More WWE Releases Reportedly Coming Soon as Veteran Stars Are on the ‘Chopping Block’

WWE has released more than 50 wrestlers since the start of the year, and according to a new report from the Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer more are on the way. The Observer’s Bryan Alvarez dropped a report on Wednesday stating that Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard would be producing NXT beginning in mid-September, prompting fans to get “#RIPNXT” trending over fear that the Black and Yellow Brand would now resemble Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. Meltzer disputed that report, saying (h/t WrestlingNews.co), “The story that Vince and Bruce would be executive producers I was told is not the case but then again I don’t even know who knows what right now because everything is in transition. Most of the people in NXT don’t know anything but I was told that the big picture stuff, they are taking over. The new logo [is] from what I had heard Kevin Dunn but it’s from that side. The major stuff it’s gonna be them but they’re not gonna be producing every segment of the show, I don’t think.”

He added that Paul “Triple H” Levesque has “lost power” over the brand, then said veteran NXT stars will be cut from the company soon. Stay tuned for further updates as they become available.

“I’ve heard names on the chopping block and you don’t know until it happens but I’ve definitely heard names. A lot of the guys who have been there for a long time, those are the names that have been talked about,” Meltzer said.

WWE president Nick Khan confirmed changes were coming to the brand during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani. The show’s new logo and theme were introduced late last week.

“We are doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT. What we found — it’s part of why we did the tryout yesterday — what we want to make sure is easy for folks who want to be WWE Superstars, is figuring out how to become WWE Superstars.”

“In terms of an NXT re-brand, look for it in the next couple of weeks. It’s going to have a whole new look, it’s going to have a whole new feel — and we believe — because of a lot of the indie wrestlers, if you will, have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and Raw now. We don’t want to just keep doing that same thing, we want to look elsewhere for great, young talent,” he continued.