Top WWE Superstars released due to reported COVID-19 issues

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Bengaluru, November 5: WWE sent shockwaves through the Universe as they continued the trend of trimming their roster down as much as possible. After letting a number of talents go over the past few months, more talents were reportedly let go last night.

As per the official statement from the biggest pro-wrestling promotion, these cuts were made due to budget-related issues, but the reported reasons are something else. The belief is that at least few talents were fired due to COVID-19 vaccination issues.

Overall, 18 WWE Superstars were released last night and those names are – Karrion Kross, Scarlett Boudreaux, “B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Eva Marie, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Harry Smith, Oney Lorcan, Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, and Katrina Cortez.

As you can see, there are former champions in the above list. Karrion Kross and Keith Lee were former NXT Champions who were touted to be bright future stars on Raw. Ember Moon was also a former NXT Women’s Champion and veteran talent on the roster.

Also, Nia Jax was a Wrestlemania headliner and a former WWE Raw Women’s Champion. Being a mainstay name in the company and a member of the great Samoan family (similar to The Rock, Roman Reigns, The Usos), her release literally surprised everyone.

WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis sent an e-mail to the talents, mentioning how these releases were made due to budget cuts. However, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast reported that the belief within WWE is that possibly 4 individuals were released for not getting themselves, vaccinated.

A report from PWInsider also revealed that Long-time WWE Senior Vice President of Creative Services Stan Stanski was also let go on Wednesday evening. Stanski was with the company for almost 15 years.

He joined WWE back in 2006 as the Vice President of Creative Services, while he was promoted in March 2012 to the SVP role. One person described Stanski’s departure as “the ultimate proof no one is safe” and “yet another reminder this isn’t the same company it was a year ago.”

Following this move, more releases were expected, internally which became reality as a number of talents across WWE Raw/Smackdown/NXT were fired irrespective of their status. Interestingly, the move came on the evening of the 2021 Q3 earnings declaration for the company.

Most of the released NXT wrestlers have 30-day non-compete clauses while there’s an exception as Lorcan who is under the 90-day non-competes.

Wrestlers having 30-day non-compete clauses will be able to work for any other company from Saturday, December 4 (assuming that November 4 is the released date for these superstars). The names having 90-day non-competes will become free agents on Wednesday, February 2, 2022.