Latest WWE Releases Believed To Be Tied To Incoming NXT/Main Roster Call-Ups (WWE News)
The real reason for WWE's latest round of releases.
With WWE having released 11 talents over this past weekend, there's now word on why the market leader has decided to make this latest round of cuts.
As per Fightful Select, from those within NXT the outlet has spoken to, the belief is that these releases have been made ahead of NXT call-ups later this year.
For those who may have missed it, news of WWE releases started to trickle out on Friday night, with more releases confirmed over the weekend. As of this writing, Paul Ellering, Authors of Pain, Blair Davenport, Cedric Alexander, the Good Brothers, Isla Dawn, Giovanni Vinci, and Elektra Lopez have been released by WWE, with the company also opting not to renew Sonya Deville's contract when it expires in the coming weeks.
While WWE nowadays has an extra hour of weekly TV time to play with since SmackDown's expansion to three hours, that TV time and main roster space is very much a hot commodity. And if NXT call-ups are on the horizon, that only adds further competition for that time and space. As such, that unfortunately causes situations such as this, where main roster wrestlers are released in order to free up room for other talents.
Who To Call Up From NXT?
When looking at the landscape of NXT right now, there are so many names who could realistically be called up to Raw or SmackDown at a moment - none more so than Roxanne Perez.
A former two-time NXT Women's Champion, Roxanne seems destined to head to the main roster once NXT Vengeance Day is out of the way this weekend. There, Perez and Bayley challenge NXT Women's Champion Giulia in a triple-threat, with this presumed to be the Prodigy's NXT swansong ahead of making the jump to the main roster. Given her ongoing issues with Bayley, Raw would seem the likely landing point for the one-time Rok-C.
Away from Roxanne Perez, Ethan Page is absolutely ready for the main roster, as are the Fraxiom tandem of Axiom and Nathan Frazer. Then there's Gallus, a group many have speculated about pairing with Drew McIntyre on the main roster. And speaking of factions, could Tony D'Angelo and his Family fit in on Raw or SmackDown? Possibly. There's also Meta-Four, with Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson having already made fleeting main roster appearances.
While some would say he may be best served to spend a little more time honing his craft in NXT, Trick Williams is another who you could move to Raw or SmackDown immediately and shine a spotlight on. Likewise, Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer are obviously talented enough to make a main roster move, although either of those call-ups seems unlikely right now, with WWE opting to instead let those two hugely talented performers find their feet in NXT first.
The wider point being, NXT has several stars who could easily make that main roster move tomorrow. And that's not even mentioning Jordynne Grace, who's reportedly set for a short NXT run before heading to Raw or SmackDown.