WWE President and CRO, Nick Khan, has given his explanation for the wave of WWE releases.
Fans were surprised when news broke that Braun Strowman was let go from his contract earlier this year. After all, Strowman won the WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania 36 and defeated Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 37.
Aleister Black was also released, despite having just started an angle with Big E. He has since signed with AEW as Malakai Black. There were more names on the list, including Murphy, Lana, Ruby Riott, and Santana Garrett.
The real shocker, however, came when “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt received his walking papers. Those releases were just part of this year’s wave as 12 NXT talents including Bronson Reed and Bobby Fish were later cut as well.
Ariel Helwani of BT Sport spoke to Khan, who gave his take on the number of roster cuts WWE has been making.
“I don’t know that there’s one explanation for it. I think ultimately what’s looked at is, is this person for us going to move the needle now or in the imminent future? By the way, we had a two-day tryout in Las Vegas which ended yesterday, which Triple H and Johnny Laurinaitis and Bruce Prichard were all across as were the rest of us. We’ve signed over a dozen new talent coming out of that tryout and I’m not suggesting, ‘oh that’s why we cut the other talent,’ but we’re always looking for what’s next.
“We live in the present, we live in the future, we don’t live in the past. So when people leave and they move on with their life and their careers, that’s good by us. For us, it’s what works for us and our product at that moment and time and again what’s gonna work down the road, and largely in part the existing roster is based on that.”
People on social media often blame Khan whenever WWE releases are announced these days. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio reported that the NXT cuts had nothing to do with Khan and that it was Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and John Laurinaitis who collectively made the call.
Many have speculated that the releases have been done in an effort to make WWE look as attractive as possible when it comes to a potential sale. Nick Khan stirred the pot with his “open for business” line but he later said the company isn’t looking to sell.
