A ton of shocking NXT personnel cuts came on Wednesday, January 5 with WWE telling Fightful "With the continued evolution of NXT 2.0, we've decided to part ways with some of the staff based in our Performance Center. We thank them for their many contributions throughout the years and wish them the best." Unanimously, the talent and staff familiar with the PC, NXT, and NXT 2.0 have said this is directly to remove numerous Triple H hires, with the exception being Allison Danger. WWE officials we spoke with didn't deny this, and even said as much in their statement, in kinder terms.
This resulted in a huge overhaul, and much of the Triple H-era NXT names being let go of the company. Fightful will work to find out more, but WWE had indicated to Fightful that talent would not be included in the cuts, which gives a pretty strong indication that they'd viewed Danny Burch and Timothy Thatcher in a different light since both had been off of television, and helping coach at the WWE PC. "Hachiman" Hideki Suzuki was an on-screen performer in Diamond Mine, which has seen four of their original or originally planned members released. We're told there were no creative plans moving forward for Thatcher or Burch on screen.
There was no internal message that went out as usual highlighting the names and reasoning for the departures.
Scott Armstrong had been working in timing out the shows, and was a referee for years for WWE. He oversaw a lot of the NXT refereeing staff. At least one promotion has already expressed interest in booking Scott Armstrong as a wrestler, as he's known to stay in shape and was a good worker in his day. His father wrestled until he was almost 80. Armstrong was let go in 2020 and brought back at the urging of his brother, Road Dogg.
As for Road Dogg, he was seen as a key "Triple H guy," and along will Regal, was one of the most evident firings that pointed everyone to the notion that this was specifically moving people out to change directions from what NXT "was." Dogg suffered a heart attack earlier this year, but had been back with the company for several months working.
One of the names that surprised people the most within the company was Dave Kapoor, also known as Rainjin Singh. Kapoor had been with WWE for 15 years, managing Great Khali, but had previously served as Senior VP of Creative. He'd been spending time in NXT, and was said to have been unanimously liked and easy to work with, with people who worked in the company heavily praising him to Fightful when the news dropped.
Fightful had asked about William Regal being off TV last week, and were told there were no plans for him or an immediate authority figure on NXT television. He'd been scouting talent at the recent WWE tryouts, but we're told that when he was off television with no direction, it was one of the surest signs that NXT was no longer what it'd been for the decade prior. He was another Triple H favorite who helped shape the brand. Everyone that Fightful spoke to thought that Regal would be exempt from cuts regardless, but that wasn't the case.
Several people that we spoke to within NXT felt that Bron Breakker being scripted to kick the gold "X" in half was symbolic, and many didn't like it.
Another shocking name was Ryan Katz, who had been a driving force being creative aspects in NXT during a lot of their prosperous periods.
Scotty 2 Hotty briefly spoke to Fightful after hearing the news and said that he wasn't surprised and saw the writing on the wall, which is why he got out of the company last month. Fightful has confirmed that Steve Corino and Jeremy Borash are still with the company, which we got numerous inquiries about.
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