The latest round of talent cuts was done by WWE this past Friday night and it hit the NXT brand hard as Asher Hale, Ari Sterling, Bobby Fish, Bronson Reed, Jake Atlas, Kona Reeves, Leon Ruff, Mercedes Martinez, Tyler Rust, Zechariah Smith, Giant Zanjeer, and referee Stephon Smith were let go.
That new direction is for NXT to no longer have smaller and older wrestlers, but rather, younger and taller wrestlers are wanted with the idea that they will become main eventers down the line.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast shared what he has heard from USA Network executives about the cuts as NBC Universal, the parent company of the USA Network, is paying for the TV rights to NXT.
Perception means everything especially when you are working with partners who are not pro wrestling fans and don't have deep knowledge of the talent.
In reality are the changes coming to NXT a bad thing? Time till tell. 2/2 https://t.co/hNxa3qxZG1
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) August 9, 2021
It’s also been reported that as this new edict gets introduced, more talent cuts are expected to happen. The talent mentioned above will have 30-day non-compete clauses.
