You might be able to find Joey's "shoot" on YouTube.com. If not, here is the transcript of his awesome promo, as well as the setup to it:
During a tag match between RVD/Carlito vs. Masters/Benjamin, Styles is sent to the back to talk with GMs for the day, The Spirit Squad, and is told that he needs to announce with more spirit, and if he didn't, especially in the main event title match between Kenny and John Cena, that he would have to wear a female cheerleader outfit next week (thank god I don't have to see that sight!) On the way back to the announce table, Jerry Lawler kept egging Joey to show some spirit. He even said "In ECW, you would really show some spirit", to which Joey greatly replied "If this were ECW, I wouldn't be working with a hack like you!" Lawler kept egging on Styles, when Styles pushed Lawler twice, Lawler kept egging, and Styles slapped The King, who proceeded to push Styles on his ass, and Styles walked out. The King went on to try to apologize to Styles, saying he was only trying to have fun and got carried away, Styles came out and said the following:
From powerwrestling.com
You want to apologize. Like nothing happened. Like you didn't knock me on my ass in front of millions of people worldwide. And I'm going to come down there and work with you. I'm not coming back. And now - thanks to the magic of live television - I'm going to show the whole world why, for seven years in ECW, I was the unscripted, uncensored loose cannon of commentary!
Six months ago WWE called ME! I didn't call this company because I was looking for a job. I didn't need a job. WWE called me because they had humiliated and fired (AGAIN) Jim Ross! So I get JR's spot. And from week one, week after week, I got an ongoing lecture on the differences in professional wrestling...and [smirks] sports-entertainment.
I'm not allowed to say "pro wrestling." I'm not allowed to say "wrestler." I have to say "sports-entertainment." And refer to the wrestlers as..."superstars." I'm told to deliberately ignore the moves and the holds during the matches so I can tell stories. Well, ignoring the moves and the holds is DAMN INSULTING to the athletes - the WRESTLERS, not the "entertainers" - who leave their families three hundred days a year to ply their craft in that ring.
There's the best part. Because I'm not a "sports-entertainment storyteller, I get pulled from WrestleMania. And the reason I'm given is is because I don't sound like Jim Ross...who's the guy they fired in the first place! That makes sense, right? So I swallowed the bitter pill. I'm a company guy. I get bumped from WrestleMania. Then I get bumped...from BACKLASH? I'm not good enough to call BACKLASH?!?
In ECW, I called live pay-per-views on my own. Solo. No color commentators dragging me down. Wasn't done before me, hasn't been done since! But I'm not good enough to call Backlash because I'm not a "sports-entertainment storyteller."
Well, you know what? I am sick of sports-entertainment. I am sick of male cheerleaders. I am sick of boogers and bathroom humor and semen and I am sick of our Chairman. Who likes to talk about his own semen. He mocks God. He mocks GOD! And makes out with the Divas. All to feed his own insatiable ego. I am sick of sports-entertainment.
And most of all, I'm sick of you fans who actually buy into that crap! This sports-entertainment circus! I never needed this job. And I don't want this job anymore.
[He pulls the WWE logo cube off the microphone he's holding and tosses it disdainfully to the ground.]
I QUIT!
I don't understand why he would heel to the fans like he did at the end, maybe to set up a rivalry between ECW and WWE fans; fans who like what they are seeing on screen currently, or fans who think that the creative writers are on crack. However, a lot of the stuff he said with a lot of emotion, because they were probably his true feelings on the matter. I think that they really misused him during his time with the WWE, as one of the things that made him so well-loved when he announced ECW was his expert knowledge of professional wrestling moves and holds. He would be able to call every single move he saw in the ring, and most often he would work solo, so he wouldn't have color-commentators like King or the Coach interrupting his play-by-play. In the WWE, he was told to focus more on the backstories between the wrestlers rather than the in-ring product, even talk about the backstories of wrestlers who weren't even in the ring, but would be in the main event. In ECW, even if there was a huge main event on that night, he wouldn't talk about that if there was another match going on. Also, being bumped from two PPVs in favor of the man he replaced might have been really unnerving for the guy.
When he said "I'm sick of male cheerleaders, boogers, ...." I think he hit a nerve with so many fans of wrestling who think that the WWE has gotten so unbelievably idiotic with their stupid storylines and gimmicks. I really don't know what the WWE's creative writing team, led by Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, is on. They put talented wrestlers in these awful, awful gimmicks which are guaranteed to fail. The Spirit Squad for one, these 5 men are actually talented performers, and the 5-man gang warfare really does work, but they are put in this silly gimmick that no fan can really get behind. They come up with these ridiculous storylines that no one will believe or buy into. The recent McMahon vs. God angle is a prime example. They let angles that died a year or two ago keep running, so much that the fans are starting to get restless. I think that is one of the main reasons Cena is getting booed so much, his current babyface angle is really stale, and his matches are so predictable that you can tell what will happen even when he walks out (he gets beat down, then does the "six moves of doom" to win). As the top babyface, you don't see him freestyling too much, because he has to watch what he says; when he was a tweener, he could say whatever he wanted, that is what helped him get popular. Most off, the writers and bookers are more glorifying the "entertainment" part than the "wrestling" part so much to the point where I don't even know that I am watching wrestling anymore. I think when the WWF turned into the WWE, I think that they changed the wrong word, they should have changed the second W, as this is no longer wrestling. That is why I am excited about the new ECW coming out, as it probably will focus more on the wrestling.
From what I hear, Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer are being given full creative control over the new ECW. I didn't know what to think about it at first, thinking "it is still the WWE funding it", but after what they let Joey Styles say on RAW (Joey is still staying with the WWE to be the new lead announcer for the new ECW), I am very convinced that they are really committed to making the new ECW work.
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Aside from that, the Women's Division looks like it is in deep trouble. During Backlash, Trish Stratus dislocated her right shoulder during a match with Mickie James. I can tell you right now that is not a work, as the shoulder dislocation was an ugly sight to see, as well as the shortness of the division. They cannot write out the only face woman wrestler who can actually wrestle, as that would only leave 2 heel women wrestlers who can actually wrestle, in Mickey James herself and Victoria. Maria is still too new, Torrie Wilson can't wrestle, Candice Michelle shouldn't even be in the WWE in the first place, and Lita is already an established heel working a program with Edge (not to mention the fact that she would botch every single match she would be in anyway, as she did regularly when she was an active wrestler). What they need to do is move some of the divas from Smackdown, or call up some of the divas in development from Ohio Valley Wrestling, the "farm-system" of the WWE. I do have to say that it is a shame Trish got hurt, because the Trish/Mickie angle was great, one of the best women's angles I have seen ever, and both actually could put on matches that were not only watchable, but actually good.
