Backstage Details On Recent Wave Of WWE Releases

News broke late last week of the latest wave of WWE departures, including names like Braun Strowman, Cora Jade, Gigi Dolin, and several others. Following the news, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez have shared some insights on the releases through their sources, and the alleged reasons why each talent was cut during an episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio."

In the case of Strowman, Meltzer stated that the answer was simple. "He is the one that the salary was too high; one person told me that they felt he was being... he was paid more than how they were using him," he claimed. "The reality of Braun Strowman is that ever since he had that hamstring injury, he's never been the same." Meltzer further added that another reason for the cuts across the board was how many of the talent are getting up in age and seemingly have little time left to improve.

In the case of Shayna Baszler, Meltzer claimed that her cut was specifically because of her age. "Shayna is very good at being Shayna Baszler. In WWE, at times, they let her be Shayna Baszler," Meltzer added, suggesting that she wasn't always allowed to portray her character correctly. When it came to Dakota Kai, Meltzer again suggested that AEW make a play for her but noted that there was a belief that she's injury prone and added that TNA might have a spot for her instead. "So, Shotzi's contract is expired or is expiring, so in her case, she will be able to go as soon as her contract is expired; there will be no non-compete," Meltzer added. "Shotzi's a hard worker, you know."

When it came to those in "NXT," Dave Meltzer pointed out how Cora Jade specifically made many changes upon coming back after her injury, but for whatever reason lost the spark over time. "I could see her ending up in, you know — again, it wouldn't surprise me if she'd end up in TNA; I know that she probably wants to continue wrestling," Meltzer said. When it comes to Gigi Dolin, he added that he was surprised by her release and noted that she seemed to plateau over time. "In her case, it was kind of one of those things where you gotta look at it and go 'Is she gonna make it on the main roster?' And I think their decision just was she wasn't."

Eddy Thorpe, according to Meltzer, was similarly cut because WWE simply didn't see him as main roster material. Additionally, in the case of Riley Osborne, he suggested that the former Chase U talent wasn't cut for talent reasons and that AEW should take a look at him. While Meltzer praised Dani Palmer's athleticism, he claimed that her cut was because the higher-ups in NXT were simply never high on her but that her injury hurt her momentum as well.

"Because there's so many people and so few spots —I'm not saying, like, this for anyone specific because the person didn't give me specific names — but they said that many of those cuts were perceived as not working hard in training," Meltzer added.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.