Vaccination Status Reportedly A Factor In Some WWE Releases

UPDATE: A few of WWE’s releases from Thursday were made in part due to talent being unvaccinated, according to new reports. The New York Post reports that at least one member of talent roster was released in part because of their vaccination status.

The Post specifically named that Nia Jax is the person who, according to a source with knowledge of WWE’s operations, was released for this reason. Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian reports that a source said it is believed possibly four people were released due to not being vaccinated, while Fightful Select reports that at least five of the released stars were “openly unvaccinated,” including some surprising names, but there are no details on who and they did not confirm Jax’s name.

Fightful’s report notes that their WWE sources have stressed that vaccination status is not the only reason for the releases, and that it wasn’t the reason across the board for the releases. The site notes that rumors of releases have been “running rampant,” with several people expecting cuts to have happened last Friday. There were wrestlers in other companies who had heard rumors that vaccination-related cuts to talent were coming to WWE.

As the site notes, releasing talent for not being vaccinated is legal. Being unvaccinated would have caused restrictions in which venues the talent could compete in, as well as causing likely travel issues.

WWE issued a statement to the New York Post with the traditional, “We wish them the best in their future endeavors.”

ORIGINAL: Some new details are out regarding today’s spate of WWE releases, including some unsurprising news about the named reason for the cuts. As reported today, WWE released 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.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reports that John Laurinaitis sent out a company-wide e-mail on Thursday evening and said that the releases were due to budget cuts.

There are some conflicting pieces of information regarding no-competes. PWInsider had reported in the same report noting Oney Lorcan’s NXT release that the NXT cuts have 30-day non-compete clauses, while Wrestling Inc calls out Lorcan as one of the talents with a 90-day non-compete.

PWInsider also notes in that report that WWE canceled some training classes at the WWE Performance Center scheduled for tomorrow morning.