In the midst of spring heading into summer as COVID-19 vaccinations roll out across the world, WWE has announced another batch of roster releases that, eerily, takes place literally one year from the last slew of major releases they had in 2020 during the global pandemic. On April 15, 2021, WWE announced the following talent that were released:
This list is by no means on par with the absolute massacre to the WWE roster that the proverbial budget cutting knife went through last April, but some of the names here are significant. Mickie James was last seen doing guest commentary on NXT Takeover’s pre-show, and she is a six time women’s champion, pretty much a Hall of Fame contender. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, formerly known as the IIconics, recently had significant television time.
But the biggest name that sticks out is by far Samoa Joe. Once a longtime presence on TNA / Impact Wrestling, Joe became a two time NXT Champion, a United States Champion and the first ever Dusty Tag Team Classic winner when he made it to “the big league”. Joe was conspicuous by his absence this past Monday night as the commentary team of RAW was reformatted to Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and newcomer Adnan Virk.
Having been on the shelf from an injury since February of 2020, Samoa Joe was actually doing quite well as a commentator. At 42, one would assume that Joe would have been looking to transition to another role once his in-ring career was done. But as we all know, the wrestling bug is hard to scratch away and these days, many wrestlers past 40 are still going strong.
Having never won a world title in WWE, Joe was probably chomping at the bit to get back in the ring, but WWE clearly did not see that future for him. Therefore the only way Samoa Joe would ever see the inside of a ring as a wrestler again…was somewhere else. As of this writing, the feelers are out already for Joe to return to Impact or make his way to AEW.
Regarding Kay and Royce, it’s hard to figure out that logic since they were recently featured in prominent spots on WWE programming. During a segment of “RAW Talk”, Peyton gave this incredibly genuine speech about taking her opportunity as a singles competitor, and Billie was on freakin’ Wrestlemania teaming with Carmella.
It’s ‘ironic’ that by splitting up a really good team, the IIconics, did these two women start losing steam, so much so that they got paired off with other partners because apparently as singles stars they weren’t getting noticed? There is no way they wouldn’t be noticed now that they’re free.
Chelsea Green was another odd one, because from her debut back in January of 2020 on NXT, she looked sexy, beautiful and had star written all over her. Unfortunately, injuries got in the way and she never really made the main roster debut she was destined for.
I’m not that surprised about the rest. Bo Dallas was already preparing a life outside of wrestling, and people like Mojo, Kalisto and Wesley Blake were literally doing nothing but enjoying the latest from catering. Tucker was last seen in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on Smackdown, but since his split from Otis in the Heavy Machinery tag team, Tucky’s singles push never materialized.
While most people once again are heaping hate on the biggest wrestling company in the world, I think there is more of a silver lining to be seen. Is it morally right? No, but WWE is a business and they made decisions that led to this decision, mainly based on financial whether you believe them or not, but something had to give.
Chris Jericho’s recent two hour interview with Steve Austin on the Broken Skull Sessions showed that Vince McMahon isn’t afraid of AEW, for that matter any other wrestling company today, which should be obvious. The fact that Jericho was able to openly talk about All Elite Wrestling on WWE programming showed that much. Perhaps despite popular opinion, Vince McMahon finally is realizing the advantage of having other companies around him that can thrive.
So while the recent roster cuts of WWE in 2021 is sad and disappointing of what could have been, it’s not like there aren’t any other options out there for these released men and women to explore. With all wrestling programming having been rebalanced post Wrestlemania so each day per week gets one wrestling show, the need to compete against each other has lessened and creative freedom can flourish.
After their 90 day no compete is up, the released talent are free to go to whichever company they wish. Impact’s Slammiversary in 2020 showed us that much. Whether they meant to or not, WWE may have ended up doing a favour for the entire wrestling community after all.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
Recent Comments