Backstage Reaction To Bray Wyatt's WWE Departure
The big news of the day is Bray Wyatt's surprising release from WWE. A report from earlier today noted it was due to budget cuts, as Wyatt was gearing up for a return to WWE TV in August.
PWInsider has provided some new details, noting that John Lauirinaitis — who called Wyatt to inform him of his release — said it was nothing that Bray had done to cause his departure.
The reaction within the company was described as "stunned" considering how well Wyatt had been for merchandise sales in recent years. "The Fiend" was especially successful with t-shirt and action figure sales.
The report noted this decision likely comes from WWE President Nick Khan and CFO Kristina Salen due to their obsession with keeping WWE out of the red on financial ledgers. The WWE Q2 financials came out earlier this week, and apparently there was a push to cut more costs, where as in previous corporate regimes less would be done.
Vince McMahon has reportedly given Khan much more power to run things as he sees fit, so there wasn't much push-back when Wyatt was up for being cut.
In regards to Vince McMahon and Wyatt, they were said to have a "very hot and cold" relationship. Wyatt's 90-day non-compete clause runs out a week before AEW Full Gear on November 6. During this week's Q2 2021 earnings call with investors, McMahon spoke about if AEW is on the same level of competition as WCW once was, and potentially giving AEW more talent.
"Well, it certainly is not a situation where 'rising tides' because that was when Ted Turner was coming after us with all of Time Warner's assets as well," Vince said. "That was a different situation. AEW is where they are. I don't really know what their plans are, all I know is what our plans are.
"I don't consider them competition in the way that I would consider WCW back in the day, not anywhere near close to that. And I'm not so sure what their investments are as far as their talent is concerned, but perhaps we can give them some more."
You can check out numerous reactions to Wyatt's release here, and Alexa Bliss' thoughts here.