It was a truly shattering day for the WWE universe yesterday as the company decided to release lots of in ring talent and place backstage staff and producers on furlough to cut costs due to the global pandemic.
It has been suggested in the media that WWE did not have to do this and it was all to ensure a high profit, not just to survive. The total that is being discussed is around $4million per month which is about the same amount as Goldberg gets per match.
Here is a list of the released staff from the WWE.com website:
WWE has come to terms on the release of Kurt Angle, Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev), Drake Maverick (James Curtin), Zack Ryder(Matthew Cardona), Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers), Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra), Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson), Heath Slater(Heath Miller), Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz), Rowan (Joseph Ruud), Sarah Logan(Sarah Rowe), No Way Jose (Levis Valenzuela), Mike Chioda, Mike Kanellis(Mike Bennett), Maria Kanellis, EC3 (Michael Hutter), Aiden English (Matthew Rehwoldt), Lio Rush (Lionel Green), Primo (Edwin Colon) and Epico (Orlando Colon Nieves). We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
WWE.com
Unfortuntely, it looks as though the eventual number of releases is set to grow massively, as WrestleVotes reports the final number will likely be in the hundreds.
All I can say is wow at this point. The number of people, staff + talent, let go will be in the hundreds when it’s all set and done. Well into the hundreds. A dark day in WWE history.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) April 15, 2020
It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean hundreds of wrestlers, but hundreds of staff throughout the company. Having said that, it is expected there will be another wave of wrestlers released, possibly once filming for this week’s SmackDown has come to a close.
