WWE brought in two former active wrestlers, Curt Hennig (Curtis Axel) and Ariya Daivari, to work as backstage producers beginning in April. The two were spotted on Raw a month later attempting to break up a brawl between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, but reports have since been released that the pair have already been relieved of their new roles. According to PWInsider, the reason was due to budget cuts but it was also noted that they could be brought back in the future.
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“There had been a big push for more producers to be added right after WrestleMania due to the insane workload and the time the company expects of the producers,” Mike Johnson wrote while explaining the situation. “That is what led to the probationary additions.Now, with the cutbacks, they have been dropped (at least short-term), so the Producers are back to being what was described to PWInsider tonight as ‘extremely overworked.’”
Axel, a former tag team champion, was originally released in April 2020 during WWE’s first big wave of budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Davari was let go in June 2021 and has since popped up in AEW, NWA and NJPW Strong.
WWE has released plenty of big names in 2022, though compared to the past two years the waves of roster cuts have been noticeably milder. The biggest names to be let go so far include William Regal, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Malcom Bivens (all of whom are now in AEW), Road Dogg, Kushida, Dakota Kai, Harland and Dexter Lumis. Other names like Nash Carter and Troy Donovan have been dropped for disciplinary reasons.
The jury is still out, however, on whether or not both Sasha Banks and Naomi are gone from the company. It has been over a month since reports first dropped that Banks had been granted her release after being suspended indefinitely in May and it was recently reported that both had been removed from WWE’s internal roster, but WWE has still declined to officially confirm whether or not they’re gone.
