WWE Discussed MORE Wrestler Releases This Week
As if the 18 wrestlers let go by WWE on Thursday wasn't enough...
Thursday was a tough day for the WWE roster, as the promotion shed a total of 18 wrestlers from its talent pool including two former NXT Champions in Keith Lee and Karrion Kross, SmackDown newcomer B-Fab, former Women's Champion Nia Jax, and more.
Talk of impending cuts had spread throughout the day. WWE then let go of the wrestlers after its Q3 2021 earnings call, with "budget cuts" once again cited as the primary reason.
It seems that more wrestlers than just the 18 let go may have been on the chopping block, though, as Dave Meltzer writes in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that almost every veteran wrestler not currently being booked on company television was discussed as a potential cut.
Some of the names let go by WWE yesterday hadn't featured on Raw, SmackDown, or NXT in weeks. Mia Yim hadn't wrestled since December 2020, and hadn't been brought back to television following RETRIBUTION's implosion in March 2021. Others, meanwhile, were either in the middle of being repackaged (Kross, Lee) or had just arrived in their new brands (B-Fab).
With yesterday's cuts, WWE has now released a total of 71 wrestlers in 2021.