Dave Meltzer recently provided additional insight into WWE’s massive post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts, explaining why this year’s wave of departures was significantly larger than in previous years.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer stated that one of the biggest reasons behind the unusually high number of releases was WWE effectively “catching up” after limiting cuts last year following the TKO Group Holdings
takeover.
“The story on the cuts being so many, there’s a couple of reasons behind it. What happened is essentially, last year, because they had basically just taken over the company and they were trying to be good guys, so they didn’t order a lot of cuts last year, they kinda held back. So it’s kinda like a catch-up,” Meltzer said.
Meltzer also explained that the latest round of WWE NXT call-ups played a major role in the decision-making process, as WWE reportedly wanted to balance out the number of incoming talent with outgoing departures.
“The main roster cuts, essentially, it was two things. Number one, all the people who were brought up from NXT that got spots, essentially, they wanted to remove a similar amount of people. They went to creative. It was creative that made the call as to who. They said, ‘Who are you not planning on using? Give us X number of names.’”
According to Meltzer, another major factor was the upcoming reduction of WWE SmackDown from three hours back down to two hours later this month, reducing available television time and leading to additional roster trimming.
“The number that were brought up, and additional names from SmackDown, the reason being that SmackDown at the end of this month is going to two hours, so therefore there is an hour less time of television, so therefore there is less time to put as many people on, so therefore there would be additional cuts on the SmackDown side. So that’s the story behind the number of cuts,” Meltzer said.
As of now, WWE has reportedly parted ways with approximately 30 talents since WrestleMania 42, including 18 main roster names. That figure is significantly higher than last year’s post-WrestleMania cuts, which reportedly involved just six main roster departures.
Among the most notable names released this year were The New Day, Wyatt Sicks, Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, and Motor City Machine Guns.
