It's Official: WWE Hates Spooky Gimmicks (WWE News)
Does someone important at TKO have it out for darker/more supernatural WWE characters?!
PWInsider might've revealed the truth behind recent mass WWE roster cuts. The company released a whopping 23 wrestlers last weekend, and there were some hefty names on the list: The Wyatt Sicks, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega and Kairi Sane were all amongst those let go.
A bunch of them have something in common - they played spooky/dark/supernatural characters on TV.
That's definitely true for The Sicks, Black and Vega. Now, PWInsider's report suggests that someone important at TKO doesn't like those kinds of darker gimmicks. Further, another source even implied that The Undertaker playing his biker 'American Badass' persona during recent WWE appearances rather than his classic 'Deadman' guise is also due to this preference.
This could be someone putting 2+2 together and getting 5, but it is an intriguing thought. TKO has definitely been tampering with WWE creative lately. They were the ones responsible for bringing Pat McAfee into the WWE Title feud between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton before WrestleMania 42, and it doesn't seem like the execs are finished there.
That decision drew criticism from fans and even Rhodes himself.
If it's true that somebody on the TKO side dislikes supernatural or darker characters, then fans should strap in. That sort of out there gimmick has always been a key component of WWE's product. Naturally, that owes a ton to 'Taker's breakout success since the early-1990s, but fans enjoy seeing these gimmicks on television.
Apparently, someone in a power position in WWE doesn't. It's a nightmare thought to imagine that The Wyatts, Black, Vega etc were released solely because of their on-screen personas. Surely there was way more to it than that.