New Details On Drake Wuertz’s Backstage Heat & Behavior in NXT Before Release

UPDATE 2: A new report has some additional details on the newly-released Drake Wuertz’s behavior backstage in NXT. Fightful Select spoke with several people in the company about Wuertz following his release, noting that he had “significant heat” after NXT Takeover: In Your House when he had a negative reaction to Triple H’s speech where he essentially said that all people, races, genders, and religions were welcomed. According to the site, Wuertz’s attitude immediately changed after “religions” was mentioned and he “aggressively gathered his belongings” before leaving.

The roster was reportedly very aware that Wuertz was trying to put himself in a position for certain roles in WWE and would attempt to put heat on others in order to get in that position on multiple occasions. There were also appearently several points where minorities in the company took issue to ways that Wuertz worded things and that several people of color went to NXT higher-ups to address it. There was reportedly one situation where Ezra Judge almost felt the need to get physical with Wuertz over it.

Wuertz had been bringing “nuclear heat” on himself over the better part of the past year, according to several people at the Performance Center, and no less than 10 wrestlers had told Fightful that they didn’t feel comfortable or safe around him. He was known to have vocally criticized talent for getting vaccinated, even in terms of just getting flu shots.

UPDATE: A new report has some additional details on Drake Wuertz’s WWE release. PWInsider reports that Wuertz was among the first cuts made today and was informed of such around 11 AM ET. Wuertz is reportedly seeking bookings following his release, and has been contacting promoters to let them know that he’s a free agent.

WWE has yet to confirm the release of Wuertz or the crop of NXT talent including Jessamyn Duke and Alexander Wolfe who were reportedly let go today.

ORIGINAL: According to a report by PWInsider that referee Drake Wuertz, who has recently been embroiled in controversy, was released from WWE earlier today. Wuertz had been with the company since March 2014. At one point in his career, he was the head referee of WWE NXT.

It was previously reported by PWInsider that Wuertz’s recent actions and comments regarding protective COVID-19 masks were becoming a developing concern within WWE. Several talents and staff were reportedly bothered by his actions and misinformation. Earlier this month, Drake Wuertz missed an NXT TV taping in order to attend a Seminole County Public School board meeting in order to argue against masks in schools.

At the meeting, Wuertz argued that the Superintendent shouldn’t allow for masks for children in school as they “outweigh” the dangers of COVID-19. He also said that the Superintendent allows “these precious children to be victims of a tyrannical overreach.”

Additionally, the PWInsider report noted there may have been additional cuts to NXT today as well. The details on the other cuts have not yet been confirmed.