WWE Releases 5 NXT Wrestlers
As expected, WWE shed a handful of wrestlers from NXT yesterday.
WWE formally released five NXT wrestlers yesterday, including one onscreen regular.
Bryan Alvarez reported in the small hours of Tuesday morning that WWE had cut "several" wrestlers from its developmental talent pool. Later that day, PWInsider's Mike Johnson confirmed that Bodhi Hayward, Sloane Jacobs, Erica Yan, Damaris Griffin, and Ru Feng had all been let go.
Hayward's departure will come as the biggest surprise. A regular on NXT television alongside Chase U stablemates Andre Chase and Thea Hail, he had stood out for his exuberant, enthusiastic personality in backstage segments, though his in-ring use was sparing by comparison. Bodi, who wrestled his first wrestling match ever in January, had been signed to WWE since August 2021.
The other names were not was established as the Chase U man, though 19-year-old Sloane Jacobs featured in NXT's Women's Breakout Tournament earlier in 2022. She was also a semi-regular on the developmental sister show, NXT Level Up, which is taped weekly on Tuesdays.
Erica Yan wrestled primarily on 205 Live until its shuttering, then NXT Level Up. Like Yan, fellow releases Griffin and Feng were used primarily in enhancement roles until their departures.