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).
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
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