WWE Black Thursday
 

WWE's internal memo:

Who will be the most notable released?

Chad Gable?

I don't necessarily think that the day to day operations staff will matter.

I'm definitely curious to see what talent they release from the company.

Shocking releases so far:

Jamie Horowitz, Executive Vice President of Development and Digital
Catherine Newman, Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing
Amanda Bloom, Director, Enterprise Master Data & Governance

It's disheartening to see people lose their jobs.

There's going to be a ton of overlap. Things like accounting, receivables, HR, marketing etc you arent going to need as many people specifically in the higher positions.

I hope only single parents lose their jobs

Should be interesting to see which wrestlers are cut since they kept saying Triple H is in charge of creative and who is on the roster. If a bunch of people he rehired are cut, we will know WWE were full of shit, per usual lol

Not sure this will bleed over onto the talent side, but there is definitely room to trim.

For sure. There are tons of talent that do not appear on TV anymore. Saying that they are a part of WWE Main Event doesn't count as appearing on TV. If they primarily appear on that, just release them. I know that sounds harsh but I'd rather they have the opportunity to go out and do other things or sign with other promotions.

And all their cars break down on the way home.

I feel like there are easily 10 people in NXT that I cannot remember anything about. If they are that forgettable they certainly will never make it to the main roster and should be cut.

Main roster im sure there are 15 who never appear on tv and likely never will.

I get having depth and all, but anybody who has a chance to catch on like LA Knight, they are going to show something that would justify keeping them. Like Gable, even when they were giving him nothing, he always at least showed he had something.

you might see undercard talent that isnt featured any more get cut loose but thats not really what this is. this will focus on redundancies primarily

I wonder how Brock Lesnar can play endeavor off itself for his next contract lol

I don’t think there are any urgent cuts needed. They’re bringing back Nia Jax and The Authors of Pain, so…

Dana Warrior got let go, probably no more Warrior Awards

They could still pay her to license Warrior’s image and the like. I think she may have been with them longer than he was.

Oh yeah way longer, I think altogether Warrior did about 6 years, she worked there for about 9 years.

Reports say around 100 people were fired today... and that at the end of the day there was another e-mail saying that they were done firing people.

Can't even imagine the "stress" of a day like this. Being told to work from home, and just sitting there waiting to see if you are getting fired... probably hearing about all the other firings and wondering if you were next.... and then can finally breath again when getting an e-mail saying the bloodletting was done...

Seems pretty “normal” for the corporate world. I’m kind of surprised they let people know they were done.

Never thought the answer to my question would be Dana Warrior.

Dunno if related but Mustafi Ali is no longer with WWE.

Which is really weird considering he is fighting Dirty Dom September 30 at NXT No Mercy

Mustafa ali relesed

25 minutes late....but thank you.

Looks like another wave of talent cuts today. So far they’ve released:

Mustafa Ali
Emma
Rick Boogs
Aaliyah
Elias
Riddick Moss
Top Dolla

Gotta think rest of hit row too

WHAT ARE ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE DOING IN THE IMPACT ZONE!?

Elias should go to AEW. I'd love to see him cut off MJF with a sweet guitar solo.

Ali would also be a good fit in AEDUBYA.

Ali can cut a good promo but he never really was allowed to, could never figure that out

Prayer Circle for Dolph and Shelton

So apparently Smackdown is going back to the USA Network with a new 5 year $1.4 billion deal.

News of a 40% increase in rights fees led to TKO Stock dropping 15%, which is bonkers lol.

an zigler gone

Shelton released too

Ziggy to AEW. Love it.

Can't believe y'all missed Ezekiel..... :|

Will Jinder be Hindered?

yeah he can feud with Jericho over which over 45 guy is coolest to the young fan's

Tiny Khan blowing up Shad's phone right now

WILL VEER BE COMING

OR GOING

WILL ALEXA BE BLISS'D

His shitty, talentless brother can finally earn what Khan has been paying.

There is zero chance they try to fire a pregnant performer again after the Dawn Marie situation years back.

Ali probably the most surprising albeit he’s previously asked to go. I’d had Emma and Moss on the list after they lost interest in them 3 weeks in.

