10 Most Insane Things WWE Has Done In The Empty Arena Era

This one is difficult to talk about because it led into the best NXT storyline of the year by the end (the heel turn of Santos Escobar and the formation of Legado Del Fantasma) but everything involving Maverick’s firing was staggeringly reprehensible and frankly unethical. NXT creative made a good moment and narrative development out of a nightmarish decision, but it doesn’t justify how appalling this entire incident was.

Talented cruiserweight and former 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick was released on the infamous Black Wednesday, where numerous employees were either furloughed or fired by WWE during the health crisis for the sake of WWE’s status on the stock market. It was cruel and callous to fire talent at a time when getting new work would be much harder, and worse was their response to Maverick’s tearful video he recorded after hearing that he was being let go.

The man was rightfully devastated, especially since he had dates left to work on the Cruiserweight tournament, and his emotional honesty lead to an outpouring of support. WWE did what they always do and made it into an angle, where Maverick would fight for his job as well as the victory in the tournament, and it was grotesquely handled on TV.

Maverick deserved to get his job back, and deserves to be on TV every week, but he shouldn’t have been let go in the first place and especially not used as a tool to try and make NXT’s image look better.