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Sin Cara's WWE release earlier today came as a shock to many members of the WWE Universe, since the masked star is the first wrestler to be released by the company since TJP back in the spring.
Sin Cara is one of several Superstars who have requested their WWE release, but the company dragged their feet when it came to whether or not they were going to grant it. The likes of Mike Kanellis, Luke Harper, The Revival, and many others have requested their release over the past year, but given the rise of AEW, WWE has been reluctant to allow any of their wrestlers the chance to walk away.
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At the time of writing, Sin Cara, Luke Harper, Konnor and Viktor of The Ascension have all been officially released by WWE, but why has the company decided that now is the time to start releasing Superstars once again?
#5. WWE could be looking to cut the wage bill again
WWE are about to roll out a new version of the WWE Network which will give away much of the variety for free while other tiers will reportedly have fans paying for pay for pay-per-views or Network specials.
It's unknown how much money this will cost WWE in the long run, but it could mean that much like the months following the launch of the WWE Network, WWE could have to prepare themselves for quite a drop in revenue.
There are more stars employed by WWE at present than ever before, so it would make sense for them to release some of the stars who aren't happy and free up some money just in case the new three-tier WWE Network plan isn't a success from the beginning.
#4. WWE no longer considers AEW as competition
When All Elite Wrestling first presented Double or Nothing and Dean Ambrose made the switch over to AEW, many fans believed that AEW could be WWE's biggest competition to date. With that stated, over the past few months this seems to have cooled off and WWE has come to the realization that All Elite Wrestling can be beaten.
With a wildly successful Survivor Series weekend and the fact that NXT has been able to beat AEW in the ratings in recent weeks, WWE may not have much to fear with regard to their current rival.
It's been former WWE stars like Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho who have been forced to make references to WWE in recent weeks, while WWE hasn't mentioned AEW once. Vince McMahon's company is aware that firing shots at their competition will only make fans change the channel to see the opposing side's reaction.
AEW has been giving WWE more viewers because they keep referencing the company, so more than two months after the Wednesday Night Wars began, it appears that WWE has decided that they can handle their newest competition.
#3. Backstage opinion
Triple H has talked about the fact that he isn't happy that many WWE stars have made it public that they are not happy with the company and are pushing for their release. It's the only company in the world where stars can try to sway the opinion of higher-ups by putting something so personal into a public forum and it's obvious that this isn't helping backstage morale.
Following Sin Cara's post on Twitter where he asked for his release, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that there were a number of stars backstage who believed that these disgruntled wrestlers should be given the release that they requested, since they are unhappy with their current position. He also revealed that the fact that releases were no longer happening meant that many stars were confused as to where they stood.
“There are people there who believe that all these guys should be let go because they’re unhappy and all that. There’s other people there who are like ‘no one’s getting fired and no one’s getting released and no ones – whatever. I don’t know what’s gonna end up happening, " he said via Forbes.
#2. Morale within WWE needed to be boosted
The Ascension haven't been used properly on WWE's main roster ever since they were promoted, which is a shock since they were able to dominate the Tag Team Division in NXT for a number of months before they were called up.
Many fans have complained about the fact that Konnor and Viktor haven't been used the way they deserved, but finally, they have been granted their WWE release, even though it's likely that both men will be looking to join their rivals and continue to push forward in their wrestling careers.
There was a report from Bryan Alvarez of The Wrestling Observer back in November that revealed that backstage morale in WWE was at its lowest, so WWE releases were now expected.
“I was told today, there may be more [releases] coming, who knows? Morale has not been good for a long time but apparently the morale has taken an even bigger hit since October 1st. If you recall, the belief within WWE … their idea was ‘oh my god, we’re going to FOX and a new boom period is going to kick off."
#1. The company is only releasing stars who won't go to AEW
Luke Harper and Sin Cara publicly requested their release and there was a belief that Cara would be given his release since he would be heading back to Mexico and isn't thinking of heading over to anyone that WWE considers a rival.
AEW has become competition for WWE over the past few months, but it's the competition that has helped WWE to sharpen their tools and push forward since NXT has beaten AEW in the ratings over the past few weeks.
Luke Harper's current position is unknown, but he could have agreed that he won't join WWE's rivals in order to negotiate a release, but at one point Jon Moxley reportedly stated that he would be returning to WWE only to head over to AEW instead and never actually had any intentions of returning.
The company may find it difficult to stop stars from joining their rivals, but reports last month suggested that WWE would be open to granting releases as long as these stars were not requesting their release in order to head over to AEW.
