Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Vince McMahon, wrestling

Major Talent Cuts Rock WWE in Wake of TKO Merger, Employee Layoffs

Emma, Mustafa Ali, Rick Boogs, Elias, Aliyah, Top Dolla, Riddick Moss, Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin, Dolph Ziggler, and maybe more have been released from WWE following the TKO merger.

Everyone knew it was coming, but it doesn't make it suck any less. A week after the merger between WWE and UFC to become the new mega-entity TKO was finalized, WWE has begun cutting talent from its roster. The move to release wrestlers follows the layoffs in the office and executive roles that typically also follow a merger. So far, the now former WWE talent who have announced they've been cut include Tennille Dashwood (Emma), Adeel Alam (Mustafa Ali), Eric Bugenhagen (Rick Boogs), Jeffrey Daniel Sciullo (Elias), Nhooph Al-Areebi (Aliyah), Anthony Joseph Francis (Top Dolla), Michael Carter Rallis (Riddick Moss), Cedric Alexander Johnson (Cedric Alexander), Shelton Benjamin (Shelton Benjamin), and Nick Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler). Since the news of the releases has come mostly from the social media accounts of the released wrestlers, it's possible there are more that have yet to be revealed.

UPDATE 5:30PM ET: A second wave of releases Thursday afternoon includes Quincy Elliot, Jennifer Michell Cantú Iglesias (Yulisa Leon), Babatunde Łukasz Aiyegbusi (Dabba Kato), Mansoor Abdul Aziz Al-Shehail (Mansoor), Brennan Marcel Williams (Mace), Ashley Mae Sebera (Dana Brooke), and Jacoby Brooks (Bryson Montana).

For Alam, the cut was particularly surprising, as Mustafa Ali was set for a title match against Dominik Mysterio at NXT No Mercy later this month, a storyline that played out as recently as on last night's NXT, when Ali vowed to visit WWE Raw next week in response to Dragon Lee getting a title match before him. The release of Nemeth, who has been a company mainstay for decades, is also particularly surprising. Even so, cuts have been expected since the merger was finalized.

Over 100 backstage and office jobs were reportedly cut following the merger, all of them coming from the WWE side, with no cuts so far reported from UFC. If there's any bright side, it's that the professional wrestling business today offers more opportunities outside of WWE than it has in decades, with multiple companies to potentially work for.

The news of talent cuts follows big shakeups in the company, with a mustachioed and ghoulishly hair-dyed Vince McMahon reportedly holding a meeting with employees in Stamford earlier this week where he demanded applause and claimed the company had stagnated, forcing him to negotiate the merger deal and return to power. That claim seems transparently incorrect, as WWE has experienced both a creative and business renaissance since McMahon was temporarily forced to retire last year amidst a sexual misconduct scandal, handing creative control over to his son-in-law, Triple H.

Notably, Triple H is no longer a member of the board of directors following the merger, though he remains at least nominally in charge of creative (for now), with McMahon reportedly making more last-minute changes to shows remotely following his recovery from spinal surgery. TKO also announced a new television deal for WWE Smackdown this morning, with the show moving off the Fox broadcast network, where it experienced unprecedented success, and back to USA Network, where it had previously floundered, in 2024. The TKO stock price is also down.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!