Last Thursday WWE made a lot of news when they released 11 performers from the main roster. A new report from SEScoops has revealed that there are more cuts on the way, this time in NXT. The report notes that the NXT budget has already been cut in terms of production and post-production. As most fans know, WWE has been taping NXT at Full Sail University in Orlando for the past two years. It's shot in front of about 500 fans that get into the venue for free and they are a very vocal group, which makes for a fun television show. In other NXT related news, the talent roster is about to be evaluated with several talents likely to be cut within the next month. While no names have been given, it's understandable that WWE would do it considering their financial losses of late. The plan is to stagger the cuts so that they don't all happen at once and make it appear like WWE is panicking. That would be a bad message to send to Wall Street. The current NXT roster features about 40 wrestler comprised of men and women with another dozen people working as part of the development staff. The wrestlers either have a wrestling background from elsewhere or were simply people signed by WWE that are learning to wrestle thanks to the training provided by WWE. What's interesting about the cuts is that WWE is expected to bring in highly touted indy wrestlers Prince Devitt, KENTA and Kevin Steen in August. All three are not Americans, so the hold up is apparently for their work visas to go through, which could take a couple of months. They could feel the need to cut three or more talents to justify bringing the new guys in. There are talents in NXT that have been in WWE for three years or more. Others have only just started. When WWE cuts people it could be because they feel like that person isn't improving to the degree that WWE likes or because there's somebody on the main roster that has a similar skill set. It's important to have a gimmick that works. Some guys in NXT really don't stand out at all, so they could be vulnerable to some of these cuts. We will continue to update the story regarding cuts on the main roster or NXT as more news comes in over the coming weeks and months.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
