KEITH LEE, NIA JAX, EVA MARIE, B-FAB PART OF 18 WWE RELEASES
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Shortly after WWE's quarterly investors call wrapped, the company began making cuts to their talent roster, citing "budget cuts" as the reason.

From the main WWE roster, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Karrion Kross Lince Dorado, Gran Metalik, Harry Smith, and B-Fab have been released.

From the NXT roster, Scarlett, Ember Moon, Franky Monet, Jessi Kamea, Katrina Cortez, Jeet Rama, Oney Lorcan, Trey Baxter and Zayda Ramier have been let go.

Mass releases have become a regular occurrence in WWE throughout 2021.

WWE made 13 roster cuts on August 6 of this year, another 14 on June 25, six on June 2, eight on May 19, and 10 on April 15.

Kross and Lee are both former NXT Champions. Lee had been re-branded as "Bearcat" Keith Lee on WWE Raw. Kross had not been accompanied by Scarlett on the main roster as he had been in NXT.

Jax is a former Raw Women's Champion and a two-time former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. Her pairing with Shayna Baszler was the focus of the women's tag division in WWE throughout much of this year.

Scarlett stated on Twitter that she has a 30-day non-compete clause following here release, while Oney Lorcan stated on YouTube that his non-compete is 90 days.

Monet tweeted: "TAYA VALKIRIE"

Moon tweeted: "All I can do is laugh..."

Nia Jax is pretty shocking.

I also didn't realize Harry Smith was even with the company.

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Nov 4th, '21, 21:56I also didn't realize Harry Smith was even with the company.

This. I guess DBS Jr was let go from MLW when both Teddy and Pillman left the company and he signed with the E not long after, but I sure have heard nothing about it until now.

Jax is also surprising since most people (including me) thought she was bulletproof because of her family ties with The Rock. Objectively though, she's up there in age (37), is still pretty damn awful and most likely has some heat backstage with the women she's hurt over the years.

The issue is that there aren't that many good options right now. The obvious one still has a stupidly massive roster and that isn't stopping them from signing even more people but after two years now, it's pretty clear that you're gonna be used a certain way if you're not a huge name and/or friends with the EVPs. I'm sure most people are like "AEW should sign Athena/Taya/Yim to beef up the women's division", but they'd most likely win some random battle royale or ladder match, only to job to Baker and be lost in the shuffle five seconds later (hi Ruby!). Same thing with Kross and Lee who'd end up being "monsters of the week" for either Guevara or Page and then do nothing for months. Other than that, Impact seems pretty full right now, ROH is on a break, MLW is also cleaning up its roster, I guess the NWA could use some fresh blood, not sure anyone would fit in NJPW US from that list, then you're down to super indies like GCW and OVW, then just regular indies.

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Nov 4th, '21, 21:56 Nia Jax is pretty shocking.

I also didn't realize Harry Smith was even with the company.

Rumor on the street is that Jax and 3 more (i don't know who) were fired for not getting vaccinated, and booking wise becoming a pain in the ass since many venues require proof of vaccination.

As for Harry, he wrestled a dark match and I thought I had heard his name during the draft, but yeah, he'd been working his way back in the company for a while. Pretty much since he left NJPW it was obvious that he was hoping to get back to WWE. Now, the question, does he get a 90 day no compete added to never actually competing on WWE tv?

UPDATE

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In this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer shared specific notes regarding several of the 18 WWE wrestlers released Thursday.

Main roster talents that were cut all have a 90-day non-compete so they are free and clear on February 2nd, 2022. Those under NXT contracts have a 30-day non-compete with their contractual freedom coming on December 4th.

Having said that, he believed Ember Moon falls under the 90-day non-compete because, despite returning to NXT, she was under a main roster deal.

Meltzer said there was a plan within WWE to repackage Karrion Kross for a third time as he had been pulled from TV by Vince McMahon because he hadn't gotten over, especially with his new look. On Twitter, Kross joked with a fan who wondered if he could get Kross' helmet.

B-Fab was believed to have signed a new deal just last week, making her release surprising.

Similar to Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado had requested his release.

An idea for Harry Smith was to make him a primary figure in NXT UK, but due to travel not opening up, they chose to keep him on the main roster instead. He worked one SmackDown dark match in July, got COVID-19, was told to keep that quiet, and that was that.

Eva Marie was off WWE TV as she is filming a movie.

Harry Smith sounds like he was fired for not being vaccinated

This topic is still fresh enough that I think we can just update it.



At this point, if you're a wrestler, decide to sign with WWE, and get released, you can't complain anymore, you should know better.

Who is even left at this point?

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Nov 18th, '21, 20:23 Who is even left at this point?

Hit Row didn't even get a chance to disappoint the boss

cero2k wrote: ↑Nov 18th, '21, 19:41At this point, if you're a wrestler, decide to sign with WWE, and get released, you can't complain anymore, you should know better.

I wouldn't go this far, but they definitely should know that long term contracts are pretty much meaningless when they can be terminated at any point. At this point, those are closer to temp contracts where the monthly/yearly number and lenght are just an indication of what and how long you could earn and not what you will. Yes, it is shitty, but this is how WWE has been operating for a few years now, so it shouldn't be shocking anymore.

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Nov 18th, '21, 20:23 Who is even left at this point?

According to Cagematch, they still have about 300 people overall. Even if you remove a hundred (referees, announcers, legends, agents, trainers,...), that's still an awful lot.