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Welcome to another edition of the WWE news roundup. This edition is also dominated by fallout from the recent releases made by the WWE.
From AJ Styes' heartbreaking reaction to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson's release, to the mood backstage in the locker room, we take a deep dive into the latest surrounding the releases. We also take a look at what WWE legend Big Show had to say about WWE continuing to film at the PC, CM Punk's thoughts on a new RAW faction and a whole lot more.
Read on for the full stories.
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AJ Styles’ heartbreaking reaction to Gallows and Anderson’s release
We start off with the unfortunate news about the WWE releases. Amongst the released Superstars were Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson who appeared in the Boneyard match at WrestleMania.
One person who has been hit particularly hard regarding the release of Gallows and Anderson is AJ Styles. The three men go way back, and during his stream on Mixr, Styles opened up about what he was feeling after hearing the news. Styles said that Gallows and Anderson were like his “little brothers" and he felt he had failed to protect them. You can check out his reaction below:
If you guys didn't know, Gallows and Anderson, guys who were like my brothers were released yesterday and that one hurt. That one hurt really bad. Really bad. Umm, the only way I know I can explain this is that these guys are my family and I couldn't take care of my little brothers, you know what I'm saying? Like that's what I feel about it. I'm the oldest. I'm supposed to take care of them and I didn't do that and I feel responsible in some weird way for them being released. It's devastating. I don't know any other way to explain it, like.
You can check out the video below:
WWE locker room are reportedly furious at releases
With a number of Superstars being released, it was bound to have an effect on the Superstars still with WWE. Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue revealed the mood in the WWE locker room following the news of the releases and it looks like the locker room are not happy. Here's what Colohue said in his latest update on the backstage response:
The second that everyone was informed the cuts were going to be happening I started getting messages basically saying, ‘This is not on, this is wrong.’ The locker room is furious and it goes from top to bottom. Nobody in any way is accepting of this. There is massive disappointment, massive anger and there is still an underlying worry anyone could be next.
A number of main roster talent, NXT talent, as well as producers and other personnel were released by WWE earlier this week. The cuts were made due to the financial implications imposed by the coronavirus outbreak and the restrictions imposed by it. The question remains as to how necessary the releases really were.
More NXT talent added to list of released Superstars
Following the initial reports of the releases, we have a further update on more Superstars released from WWE NXT. We can add a handful of more names who have been released from the NXT roster since the initial reports surfaced.
The latest Superstars to be released from NXT include Taynara Conti, Tino Sabatelli and Mars Wang.
According to various reports, the following Superstars have been released from NXT so far - Cezar Bononi, Taynara Conti, Deonna Purrazzo, Tino Sabbatelli, Mars Wang, Dan Matha, Alyssa Marino, Aleksandar Jaksic, Nick Comoroto, MJ Jenkins
Non-compete clause for released Superstars confirmed
Moving onto more news about the released WWE Superstars, we can now confirm that released WWE Superstars will have a non-compete clause. Main roster stars will serve a 90-day non compete while NXT stars will face a 30-day non-compete. Lio Rush, who was in NXT for the recent part of his WWE career will also serve a 90-day non-compete.
This was initially reported by Fightful and was later confirmed by Sportskeeda’s very own Gary Cassidy:
Big Show defends WWE’s decision to continue filming
WWE are still running shows despite the ongoing restrictions in place because of the coronavirus outbreak. WWE have been deemed “essential” by the state of Florida and are filming from the Performance Center.
WWE legend, Big Show, recently spoke to Fox News and defended WWE’s decision to continue taping and stressed that the company were doing their all to make sure talent stay safe:
We're trying to do things the best that we can to entertain and also follow a lot of safety and health guidelines. I know that when I was there to do some things that I do with Drew McIntyre, [there was] medical screening, temperature taking and social distancing. It was really nice to see how much WWE went after making the talent as safe as possible and those that wanted to compete for the fans. And that was one thing that's been made very clear to all the talents -- you don't have to. If you feel uncomfortable, stay at home, stay with your family.
Roman Reigns was terrified before WrestleMania 30 match
Roman Reigns recently gave an interview with Muscle and Fitness. During the interview, Reigns spoke about his match at WWE WrestleMania 30 where The Shield faced Kane and the New Age outlaws. This was Reigns’ second match at the Show of Shows and the Big Dog made a surprising revelation. He said that he was nervous and terrified before the match. Here’s what he said:
“I have no clue why I was so nervous. I literally just had to blow a comeback. Just get in there, three different variations of clothesline, and then just get back to my two moves, but I was so nervous up on the concourse wetting up. We literally had a longer entrance than the match and I was terrified. I have no clue why.”
Reigns was initially supposed to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania but pulled out late on. He was replaced in the match by Braun Strowman who went on to beat Goldberg to win the title.
You can check out our original story HERE.
CM Punk loves new faction on RAW
CM Punk was recently on WWE Backstage and was asked about his opinion of Zelina Vega’s new stable on RAW. Punk had nothing but nice things to say about Zelina Vega. He said that Vega was bringing back the “valet” to WWE and in his opinion that was a great thing:
I love Zelina Vega. I mean, you know, she’s the one who played my wife in Paige’s movie. So, you know, I think she is focusing on being that valet which might be a dirty word to some people, but it’s such a forgotten art of being just that… That’s her job. You have a stable of guys and you’re in charge of it. And when it’s a woman, it’s a different dynamic. We’ve seen managers, but we haven’t really seen the valet and she can be that one that brings it back. And I love the group of misfits.
Punk went on to say what should be done to take the faction to the next level:
You know, Four Horsemen, you look at them, they look like they all belong together, they’re all friends. These guys, maybe not. I’d like to see them add, like, maybe one or two more people. And you can mix and match, pick and choose. But she is like the nucleus of the whole thing. And I think it’s a great stable.
If quotes from this page are used, please H/T Sportskeead Wrestling
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley reacts to WWE releases
Speaking about WWE’s string of releases, one person who reacted to this was former WWE Superstar Jon Moxley. Moxley is currently the AEW World Champion and beat Jake Hager in a title defense on last Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite.
Here’s what the AEW World Champion had to say regarding WWE releasing multiple Superstars and others:
My heart goes out to all these people who are affected by this craziness whether it be financial or worse. I heard a bunch of news through the grapevine people in our business who got unfortunate phone calls this morning so it’s a weird time.
Speaking about how the pandemic and the restrictions have personally affected him, Moxley stated he had nothing to complain about:
I’m feeling very fortunate you know. I was not or I will not for a second feel sorry for myself like poor me during this craziness because I got it pretty good all things considered and I’m just stuck in the house with my wife who is my favourite person to hang out with anyway.
Meet Randy Orton's lovely wife HERE
