The OTTB Wrestling News thread

Jimmy Jacobs, who had wrestled for years on the independent scene and Ring of Honor before joining World Wrestling Entertainment's creative team in March 2015, was let go by the company last week. The firing became known after ProWrestlingSheet.com reported that Jacobs was gone due to heat stemming from him posing for a photo with Bullet Club members The Young Bucks when they did their "invasion" episode of their YouTube series "Being the Elite" a few weeks back outside Raw in Ontario, California.

Jacobs had posted the photo on his Instagram account and if that was indeed the reason for his firing, it can't be seen as anything but petty, especially since Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn had all appeared, in person, on the actual YouTube series and lots of WWE talents have posed for photos with talents contracted to others companies on social media.

The difference is those talents are stars, while Jacobs was "just" a writer and there is a culture behind the scenes where if you are seen as trying to get yourself over, when that isn't your role, it backfires on you, even if that wasn't what you were trying to do. I have had a number of WWE sources swear to me that a major reason Brooklyn Brawler was let go after decades of service to the company was his social media usage and other things that put him in the sights of the wrong people in the company who didn't like it, because "that wasn't his role."

Since he could understand things from a wrestler's perspective and was seen as "one of the boys", Jacobs was well liked among the talents in the company. He had suggested a number of ideas that had clicked, most notable Chris Jericho's list, which was sort of a revamped version of the list that Steve Corino used to do for ring announcements in ROH.

One WWE source believed that the while the photo was being used as the reason to fire Jacobs, noting that he had taken some time off to deal with a personal issue before returning to work this past summer, and that may have put a target on his back.

The Bullet Club YouTube angle also led to WWE firing off a cease and desist to the Young Bucks regarding their usage of the "Too Sweet" Clique hand symbol, which remains interesting as WWE doesn't own the rights to it. So, the angle led to the Bucks being in WWE's legal crosshairs, WWE paying far more attention to what Bullet Club is doing and letting Jimmy Jacobs go.

While it was a cool idea, it remains to be seen if the positives will outweigh the fallout. Nonplussed, the Bucks went on Twitter snarking that Daniel Bryan should take a photo with them, so he can be fired too, as Bryan intends to return as an active pro wrestler when his WWE deal finally expires in September 2018.

Jacobs, always a smart one when it comes to perception, quickly released an official t-shirt on ProWrestlingTees.com, showcasing his photo with the Bucks with the tag "Unprofessional." You can see and order the shirt by clicking here.

WWE doesn't traditionally comment on employees leaving the company.

A few updates on the Neville-WWE situation:

*There have been reports that Neville walked out of Raw. That is incorrect. He was never on the road this past weekend as he did not work any of the live events and was not backstage, at any point, during Raw this past Monday. Mustafa Ali worked the Raw house shows, wrestling Enzo Amore, replacing Neville, who was originally slated for those shows.

*The original plan for Raw was Neville vs. Enzo Amore, but that was changed late in the day when it became known Neville would not be at the taping (possibly when everyone was made aware he wasn't going to be there), the decision was made to go with Kalisto and put the belt on him as a way to tie him to the legacy of Eddie Guerrero, as it was Guerrero's birthday and he legitimately helped inspire Kalisto to get into professional wrestling.

*According to two different sources, Neville has pushed for a release with the idea of leaving the company and building his name outside of it, similar to what Drew McIntyre did prior to his return to NXT. We have been told there were several factors Neville was unhappy with. One source claimed a souring point was being left off of the Wrestlemania 33 DVD, which meant no royalties from what is traditionally the biggest selling WWE DVD of the year.

*Neville is still under contract to the company and has not been released. It is entirely possible the two sides will come to terms and he will return to the company, but as of right now, we are told he is not factored in any of the current plans for the Cruiserweight division or any other WWE brand and is not slated to travel to any house shows.