WWE Releases Three High Ranking Directors; September 15th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

Early today we reported that WWE President Nick Khan had informed staff to work from home as the company began rolling out “workforce reductions” following the company’s merger with UFC under the Endeavour umbrella.

Following the news that multiple high-level Directors had been released from the company, PWInsider has now revealed that among WWE employees the talk is that between 40 – 50 employees have been laid off.

The report notes that the WWE Network and Podcasting divisions have been hit with employees being let go but there is no confirmation of how many employees from these areas have been laid off.

Please not that these releases/layoffs do not include any on screen WWE talent such as wrestlers, managers or anyone involved in the day-to-day production of WWE TV.

We will continue to keep you updated on the news surrounding WWE’s corporate and talent releases as it becomes available to us.

Check out this awesome behind-the-scenes encounter between Becky Lynch and fellow Irish wrestling student Lyra Valkyria.

A wholesome moment between @BeckyLynchWWE and @Real_Valkyria 🙌 #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/1rEM17qd68

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) September 15, 2023

On tour with Inside The Ropes live back in 2018, Edge gives his criticism of John Cena’s feud with The Nexus and why it didn’t live up to its potential at WWE Summerslam 2010.

Check it out below!

Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast has just revealed that he is “very confident” in saying that AEW will be moving to HBO Max next year and that the company will be doubling its number of PPV events to 12 under the new deal.

Speaking on a live recording of the Mat Men Podcast, Zarian would state:

“”I think next year is going to be very interesting for them [AEW] considering the rights deal is gonna be done soon, MAX…I feel confident to say MAX is going to be their home…I also feel confident that they are going to run 12 PPV’s a year.

Not a prediction my friend… I feel very confident to say it.”

What do you think of AEW doubling it’s PPV schedule? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

According to a new report, WWE talent cuts may be coming but it won’t be today.

Earlier today we covered Nick Hausman’s report that WWE & NXT talent were expected to be cut, however, according to PWInsider who have reported the ongoing WWE office releases, any talent/on-screen releases won’t be today.

The report notes that today is instead focused on WWE’s professional staff and removing individuals from posts deemed to be no longer required following the merger with UFC.

The report states:

“For those who have asked, we have been told there are no plans for talent cuts today. Today is primarily about cutting employees who would be considered redundant as UFC and WWE’s offices are combined.

The belief among those we have spoken with is that the WWE roster, the production team, on-air talents and those who work with talents, such as producers, coaches, etc. would not be part of today’s cuts.”

We will continue to keep you updated on the news surrounding WWE’s corporate and talent releases as it becomes available to us.

Jon Moxley has opened up about the toll wrestling has taken on his body.

Speaking to Bleav/ESPN 1530’s Rick Ucchino, Moxley said a doctor had told him his arthritis was more comparable with a 70-year-old. For the record, Moxley is 37.

During the interview, Moxley also reiterated his hatred of travel, admitting it’s not something that’s exactly kind on his body either.

You can read Moxley’s comments in full, here.

Another WWE layoff has been confirmed.

Early today we reported that WWE President Nick Khan had informed staff to work from home as the company began rolling out “workforce reductions” following the company’s merger with UFC under the Endeavour umbrella.

The third name to depart the WWE has now been confirmed.

A report from PWInsider has revealed that Amanda Bloom, WWE’s Director of Enterprise Master Data & Governance is the latest name released in this new round of layoffs.

Bloom joined the WWE almost 8 years ago after previously working as a Cataloging Manager at AVP.

Bloom’s responsibilities at WWE focused included:

“• Managing numerous taxonomies, ontologies and controlled vocabularies to support data analytics, improve operational efficiency, and aid content search and discovery• Owner of master data governance processes along multiple data domains.
• Designed foundational content data model for navigation and discovery on the WWE Network.
• Managed migration of descriptive metadata for entire WWE content backlog (approx. 10,000 titles) to Peacock, aligning existing metadata to Gracenote specifications.
• Evangelize master data usage and process improvements across the enterprise. Partner with business representatives to mitigate impact of proposed data workflow changes.
• Aided in design and implementation of custom-built master data management platform. Partner with internal development team to identify and prioritize desired enhancements.
• Spearhead regular MDM integrations with internal systems and direct ongoing mapping exercises between master data and internal and external data sets.”

We will continue to keep you updated on the news surrounding WWE’s corporate and talent releases as it becomes available to us.

Another WWE layoff has been confirmed.

Early today we reported that WWE President Nick Khan had informed staff to work from home as the company began rolling out “workforce reductions” following the company’s merger with UFC under the Endeavour umbrella.

The second name to depart the WWE has now been confirmed.

