Late Friday evening, WWE initiated their latest series of cuts, significantly downsizing the NXT wrestlers by letting over a dozen wrestlers go. This follows a recent trend of mass releases dating back to last year and the company’s consistent verbiage around it has pointed to budget cuts. A “high level” WWE official spoke to fightfulselect.com on condition of anonymity and noted that in 2018, WWE entered into a “talent stashing” plan with what was assumed to be “honest intentions” mainly towards collecting and growing their various Performance Centers worldwide. However, within a year, that plan slowed down and instead talent was being “parked” with the focus shifted towards the TV launch of NXT before finally the pandemic hit in early 2020 and the entire thing came to a stop.

The source went on to note that WWE releases are going to be a “regular occurrence” moving forward, however, they did not expect it to be the level that 2021 has been – both from a frequency and talent perspective. It was reiterated that all releases that end up happening are a collaborative effort amongst multiple people but that ultimately Vince McMahon can “personally put a stop” to any of them. While many officials are frustrated at this strategic decision, the company line is that it’s simply a necessary part of the business.