More insight has surfaced regarding WWE’s latest round of post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts, including the departures of several notable names and a high-profile faction.
As previously reported, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, and The Wyatt Sicks were among those released earlier this month.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at F4WOnline.com, the decision largely came down to creative direction.
Or lack thereof.
“It was just felt that the group had run its course,” Meltzer wrote. “Even at first there were those who saw it as a short-term idea. It was basically a tribute to Bray Wyatt and was over big at first but it was limiting how they could be used with that gimmick over the long haul.”
That initial momentum apparently wasn’t sustainable.
Meltzer elaborated further, noting that WWE believed they had already maximized the faction’s potential, while also lacking future plans for both Black and Vega.
“The feeling was they got all out of the Wyatts they were going to get and Black and Vega was just a decision made on who they weren’t going to do anything more with. The reality is that even though they recruited Black hard to get out of AEW, once he returned, they really didn’t have much in the way of ideas for him.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
There had also been reports making the rounds that TKO may have influenced the cuts due to a supposed stance against “darker” characters on WWE programming. However, Meltzer dismissed that narrative.
“Regarding the story that the Wyatts and Black were released because TKO didn’t like dark characters, we were told that was ‘bullsh*t’ and that these were not decisions that even reached that level,” he claimed.
In an additional note, Meltzer pointed out that this wasn’t the first time Vega had drawn interest from AEW following a WWE release.
“[AEW President Tony Khan] did negotiate with Zelina when she was let go the last time,” Meltzer noted. “But she pretty much ghosted him and signed back.”
Time will tell if history repeats itself, or if things play out differently this time around.