Aaliyah showed next to no improvement from the time she was on Breaking Ground which was probably 7-8 years ago.

Going back to the Elias gimmick killed him.

Ziggler is the surprising one to me.

Sad to see Ziggler go.

<iframe width="1225" height="698" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7I8Eyr9h8e0" title="FULL MATCH - The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler - Intercontinental Title vs. Career Match: WWE No Mercy 2016" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He’s had a superb run. I find it hard to be too cut up about it, he’s been there so long it’s almost impossible to make him fresh.

Sucks that he never got to that next level because he was legit one of the best wrestlers in the world for a number of years there. He's still really good now.

Dolph is gonna be an interesting one, considering all the concussions and how AEW's safety protocol is.

Top Dolla could replace Keith Lee as the immobile fat guy.

Tenille might come over this time, as she is friends with Saraya. Don't know how she takes with the rest of the Britt Kliq. Maybe bring back the dancing gimmick and put her with Garcia.

If AEW takes Emma it would be to RoH.

She was a available to them up until last year, and they never signed her, at least full time.

Dolph might not go.

Elias seems like a pure on Impact guy.

The talent with the most potential I’ve seen so far are Riddick Moss and Rick Boogs, but WWE has the inside track on those guys. You also have to keep in mind talent that has asked for their release when these things come up.

Tony Khan will sign just about all of them for more money than they are getting now. They will sit in catering and do nothing still. If Dolph wants to keep a working relationship with WWE, he might choose Impact. I’d like to see Shelton go there and do something, but he’ll probably get paid $500k a year to go and pad out Collision.

Elias, Moss and Boogs jump the rail at Impact and start a WAR!

Him and Benjamin seemed like surefire picks for backstage roles, either at the PC or as road agents.

Next wave of releases came out.

Mace and Mansour
Dana Brooke
Quincy Elliot
Daba Kato
Shanky
Bryson Montana
Yulissa Leon

I have no idea who the last 2 are, but they are gone.

Another strange one is Mark Henry said Tegan Nox got released, but nobody else seems to be reporting that, so take it for what you will.

Poor Emma. Brought back for nothing.

Poor Maximum Male Models... they were the best part of the house show that I went to last year.

"lol" at Aliyah finally getting released after staying in NXT forever and then finally being called up just to go back to doing nothing.

Yeah, too bad about Ali too... seems like with "very little work" he could have been really over as a face. I know he is "old" already, but out of all the cuts I could see him being the guy who makes himself a "star" elsewhere and gets rehired by WWE a few years later.

He’s also asked for his release publicly and been a massive pain in the ass. I can very easily see him being a “go be someone else’s problem” firing. Especially since Bryan Danielson is a fan of the guy, he’s from Chicago, he’s of Pakistani descent and he does a lot of flips. They know he’s going to end up in AEW and they don’t give a shit.

I can’t remember if Yulissa Leon or her partner is the one who really impressed me. Valentina Feroz or something is the name she uses. One of them looked REALLY good when I saw them. Then one got hurt.

lol TKO looks to be getting ready to force Vince out. They listed all his shares for sale today and in the SEC filing was apparently a gem about him opening them up to negative publicity and stuff.

Them forcing him out while the stock is down $15 would be karmic justice.

Bye bye

So now that the releases are seemingly done, how the fuck did this not happen

I miss Bliss....... :( Where did she go?

No clue, I mean I suppose Ashante Thee Adonis was the worker of this iteration of the group, so maybe they still think they can do something with him. B-Fab is like background hype machine that only says yeah and ohhhhh, so no clue why she is around still.

I still have no idea how they thought this would work without Swerve, since the little matter that it was his group lol

She is pregnant and out on leave.

Also at the house show I went to I remember that after winning the match, "Top Dolla" was slapping hands with the fans and taking pictures and seemed "happy to be there"... while the other two Hit Row members just went to the top of the ramp and waited for him, looking kind of annoyed at having to wait

What else has he done to earn the rep as "massive pain in the ass" and a "problem"?

Just the asking for his release thing? Cause if it is just that, that's not so terrible....

That was pretty telling of the dude. Was a fucking stupid career move. He’s lucky to have had the time he’s had.