A report from PWInsider has revealed that Catherine Newman, WWE’s Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing has been laid off by the company.

Newman joined the WWE back in 2022 after an extended stint as the Chief Marketing Officer for Premier League Football club Manchester United.

We will continue to keep you updated on the news surrounding WWE’s corporate and talent releases as it becomes available to us.

Former WWE Superstar has broken down “what went wrong” with Nia Jax’s WWE return – putting the blame on Nia, WWE agents, creative and more!

Check out this insightful video in full below!

The first WWE layoff has been confirmed.

Early today we reported that WWE President Nick Khan had informed staff to work from home as the company began rolling out “workforce reductions” following the companies merger with UFC under the Endeavour umbrella.

The first name to depart the WWE has now been confirmed.

A report from PWInsider, verified by Brandon Thurston, has revealed that Jamie Horowitz, WWE’s EVP of Development and Digital has been laid off after nearly three years with the company.

Jamie joined the WWE back in 2019 after two years with DAZN as their EVP of Content and a previous stint at FOX Sports back in 2015 – 2017 as their National Networks President.

We will continue to keep you updated on the news surrounding WWE’s corporate and talent releases as it becomes available to us.

Sticking with our friends over at Wrestling Shoot Inverviews, check out this incredible clip of Teddy Long recaling the moment he made Jim Cornette an “honorary black Muslim.”

Check it out below!

Teddy Long has recalled the bizarre tale of former WWE Superstar Sable trying to take human “sh*t” on a flight to the United States in order to get a DNA test on it.

Check out the odd story in full below!

Former WWE Superstar and Tough Enough winner Maven has taken to his fantastic YouTube channel to rate WWE Superstars that he worked with during his time with the company!

Check out this awesome video below!

When AEW announced their upcomign Memphis debut just a month before the show, fans were left wondering why they left it so late.

A new report has now revealed that the WWE prevented AEW from announcing their upcoming Memphis debut any earlier.

According to Dave Meltzer, a contract clause that WWE places in their deals with major venues prevents them from advertising upcoming wrestling events from other companies in the weeks before or after WWE’s show.

Writing in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer would write:

“AEW just announced a 10/21 date in Memphis.

The reason this date at the Fed Ex Forum was announced so late in the game is that WWE’s contract with arenas calls for no announcing or advertising of dates with other wrestling companies from a certain number of days before the event (so tickets for both aren’t on sale at the same time) and for a period after the event.

Raw ran the building on 8/28 so it appears the window is about 15 days after the show before anyone could announce another show.”

Do you think WWE should be allowed to do this? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

Zack Gibson and James Drake, aka The Dyad, have officially left the WWE after signing with the company back in 2017.

Gibson & Drake, performing recently as Fowler & Reid as part of Joe Gacy’s ‘Schism’, had previously requested their release from the WWE, however, the request was denied leading to the duo appearing on WWE TV consistently for a number of months.

Writing in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Gibson & Drake are now free agents following the expiry of their current WWE deals and with no new contracts seemingly in the works.

“The Dyad’s contracts expired this week.

On television, they had Joe Gacy & Ava talk about how they were all alone and the other guys were gone.

They had asked for a release back in April and thought they were getting it until the company decided not to.

At the time they said their contracts expired in October and would be leaving then. It came across that was writing them out.

Unless they change their minds and sign a new deal they are gone.”

Would you like to see Gibson and Drake in AEW? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

As promised here is the latest on reports that WWE talent are hoping Vince McMahon stays away from WWE creative.

Earlier today it was reported that despite only officially returning to the WWE this week, Vince McMahon has actually been making a number of changes to WWE creative over the past few weeks causing multiple re-writes of Monday Night Raw and talent unsure as to their role on the day of the show.

It has also now been reported that WWE talent want Vince McMahon to have nothing to do with WWE creative and are “hoping” that he stays away, leaving Triple H to run the creative side of the company.

Dave Meltzer would report this in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, writing:

“Talent noted to us that Levesque had been in charge of creative and they hoped with the new company that Vince would stay out of it.

Basically they were told it was going to be Levesque in charge of creative with the new company the and now Vince was back.

The reality is that Levesque will be head of creative but Vince will remain with the final power.”

Who do you think will benefit and suffer the most from Vince McMahon’s return to WWE creative? Let us know by using the ‘get involved’ feature at the top of the page!

Vince McMahon returned to the WWE following the completion of the company’s merger with the UFC under the Endeavour umbrella, however, according to a new report he had been making significant changes to the product well prior to this taking place.

Writing in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that Vince McMahon rewrote aspects of Monday Night Raw multiple times in recent weeks despite the hopes of WWE talent that he would be staying away from the company creative despite his return.

