Unfortunately, WWE had another round of releases last week.
Fightful Select reported several bits of news connected to them, and what was happeneing with the talent backstage.
WWE has started what appear to be annual April 15 releases today, cutting Mickie James, Billie Kay, Chelsea Green, Kalisto, Tucker, Samoa Joe, Bo Dallas, Mojo Rawley and Wesley Blake.
Of those wrestlers, we've been told that Mickie James had been vocal backstage about her desire to continue wrestling.
Bo Dallas had been backstage at some recent episodes of WWE Smackdown, but we'd been told he'd not figured in to any creative plans whatsoever. He participated in a "practice match" for the setup of WrestleMania the Friday before the show.
We're also told by talent that Samoa Joe had expressed his desire to wrestle of late, but was not cleared by WWE.
Billie Kay was a surprise cut for many backstage, as the talent that Fightful spoke to did not expect that coming. When asked why, they cited the fact that she was used on WWE television as recently as WrestleMania, and was loved in the WWE locker room, as was her former tag team partner Peyton Royce. We're told Kevin Dunn specifically didn't "get" Billie Kay, and had verbalized that he saw a ceiling for her in WWE.
Chelsea Green met with WWE at Smackdown a couple of weeks prior to WrestleMania regarding a post-WrestleMania return to the company. She was not brought to WrestleMania and did not appear on the stage with the rest of the talent.
Word of WWE cuts actually made its way around a couple of months ago. However, we've been told that multiple people among the cuts had inquired about whether or not they were on the chopping block and were told they weren't going to be among them, only to be cut. One wrestler told us "it's just an annual reminder that this is a company, not a family."
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