WWE Worried Over WM25, Star Nixed From MITB, More WWE Releases On The Way?

sources: www.f4wonline.com, Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– SmackDown wrestler R-Truth was originally scheduled to take part in the Money in the Bank Match at WrestleMania XXV, but company officials went with Mark Henry instead. At this point, R-Truth looks to be the only wrestler featured on the official poster for WrestleMania XXV that won't be getting a match at the big show ? possible dark match battle royal notwithstanding.

– Internally, no one has any confidence that Wrestlemania will do a buyrate anywhere close to the past two events. Most company officials predict the show doing somewhere in the 500k range, which would be the lowest since WrestleMania XIX in 2003.

If the "25th Anniversary of WrestleMania" experiences the same percentage drop as the Royal Rumble did (23 percent), the number would be around 800,000 buys. However, it would cost the company approximately $4,000,000 as compared to last year, and will more than likely lead to more cost-cutting measures from the company. So much of the company's financials are tied into the revenue that WrestleMania produces, so a number of jobs are on the line with this year's event.

WWE will be releasing their 1st quarter report featuring the numbers from WrestleMania in May, so that's when you can probably expect another storm of company layoffs to hit providing things don't turn around creatively within the next few weeks.