WWE released another 18 wrestlers on Thursday. Talent were told that budget cuts were to blame, but according to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were other factors at play.
Karrion Kross & Scarlett
In the case of Karrion Kross, Vince McMahon reportedly had pulled him from television due the feeling that he wasn’t getting over. They were in the process of repackaging him again when the decision was made to cut both him and Scarlett.
“Vince McMahon had just pulled Kross from television, saying that he hadn’t gotten over and within the company they were told they were going to repackage him a third time,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
Harry Smith
Harry Smith, aka Davey Boy Smith Jr., was released after wrestling one dark match earlier this summer. The original plan for him was to be a star on the NXT UK brand but at the time he was signed, travel wasn’t opened up and so the decision was made for him to be on the main roster.
He got COVID shortly after his dark match and was told to keep quiet about it. Then they just did nothing with him and released him yesterday.
Franky Monet, B-Fab, Lucha House Party & Others
The NXT talent will all have 30-day no-compete clauses although Ember Moon was under a main roster deal and may have a 90-day clause.
All main roster talent will have 90-day no-compete clauses including Hit Row’s B-Fab who just signed a main roster deal last week.
In the case of Franky Monet, aka Taya Valkyrie, she had been pushed heavily on the old NXT but she had not been featured following the re-brand into NXT 2.0.
Age was also a likely factor in several releases. It was noted that WWE’s directive is to hire women under the age of 25 to attract the male 12-34 demographic.
“The new directives on hiring new women is the recommendations are 25 or younger,” Meltzer wrote.
Both Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado are said to have asked for their releases and were expected to be cut.
It was noted that all veteran talent on NXT were discussed as being possible cuts. There is also talk that some talent could be signed to 60-day tryout contracts moving forward.
As of this writing, WWE has released 71 wrestlers this year.
