SRS has confirmed there will be WWE roster releases today, which appear to have already begun.
Please comment if you spot any news that I haven’t posted. Should I spot wrestlers commenting on it, I’ll try and edit them in too.
Released so far:
- Mustafa Ali (Per SRS: Is let go, but not due to these cuts, just at the same time) (Tweet)
- Emma (Tweet)
- Rick Boogs
- Aliyah
- Elias (We no longer walk with Elias). (Tweet)
- Riddick Moss (Tweet)
- Top Dolla
- Shelton Benjamin (Tweet)
- Dolph Ziggler (Now confirmed by SRS) (Tweet)
- WWE comes off of Hulu next week (Might as well group it in, fuck).
- Tegan Nox (reported by Mark Henry on Busted Open Radio apparently, not seeing confirmation otherwise yet, treat as a rumour).
Per JelloBrains below, also:
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Mansoor
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Mace
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Dana Brooke
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Quincy Elliot
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Bryson Montana.
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Amari Miller
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Dabba-Kato/Commander Azeez
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Shanky
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Brooklyn Barlow
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Ikeman Jiro
Alvarez says within WWE it is believed the NXT cuts will start around 5PM EST…
SRS said these are just the releases “so far”. Expect more, possibly still from the main roster.
SRS: 90 day non competes for most of the releases, per usual.
“Mass cuts were not expected under HHH” per FS
Many other wrestlers have tweeted support for the wrestlers, in the interest of brevity I’ll just link the Fightful link to them.
FINAL EDIT FOR NOW: May not be here during the NXT announcements, if anyone else wants to continue onward feel free, I’ll update when I get the chance to later.
Direct link to the Fightful Select thread should anyone else wish to follow along separately - https://www.patreon.com/posts/89620353. I’ll paste the details and update it also periodically:
WWE Releases Thread
Note: Due to the nature of this post, it will be made free and public.Mustafa Ali, Emma and Aaliyah all announced their releases. Fightful has confirmed Riddick Moss, Rick Boogs, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin and Elias were all also released.
As of 11:30 AM, Fightful heard there were still calls going on informing of releases. Many in the company who would usually know didn’t appear to know who all would be subject to the releases. In the past year or so, WWE has not publicly announced releases themselves, and in many cases never actually confirmed them.
We’re told some cuts were expected at the WWE PC as well.
There was some frustration among members of the roster we spoke to that WWE announced a $1.4B Smackdown deal and then cut talent. One top star said that most of the list barely had a chance considering they weren’t booked, and called it a circle that couldn’t be escaped.
Another brought up that the company released Emma just after the WWE Elimination Chamber show announcement in her home country.
The line of thinking from many on the roster is that WWE aligned these cuts with the announcement of Elimination Chamber and Smackdown rights fee deal in order to minimize the negative impact on the company. TKO’s stock dropped from $96.23 to $88.95 by 10:10 ET after the Smackdown announcement. The stock now sits at $86.94 as of 12:20 ET as news of releases have filtered in.
WWE sources we spoke with said that mass cuts were not discussed under Triple H, and this is in direct correlation to the merger.
Several talent that we spoke to had even thought the days of mass cuts were behind them, and deals would simply be allowed to expire. That had appeared to be the method of late.
This will be updated as we get more info
Dolph leaving WWE and Punk leaving AEW (Yes I still held out that tiny fraction of hope that AJ Lee could have come back because of Punk in AEW ;__;) means we’ll never get a Zigglee reunion. SIIIIGH
They have now started releasing Performance Center recruits.
PWInsider is reporting they cut ties with former UNC Track & Field member Daniel McArthur.
Edit: Include Alexis Grey on this, but she is implying she might want to continue somewhere else, asking where to go if she wanted to continue.
Edit: Kevin Ventura-Cortez has announced his release as well. His announcement is instagram reels, so it will disappear eventually.
Mansoor
Mace
Dana Brooke
Amari Miller (Maybe, I saw her listed, now I don’t, so I’m unsure here.)Edit 3: These are reported either on Twitter by SRS, WrestleOps, or from PWInsider mostly. Just so you know I"m not pulling from my ass.
Edit 4: Added PWInsider links, still can’t confirm Miller.
EDIT EDIT EDIT: Amari Miller says she is NOT released.
Really sad for Dolph and Shelton. Two of the most underrated guys out there. Hopefully they get their flowers wherever they go next.
I’m just hoping that Tony doesn’t start salivating and start picking out the released wrestlers like new toys.
I wouldn’t mind seeing some of these pass through AEW/ROH, but I don’t wanna see TK just panic ‘buy’ people because they get released and just have more people to not get ring time.
Moxley will (hopefully) be on concussion precautions for at least a little while, and I haven’t seen any updates on Adam Cole. So, it might be a good time to pick up 1 or 2.
Quick edit: I forgot, Jade Cargill is likely leaving AEW to go to WWE, so that opens a spot in the women’s division, too.