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UPDATE: More Details On Friday’s WWE Talent Releases

April 20, 2024 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Jinder Mahal WWE NXT Raj Dhesi Image Credit: WWE

UPDATE: A new report has some additional information on the WWE releases of Jinder Mahal, Xia Li, Veer, Sanga, and Xyon Quinn. Fightful Select reports that the releases of the five were internally labeled as budget cuts, though it’s not clear if that was what was indicated to talent. All five stars were told of their releases on Friday evening.

WWE higher-ups indicated that the decisions were made due to a combination of their not appearing on TV because creative didn’t have anything for them along with their upward trajectory based on their progression and their tenure with WWE. Several members of the Smackdown roster found out about the releases as they became public as there were not memos sent to talent or staff announcing the releases.

There was no indication of any of the talent having any heat in the company that would have contributed to their releases and they were all well-liked backstage. Jinder Mahal was at NXT recently and it was said he was very helpful there, willing to give advice to anyone that asked.

Xia Li had been advertised for the battle royale on this coming Monday’s episode of Raw, and that was said to have been a case where the graphics team made the image without knowing about the release.

ORIGINAL: As previously reported, WWE released five talents from the roster this week. PWInsider has an update regarding this week’s releases.

According to the report, no additional talent releases are expected at this time. Additionally, it’s said that calls to wrestlers on being cut from the roster worked differently than it has in the past. The calls were reportedly “less curt and more apologetic.” The calls were also said to be more “respectful” towards the talents than they were under previous executives who headed up WWE Talent Relations.

The five talents released from the company this week included former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, Xia Li, Veer, Sanga, and Xyon Quinn. They all have 90-day non-compete periods before they can become free agents.

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WWE, Jeffrey Harris