Report: 'Major Cuts' Expected For WWE, NXT Talent Rosters

WWE-UFC merger could lead to wrestlers being released from company.

by Scott Carlson
Vince McMahon
WWE

Ever since it was announced in April that WWE and UFC would merge this year to form one combat sports giant, it was widely assumed that the sports entertainment juggernaut would shed office workers, using corporate-speak to justify the layoffs as part of the merger. Those "workforce reductions" are reportedly taking place Friday.

But it is now also being reported that staffing cuts could extend to WWE and NXT's talent rosters. Haus of Wrestling reports that while asking about the memo announcing office worker cuts, a WWE source told them that "major cuts" are coming for the main roster and NXT brand.

The report stated that they were not explicitly told whether the expected cuts would be coming this week or in the future, but they had been planned "for some time."

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One source speculated that WWE could space out the office and talent layoffs to diminish the bad PR that would obviously ensue if they cut everyone on the same day, but Haus of Wrestling noted that this is just speculation from a source.

Roster cuts had become a regular occurrence through the years with WWE, with post-WrestleMania releases being a sick tradition of sorts. During the pandemic, WWE laid off a multitude of office workers and more than 150 wrestlers.

When Triple H assumed control of the company after Vince McMahon resigned in disgrace amidst multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in July 2022, he began rehiring several released superstars, padding out a roster that had been excessively thinned during the previous two-plus years.

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This is terrible news for the individual wrestlers and for the superstars' morale as a whole, with executives pulling down huge bonuses, WWE being more profitable than ever, and the company possibly releasing talent.

WhatCulture will provide updates on if and when roster cuts take place.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.