A new report on the latest batch of WWE releases has revealed the reason why Nia Jax, and potentially several other stars, were let go by the company!
In the fifth wave of WWE talent releases this year, 18 stars departed the company. Among them were several high-profile names including former NXT Champions Karrion Kross & Keith Lee, former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon and former Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax.
Whilst the internal reason for the releases was reportedly cited as “budget cuts” in an email from John Launantis to talent, a new report has revealed that the release of Nia and several other individuals had a more layered reason behind them.
According to The New York Post, a source “with knowledge of WWE’s operations” revealed that Jax was partially released due to her being unvaccinated against COVID-19.
A report from Fightful Select later added that at least five of the talents released were “openly unvaccinated” with Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Podcast stating this was potentially the reason behind at least four of the 18 releases that occurred.
Spoke to a source regarding the WWE roster cuts.
It’s believed that possibly 4 individuals were released due to not being vaccinated. https://t.co/WMU8YwkGV2
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) November 5, 2021
WWE’s current COVID-19 vaccination policy is unclear. Back in May, Jerry Lawler revealed on Twitter that the company requested that employees be “fully vaccinated before the next pay per view in June.” He later retracted that statement, clarifying that WWE “never forces anyone to be vaccinated.”
The 18 stars released are beholden to a 90-day non-compete clause, leaving them unable to compete outside the company until at least February 2022. Most NXT talent, however, only have a 30-day non-compete and could make non-WWE appearances as early as next month.