Dave writes:

“Vince McMahon is back from his leave after spinal surgery and actually has been for several weeks although it wasn’t talked about much until this past week.

He was not in Roanoke for the 9/11 Raw show but was part of the production meeting and changed the show multiple times.

He has been part of the meetings for weeks now. There were changes throughout the day and the writers kept telling the talent that they don’t have a final script when talent wanted to know what they were doing, saying they were waiting for Vince.

Another person high up told us that the show needed a lot of work and that some of the changes were also Paul Levesque along with those of Vince and that the changes were more positive, but the talent was waiting for their final marching orders.”

We will have more information on the reports that WWE talent hoped Vince McMahon would stay away from WWE creative in the coming hour.

Do you think WWE TV will be better or worse with Vince McMahon’s returning involvement? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

According to a new report, Edge is going nowhere just yet.

On Wednesday afternoon social media went into overdrive after Edge was removed from the WWE roster page, with Christian teasing the WWE Hall of Famer’s arrival in AEW fans were left excited that this small page to WWE.com could be confirmation that Edge was set to become “All Elite.”

However, less than an hour later Edge found himself back on the WWE roster page and a new report has now revealed why.

Writing in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that Edge’s removal from the WWE roster page was ‘premature’ noting that although no matches remain on his deal he is still under contract with the WWE throughout September.

Meltzer would write:

“Edge was removed from the active roster and then put back on. We were told that pulling him from the roster page was premature, since he is still under contract. As he had noted, he has no more matches left on his contract which expires this month.

As far as what happens, that remains to be seen.”

Do you think Edge will jump ship to AEW? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

During yesterday’s Inside The Ropes live blog we covered the news that Jade Cargill is set to sign with WWE.

Since then new information has come to light revealing that ‘Big Jade’ is not expected to begin her run in the company with NXT and will be appearing on the WWE main roster with her alleged new contract reflecting that.

Dave Meltzer would confirm this information in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Writing:

“Those in WWE believed she was coming and that it would be on the main roster rather than developmental, but I could see that going either way.

Another person in WWE described it to us as that her name was being talked about a lot, but the deal was not completed at press time.

The money it would take to get her would have been far more than they pay those in developmental, but while she has a star look and is a great athlete, her skill set and experience level is not at WWE main roster woman levels.

But good workers are there to make the less experienced and more marketable workers look better than they are.

One person in WWE described this as coming out of the blue, but that they do expect her to be coming in.”

You can read more on this report, here.

Following on from our previous post that WWE President Nick Khan had informed WWE employees to work from home today whilst the company rolled out “workplace reductions” there has been a new report from Nick Hausman that WWE & NXT talent releases are expected also.

Previously most reports anticipated major cuts to WWE’s corporate office, as Endevaour looked to combat its over $5.4b dollars worth of ‘debt’ accrued through it’s purchases of WWE and UFC, however, Nick Hausman now reports that talent cuts from WWE’s main roster and NXT are also expected.

“We were told by a WWE source that “major cuts” are expected to the WWE main roster and NXT brand. We were not explicitly told that the cuts would be coming tomorrow but were told they have been planned for some time.”

The report also notes that WWE may hold off on any talent releases in order to effectively manage the bad PR that will follow.

You can read more on this report, here.

It was recently reported that following the completion of WWE’s merger with UFC under the Endeavour umbrella that WWE employees were left feeling “very scared” about their future with the company.

Unfortunately, this fear seems to have been well placed with Nick Khan reportedly informing WWE employees that  “workforce reductions” will begin today (September 15th 2023).

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has revealed that WWE president Nick Khan directed all employees to work from home on September 15th whilst “workforce reductions” come into effect.

We will be keeping an eye on this report and the information surrounding it throughout today and will look to keep you informed when any releases are confirmed.

Additionally, a new report from Nick Hausman has claimed that WWE & NXT talent releases are expected alongside the WWE office “workforce reductions”.

We will have more on this report shortly.

Good Afternoon!

I hope everyone has had a lovely and smooth week so far and is ready for the weekend!

I will be with you this afternoon from 12:00 pm to 6 pm BST (8 am – 1 pm EST) with all the latest news and rumours from AEW, WWE, NJPW and more.

This afternoon we will be kicking things off with some of today’s biggest stories, including:

• Nick Khan warns WWE employees that “workforce reductions” will begin today.
• WWE & NXT talent releases are expected alongside professional staff.
• Jade Cargill is not expected in NXT, set to debut on the WWE main roster.
• WrestleMania 32 is still considered the biggest paid wrestling event of all time, but AEW All In falls short.
• Edge is still under WWE contract, removal from the roster page was “premature.”
• Vince McMahon made multiple changes to a recent episode of Monday Night Raw.