WWE Reportedly Making Roster Cuts Prior To Money In The Bank

WWE could be releasing some superstars prior to July 1 in a series of cost-cutting moves.

According to WrestleVotes (h/t GiveMeSport), WWE fans should “expect a minor batch of releases prior to July 1…because of the circumstances that the company finds themselves in right now.”

WWE will hold its Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 1 at the O2 Arena in London, making the highly anticipated event a turning point in more than one way. Not only will WWE ignite a push for a pair of two MITB briefcase winners, but it could also look to shed some expenses in preparation for its merger with UFC.

Better Wrestling Experience (h/t NoDQ) adds that fans can “expect some few cuts here and there” as “part of an annual review.” Of course, this is nothing new for WWE fans.

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WWE has traditionally either enacted a mass release every spring and/or sporadically let stars go throughout the year. Indeed, WWE released more than 80 superstars in 2021, including a whopping 19 superstars in June 2021 alone. Many of those superstars either hadn’t made it to the main roster or—like Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt—ranked among WWE’s highest paid stars.

As WWE looked to cut costs, it also cut bait with some of the top acts in the company, ranging from Adam Cole to Jeff Hardy. Many of those names, like Cole and Hardy, wound up in AEW, and a plethora of them—ranging from Strowman to Karrion Kross—made their way back to WWE once Triple H took over its creative reigns.

WWE’s cost-cutting measures, coupled with massive TV rights fees, ultimately helped the company generate a record $1.3 billion in revenue in 2022. Now, however, feels like the wrong time for WWE to axe any of its stars on Raw or SmackDown. Why? Well, WWE CEO Nick Khan recently mentioned that SmackDown could potentially expand to three hours.

In addition, Khan recently said at MoffettNathanson’s Inaugural Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference (h/t Fightful) that WWE would like to have a televised show every day of the week: “Ideally for us, we would go every day of the week, as long as there is a unique product we can put on the air and resonate.”

Even with WWE’s roster boasting well over 100 performers on Raw and SmackDown alone, that isn’t as big as it sounds. WWE would have a difficult time creating more compelling content for a third hour of SmackDown or any additional in-ring show with its current roster, much less with a smaller one.

Raw and SmackDown, especially with a jam-packed live event schedule and a number of part-time stars, needs to have a large and deep roster that can work house shows and TV tapings without things getting stale. What’s more likely than WWE making significant changes to its main roster shows is an evaluation of how talents are progressing in NXT.

The current version of NXT is much more of a WWE development territory than a third brand, serving as a place for rising stars and former athletes to hone their craft prior to being promoted to Raw or SmackDown. It’s also a place that many WWE talents never leave.

In fact, in late 2021 it was reported that WWE would be looking to release NXT stars roughly every six months or so, in particular those who were not progressing quickly. The NXT roster currently boasts roughly 70 performers on NXT’s TV program, and that doesn’t include those who are training in NXT but have yet to make it to TV.

Releasing NXT talents wouldn’t help WWE as much financially because those stars aren’t making main roster money. However, it would have less of an impact on the quality of WWE programming. After all, the WWE roster is a lot like an NBA team—it needs role players, from three-point shooters to defensive specialists, to fill roles beyond the top-level superstars.

While WWE may look to cut expenses by releasing high-paid main roster stars or seldom seen lower card performers, company officials should think long and hard before releasing stars who will create a void on the roster when they’re gone.