The WWE Superstars who were released on Wednesday are all under 90-day non-compete clauses, according to PWInsider. This means they will begin to appear for major promotions beginning on Wednesday, July 15.
It’s possible that some make indie signing or convention appearances before then. There’s no word yet on if AEW is interested in picking any of the released talents up, but we will keep you updated.
On a related note, Karl Anderson took to Twitter today to tease that he’s headed back to New Japan Pro Wrestling soon. The former IWGP Tag Team Champion tweeted a video, seen at the end of this post, that shows a flight from Santa Monica, CA to Tokyo, Japan, and includes NJPW commentary in the background, along with his “Machine Gun” nickname.
You can click here to read the current list of confirmed departures and furloughs. The list currently includes 22 wrestlers, 10 producers, 3 coaches, 2 announcers, 1 referee, 1 creative writer, and 2 other on-air talents. We have details on how much money WWE is saving with the cuts and more at this link.
As noted, the cuts on Wednesday were a part of coronavirus-related business changes that WWE announced earlier in the day. You can read WWE’s full announcement at this link. That COVID-19 business update announcement was issued by WWE right after Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon held a meeting call with employees. You can read about Vince’s call at this link.
Stay tuned for more updates from the cuts.
— Karl Anderson (@MachineGunKA) April 16, 2020
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