Former WWE Stars Karrion Kross And Scarlett Comment On Latest Round Of Releases

Former WWE stars Karrion Kross and Scarlett have discussed the latest WWE releases and opined on the reason why TKO is taking such steps. 

WWE released several stars while also reportedly asking some to renegotiate their current deals, with certain contracts allegedly being cut in half. Karrion Kross and Scarlett recently spoke to WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley on his YouTube channel, where they explained the rationale behind the releases.

"We think that they're cycling out people so they can't ask for more money," Scarlett began. "People who are starting to get over, I think they're going to keep cycling them out, honestly, with new NXT talent, and then when those people start getting over, they're going to cycle those people out and then keep the top players." 

She believes that TKO is following a strategy that they had used for UFC, where only the top stars are retained while the rest are eventually moved out.

"UFC did this with Conor McGregor with Ronda, and then like the fighters who were lower, they weren't making that much, and they kind of cycled those people out. But now they don't even have those big stars in UFC anymore. It's a huge money budget cut thing, and I think that people in NXT are not getting paid as much as some of them, and I think they're kind of restructuring everyone's pay," she added.

Karrion Kross, meanwhile, believes that WWE has to work with a budget and has a profit target that they have to hit. Failure to do so eventually results in cuts, with many wrestlers — and even executives — losing their jobs. 

"What I think could be happening is there is a target internally that they're trying to hit in terms of profit generated. And if you're on a certain type of contract, 'D-Von is there, he's on a contract, his contract period is coming up.' There's an allotted budget for the wrestlers [and] this is how much money is available," Kross added.

He thinks that WWE no longer rewards those that get over organically and want to have total control and leverage over a wrestler's contract. 

"To me, sometimes it feels like, from a distance watching, especially if you're in your negotiation year, they don't want you having any sort of leverage to be able to ask for more money because this is the number they're supposed to hit. They're not going to go back up the food chain and go to the number one guy at the top who says, 'This is the number we hit.' And say, 'Look, D-Von's really over and he actually is entitled to this much money based on the data and information.' That guy is not going to go up there and question the marching orders coming down," he said.

Kross feels bad for wrestlers who are not used and then released, stating that they are often labeled as not being good enough because they were let go, which eventually creates an unfair perception of them.