Kairi Sane, Motor City Machine Guns, Aleister Black & More Reportedly Among WWE Exits

Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, the Motor City Machine Guns and more are reportedly among the WWE roster cuts taking place today. Bodyslam reports that Sane, Black, Zelina Vega, the Machine Guns, Santos Escobar, and Apollo Crews are all believed to be among the departures taking place on Friday. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has also reported the names. Fightful Select also notes that Tyson Dupont, Tyriek Igwe, Chris Island, Tyra Mae Steele, Sirena Linton, Trill London, Malik Blade, and Luca Crusifino were all released from NXT.

Sane returned to WWE in 2023 and joined Damage CTRL soon after. After that group disbanded, she reunited with Asuka as the Kabuki Warriors. She is a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion with Asuka.

Black made his return to WWE in April of last year and in recent months had united on-screen with Vega, his real-life wife. Vega is a two-time WWE Women’s United States Champion and the inaugural Queen of the Ring, having won the crown in 2021. She returned in 2021 after being released eight months earlier.

The Motor City Machine Guns joined WWE in September of 2024 and quickly won the WWE Tag Team Championships, a reign which lasted 42 days.

Santos Escobar briefly exited WWE in October but quickly resigned. He is out of action due to an injury he suffered on a January 30th NXT live event and then aggravated at AAA Rey de Reyes on March 14th.

Finally, Crews has been with WWE since 2014 and is a former WWE United States and WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Fightful Select reports that the majority of the cuts are outright releases, though there may be some who were told that their contracts will not be renewed.

The updated list of talent released today is:

* Kairi Sane
* Aleister Black
* Zelina Vega
* Motor City Machine Guns
* Santo Escobar
* Apollo Crews
* Nikki Cross
* Alba Fyre
* Zoey Stark
* Joe Gacy
* Bo Dallas
* Andre Chase
* Erick Rowan
* Dexter Lumis
* Dante Chen
* Tyson Dupont
* Tyriek Igwe
* Tyra Mae Steele
* Malik Blade
* Luca Crusifino
* Chris Island
* Sirena Linton
* Trill London