer Brian Gewirtz wasn't really
looking to pushing him. In light of declining ratings, Gewirtz has been
pressured to devote more time on the show to the biggest stars on Raw.
Some friends suggested he try getting moved to ECW, where he'd be a
headliner, or Smackdown, which before the draft, had less depth, as
well as a huge Hispanic television audience that WWE is paying great
attention to now. The feeling on his move to SmackDown is that head
writer Michael Hayes would at least start him out with a push and give
him an opportunity to sink or swim. The knock on Carlito is that he
usually works well enough to get by, but not well enough to headline
and move past mid-card status.

-- Both Matt and Jeff Hardy
weren't told about their respective brand moves beforehand. After their
one match together on Raw, Matt was sent to ECW and the reaction you
saw from them was their real reaction because both brothers had no idea
it was going to happen. In Jeff's case, he was told about the move to
SmackDown a few moments before the announcement on television. On
another note regarding the brand changes, pretty much all of the
draftees with the probable exception of Triple H have no idea what the
moves mean or what their new roles will be as creative hasn't given
them an explanation on anything.