A major overhaul of WWE NXT and WWE Performance Center staff took place today as several longtime and surprising releases were made.
As noted, WWE issued a statement earlier today and said due to NXT 2.0 changes, several producers, writers and coaches were being released. WWE Hall of Famer “Road Dogg” Brian James was the first name revealed, along with Sarah Cummins, who was working as the Senior Vice President of Consumer Products. You can click here for our report on those cuts. It was then revealed that William Regal, Dave Kapoor, Ryan Katz, Scott Armstrong, George Carroll, and Christopher Guy were released. You can click here for our report on those departures. Finally, as noted at this link, it was revealed that Hachiman, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch and Cathy Corino were also released.
In an update, Fightful Select reports that it was stated, unanimously, by talent and staff familiar with the Performance Center and NXT, that today’s releases were done directly to remove numerous Triple H hires from the company, with the exception of Cathy Corino (Allison Danger), who was hired back in October.
WWE officials who anonymously spoke on the matter did not deny this, according to the report.
Today’s releases were part of a huge overhaul, and now much of the names from the Triple H-era of NXT have been let go. WWE had earlier indicated that talent would not be included in today’s cuts, which shows that they viewed Danny Burch and Timothy Thatcher in a different light since both had been off TV. We noted before that they had been helping out with coaching duties while away from the NXT storylines. The same goes for The Diamond Mine’s Hachiman (Hideki Suzuki), who was hired as a coach but then added to The Diamond Mine stable. Word is that WWE had no creative plans moving forward for Thatcher or Burch.
Today’s departures were different from other recent mass cuts as there was no internal message that went out highlighting the released names with the reason for their departures.
This week’s NXT New Year’s Evil special saw Bron Breakker smash through a large gold X during his entrance, right before defeating Tommaso Ciampa to win the NXT Title in the main event. There was a feeling among some within NXT that the spot was symbolic, and many didn’t like it.
We noted back in November how Scotty 2 Hotty (Scott Garland) requested his WWE release after working as a coach/trainer/producer for a few years. While Scotty left the company to continue wrestling, he noted to Fightful after today’s releases that he wasn’t surprised by the cuts, and that he saw the writing on the wall, which is one of the reasons he left.
For those who missed it, below is the statement WWE issued to us on Wednesday evening before the cuts were revealed:
“With the continued evolution of NXT 2.0, we’ve decided to part ways with some of the staff based in our Performance Center. We thank them for their many contributions throughout the years and wish them the best.”
Stay tuned for more on the WWE cuts.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.