Dave Meltzer has speculated that more releases could come from WWE NXT 2.0. While discussing the recent releases, the veteran journalist claimed that the plan was to cut stars in mid-April but was postponed for some internal reason.
WWE let go of Malcolm Bivens, Dakota Kai, Harland, Persia Pirotta, Raelyn Divine, Draco Anthony, Vish Kanya, Mila Malani, and Blair Baldwin on April 29. The company has been releasing performers in April for the past few years.
While speaking on Sunday Night's Main Event podcast, Meltzer was quizzed on the possibility of more NXT 2.0 stars being released soon. He admitted that more names could leave the promotion soon but added that the final decision was always with Vince McMahon:
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"Yeah, I think so. I've had people say that but no one really knows other than Vince and everything. You kind of hear rumblings the day before that this is gonna be the bad day, which actually I had heard on April 13th and 14th that the 15th is gonna be the bad day. Then it came and went and then it happened two weeks later and I would think that would be it for NXT but there were no main roster [releases]." [H/T WrestlingNews.co]
WWE to be ruthless in releasing NXT 2.0 stars
WWE are reportedly planning to release NXT 2.0 stars they do not see improvements in.
Dave Meltzer added that the company plans on having 90-day cycles and will not be interested in keeping stars who fail to show positive signs:
"I think we are going to be seeing more and more of this when it comes to NXT is people they are just gonna make decisions that they are bringing a lot of new people in. If you don't make progress there, they are gonna get rid of you, in most cases. There were a few cases where that wasn't the case. That's what it was and even talking to people who were down there and were around there were kind of like 'well, they weren't making the progress [that was] hoped for' and they have all these tryouts and they bring in a whole new group of people and there's gonna be 90-day cycles where they bring in new people and other people are gone." [H/T WrestlingNews.co]
Budget cuts are cited to be a big factor behind the mass releases, even though the promotion is registering record profits.
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