Additional Details On Recent Wave Of WWE Departures

The pro wrestling community is still reeling from last Friday's announcement that WWE stars Braun Strowman, Cora Jade, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, Kayden Carter, Gigi Dolin, Eddy Thorpe, Riley Osborn, Katana Chance, Jakara Jackson, Oro Mensah, Javier Bernal, Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, Wolfgang, Dani Palmer, and Shotzi were released from the company. Since the incident, Dave Meltzer provided additional details about these releases in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

It appears the general consensus for these layoffs stemmed from two things. One, the company made these cuts to open up space on the main roster for stars from "WWE NXT." And two, these decisions were made based off the feeling that some of the talent were "lazy, had not improved enough, were injury prone, or the feeling that they weren't connecting," according to sources Meltzer spoke to within WWE, on the "NXT" side. For those wondering who made the final call on the roster cuts, it was Chief Content Officer Triple H, although it's unknown if he was told how many to release, the dollar amount that he had to cut in these releases, or if it was just all at his discretion.

As to our report from yesterday, the first financial quarter of 2025 for WWE looked well and on the upswing, with Meltzer adding the company's profit margin is "gigantic." All the company's expenses for the quarter were $194 million, so the company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $188 million was just under 50 percent of all money coming in. Meltzer added that the contracts legally give the company right to cut anyone at any time, before proceeding to say that there are a few who are under no-cut deals, but there are very few.

The general assumption of those stars who were released from the main roster boiled down to wanting to bring new people to television, and that those who were let go reached their peak of usage, and how far the company would go to continue using them, according to Meltzer's notes.

To the surprise of those internally, many did not see Dakota Kai's second release from the company coming. After being released the first time from WWE while part of the "NXT" roster in April of 2022, Kai made her thunderous return, alongside IYO SKY and Bayley as the trio known as Damage CTRL, three months later at SummerSlam. During her time with the group, she and SKY held the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships twice. Based on one person's reaction, Kai still had use on a "micro level" on the main roster, but was never going to be used to the same capacity as megastars like Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Becky Lynch, or Liv Morgan, which they felt if she would have worked with Lynch or Morgan, it would have been a short-term thing. Unfortunately, Kai was seen as a talent who could put over top tier "NXT" stars making their way up on the main roster, with stars like former NXT Women's Champions Roxanne Perez and Giulia. In summary, those internally thought the salary Kai was being paid was not worth it to have her lose to people making their way up.

Another star who was enjoying their second run in the company, Braun Strowman, was another surprising name to see on  the most recent roster cut. It's believed that Strowman's release was said to be a combination of things, including his high salary and injuries. Based on observations, some did not believe the former Universal Champion was moving well in the ring since coming back from a hamstring injury. In fact, one person behind the scenes mentioned to Meltzer that Strowman was hurt worse than most people realized. The last time the "Monster Among Men" was seen on WWE programming was in a tag team match with LA Knight against The New Bloodline's Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa on the WrestleMania 41 go-home edition of "WWE SmackDown" on April 18. Fatu and Strowman carried a well-renowned monstrous battle since the January 25 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

As for the "NXT" Superstars that were released, Dani Palmer has hung up her wrestling boots since the announcement of her departure. A former collegiate champion in acrobatics, Palmer did not capture the same attention that other acrobats like the inaugural NXT Women's North American Champion and also current champion Kelani Jordan and Sol Ruca, respectively, did.

For Riley Osborne, it was said by one of Meltzer's sources that the former Chase U was right up there with the former two-time NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazer and Axiom. However, between surgery that kept him out of action and the disbandment of Chase U, there wasn't a sole focus on the star, despite being praised for his work ethic and positive reviews from arena shows.

It's interesting to point out that another active speculation that made its rounds after the announcement of these departures is that those who were recently released and prior identity within the LGBTQIA+ community. The rumor mill to this theory blossomed after the AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm cut a promo after her match the day after the announcement of these releases, saying, "I'm here and I'm q***r." No additional information was provided on that as of this publishing.

This year, 30 total stars from across the main roster and "NXT" have been released. Most have mentioned that despite this temporary yet impactful setback, they want to continue their in-ring careers. While it remains to be seen which of those former Superstars do post-WWE, it seems some are bouncing back quite well, including Osborne's wife Bea Priestley (formerly known as WWE's Blair Davenport), who made her triumphant return to her "Top Gaijin" roots at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Resurgence pay-per-view event yesterday evening. In recent interviews, the former STARDOM star expressed great interest in speaking with AEW on the possibility of returning, seeing as her friends Jamie Hayter and Storm work there.