Boots taste good.

Mr. Nerfect doesn't care about South Asian people.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/resiz...W7GC6B2X6I.jpg

Ziggler is the one I will miss because he was a workhorse. I can see him going to AEW to team up with his brother, which would not be a bad thing.

Ali is prime for the X-division in Impact.

I would sign Emma and throw her in ROH. Dana Brooke could probably end up on Impact as well.

The rest I could care less about.

Ziggles, if he does go to AEW, CAN be a big deal. Dude can talk shit extremely well and go in the ring.


I would like to see him mix it up with Adam Page and the lot. It'd be good.

Ziggler vs PAC and Ziggler vs Omega please.

Also would be bangers. Lotsa good matchups to be had, tbh.

You’d know.

Dolph would threaten that lockerroom so bad. It’d be another old guy who knows how to do this coming in and clashing with the lack of vision.

It wouldn’t shock me to see Tony throw money at him. But Ziggler might actually be a better fit for Impact, if he even wants to keep wrestling.

haha! so fragile. who's boots am i licking, considering I don't watch shit?


I just don't hate everything because I'm not a narcissist who thinks he knows best than the people actually doing the job.


You and CM Phyllis are a lot alike. Fragile ego, fragile mind, and most likely fragile body. It all makes so much sense now.

lol, NO YOU! :rofl::rofl:

Ezekiel should show up on SD tonight and say it wasn't fair how his brother Elias got released...

Ziggler's finest moment

https://media.tenor.com/U4WyLTZanNcA...gler-big-e.gif

Too bad the trio didn't last longer

Maybe cause Big E almost broke AJ

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oQns...ymtyo2_400.gif

Also really enjoyed Ziggler's feud vs Dean Ambrose over the title... was years after that trio and Ziggler had already fallen off the radar, but it showed how easily he could be shot back up

Flag on the play. Taunting.

If you’re a main roster talent sent back to NXT you gotta be worried. Baron Corbin’s fan better relish what he can for now.

So Becky and Dom Dom will be gone?

Lol, Tony got that job because his dad is rich. That’s peak bootlicking.

Nah they’re blantant guest stars looking to boost ratings ahead of rights negotiations. They’re also still on the main shows (all of them in the case of Dom). Guys like Ali and Dana Brooke were sent down indefinitely with no exposure on the main shows. Corbin is the latter.

But I don’t actually think he’ll be let go.

Ikemen Jiro released and nobody noticed. Much like his run in the company.

All the unknown Japanese guys belong in AEW.

I cant remember him doing anything after Kushida left.

I can’t remember him doing anything while Kushida was there.

Matt Riddle released, per Matt Riddle

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just wanted to inform everyone that I’m no longer with WWE. Thank you for the memories and opportunities also thank you to all the fans for the support and love you give me every time I go out to the ring. See you all soon 🤙 <a href="https://t.co/fpuQkIJAFx">pic.twitter.com/fpuQkIJAFx</a></p>&mdash; matthew riddle (@SuperKingofBros) <a href="https://twitter.com/SuperKingofBros/status/1705363043037646872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Probably a smart release. They tried REALLY hard with the dude, but he seems a little nuts. Just one of those magnets for drama. Him in AEW would be…hilarious.

If Impact can get Matt Riddle and Nick Nemeth for Hard to Kill…that’d be PrettyCool.

Oh shit, if they could get Shelton Benjamin too. Mike Rawlis, Tenille Dashwood and Jeff Sculio as well. Would be a warm start to the year for a company looking to very slowly expand.

Do they require everyone to post "I am no longer with wwe"?

Seems creepy and weird.

Riddle went off the rails a lot the last year. I also wonder if his beef with UFC factored in at all.

It’s weird that the overwhelming majority of these releases I think would do better in Impact than AEW. Ali is the only one I think immediately fits in AEW. Think he’d fit in well quickly like Swerve did.

I’d love to see Riddle, Shelton, and Ziggles go to Japan if they’re interested. I dunno if any of them are up for that grind but I think their styles are all well suited for that transition.

Gimme the Boogs and Elias tag team in Impact that I didn’t know I needed until just now