Latest on “shocking” firing of major WWE name - Reports

WWE is no stranger to letting people go. While it's often the wrestlers who are released, major names at the executive level are fired from the company at times. This happened recently when James Kimball was let go, and there has been an update regarding the same.

James Kimball served as the SVP of Talent Operations and Strategy in WWE. He was hired in 2020 as the Vice President of Business Operations and worked closely with Triple H. His time with the company ended when he was fired due to an HR violation.

In the latest update to this story, Fightful Select stated that "HR violation" is a fairly broad term and could mean that no one else was directly affected. However, there is no confirmation of that beyond noting that it could mean a variety of things.

It was also noted that James Kimball's firing was seen as "shocking" by an unnamed talent, and the former worked closely with Triple H during his time in WWE.

Several UFC and WWE wrestlers told Fightful that they were surprised by Kimball's departure. In contrast, another wrestler stated that Kimball was seen as someone who'd be associated with the Stamford-based company for years to come.

The report categorically stated that this decision had nothing to do with Vince McMahon's return to the company.

---

James Kimball was reportedly released from WWE over a backstage incident

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter also recently provided an update on the situation, stating that Kimball's release was due to a backstage incident.

"Senior Vice President of Talent Operations and Strategy James Kimball was fired last week. Fightful first broke the story and said it was due to a human resource violation. The only thing we heard is that there was an incident that happened but no details of exactly what it was," said Meltzer. [H/T Wrestletalk]

James Kimball was a big part of WWE's partnership with NIL and was the point person for a lot of the tryouts.

Triple H will be booking his first WrestleMania, which is less than four weeks away. However, Hunter had to face many changes in backstage staff before the biggest show of the year.

Vince McMahon's return to the company resulted in a major reshuffle of the off-screen personalities. The 77-year-old is reportedly also taking part in creative pitches.