Usually, this round of cuts happens in April, or a week after the Road to Wrestlemania season. However, this is a different time with different officers who aren't from the McMahon Dynasty.
Anyway, these budget cuts are in some ways justified with their current PPV or Premium Live Event record (I am just going to call this PPV here) as well as their win-loss record.
As far as the NXT cuts, there aren't any shocking ones. I know some wrestling sites like Wrestletalk would say that they weren't given a chance to perform but these are the same sites that never really cared about the NXT product after the yellow brand became watercolor splatter. Truth be told, these cuts just need to get better outside the WWE program. Quincy Elliott for starters is not good in the ring. It feels like Mabel is more mobile than him. Ikemen Jiro should have been Rick Boogs' odd couple guy. Other than the catchy guitar riff, I never got the Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura pair up and in some ways, it kind of ruined Nakamura's momentum.
MAIN EVENT PERFORMERS
WRESTLER | AGE | TOTAL PPVS | TOTAL PPVS IN 2023 | 2023 W-L TV RECORD |
MATT RIDDLE | 37 | 22 | 3 | 7-12 |
ALIYAH | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
DOLPH ZIGGLER | 43 | 106 | 0 | 1-8-1 |
ELIAS | 35 | 16 | 1 | 0-9 |
EMMA | 34 | 5 | 1 | 1-7 |
MUSTAFA ALI | 37 | 2 | 1 | 11-9 |
RICK BOOGS | 35 | 3 | 1 | 3-4 |
RIDDICK MOSS | 34 | 6 | 0 | 2-11 |
SHELTON BENJAMIN | 48 | 48 | 0 | 5-7 |
TOP DOLLA | 33 | 0 | 0 | 1-7 |
MACE | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0-4 |
MANSOOR | 27 | 5 | 0 | 0-4 |
DANA BROOKE | 34 | 14 | 1 | 7-15 |
DABBA-KATO | 35 | 2 | 0 | 3-4 |
SHANKY | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
I got these stats from CAGEMATCH!
NXT
QUINCY ELLIOTT, BRYSON MONTANA, YULISA LEON, DANIEL MCARTHUR, KEVIN CORTEZ, ALEXIS GREY, IKEMEN JIRO, BROOKLYN BARLOW
Dolph Ziggler is the most accomplished wrestler on this list with Matt Riddle and Mustafa Ali as the most involved in 2023. I guess for some fans, it's hard to fathom that they are throwing away these names but in hindsight, if they haven't been over despite multiple gimmicks, have been treated as enhancement talents for the longest time, and couldn't even break a secondary TV show gig, you can't really blame the WWE for their cost-cutting measures.
I personally thought Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows would be on this list and thankfully, they aren't because, with the amount of money they get and the little to no airtime they have, you'd think the TKO peeps are going to do something about this.
Ziggler is one of my favorite wrestlers but he isn't used as much. I thought he had a good run in NXT but seeing catching on the trend, going full-time in NXT is probably a sign of impending doom. NXT is a developmental brand and if a main roster contract goes there, that means they are giving away screen time for a potential prospect and he is still getting main roster money. With the way Ali and Brooke's fate turned out, it's easy to look at Apollo Crews' situation as a problem. I know he was on NXT and is now in the main roster but the 36-year-old is currently 6-12 in 2023 with just two PPV appearances.
Elias had a perfectly good gimmick but they also ruined that.
And then there are things out of the WWE's control. This is what happened to Matt Riddle. If not for his recent brush-ins with the law alongside substance abuse issues, this WWE-UFC would have been perfect for him.
Also, he needs to go to AEW with Rob Van Dam as his business partner!
Hopefully, these names would return at some point - especially the Maximum Male Models. Mace and Mansoor's gimmick is awesome but they wrote them off too quickly.
Basically, this is the ONLY reason why you need to hate LA Knight.