Unfortunately, WWE released numerous superstars on November 4. Fightful whas learned many of the plans, or lack of plans for some of those stars.
Katrina Cortez- Katrina was brought up to the WWE main roster in late 2019 to pair with Sin Cara, however, Sin Cara outright told Fightful there were never any real plans for the duo, and it just happened to put over Andrade and Zelina. Shortly after, Sin Cara asked for his release when he was told his character was "dead" and Katrina was sent back to NXT. We were told there were never any major plans for her.
It was stressed to us internally that the reboots of Keith "Bearcat" Lee and Karrion Kross were not their ideas. Also, we were told that WWE had looked at Scarlett as a wrestler on Raw or Smackown but she was quickly "sidelined." There were several that pushed for Scarlett to be a part of the Karrion Kross act, but obviously it never came to fruition. Almost immediately backstage rumors swirled of Kross getting heat within the company, but even then several tried to plead about the direction of his booking and character. There were plans to adjust his character yet again, but most within the company pointed to the booking as the issue, not the characters.
Mia Yim was drafted, not used, and hadn't wrestled at all in 2021. Fightful learned there were several tentative plans to have her on shows before the draft, and she'd quietly changed brands multiple times. However, those plans all ended up getting nixed and never got off the ground.
Oney Lorcan and Gran Metalik had both asked for their releases, with Lorcan's happening in the fall of 2019 and being denied. We weren't informed of how Metalik's went, but it occurred a couple of months ago. We reached out to Lince Dorado in October who said he'd not personally asked for his release, though we're not sure if that eventually changed as he seemed in good spirits after the news.
Nia Jax was released on what she called a mental health break. Fightful did confirm she'd asked for time off, and was scheduled to return in mid-November, but asked for additional time off. WWE had tentative plans for her, but nothing long-term from what we understand. Eva Marie was in the same boat, and has been filming a movie. Not only had WWE no creative long-term plans for her now, they didn't when they brought her in. Eva Marie had agreed to terms by October 2020, had been backstage at a show in December, creative plans for she and Doudrop were formed by March, but she never appeared in vignettes until May.
In the case of Jeet Rama, we're told the pandemic and his age both played against him. WWE's effort to globalize and expand into other territories -- specifically India -- were hindered by the pandemic. He'll be 41 in a couple of months and Fightful learned that with no creative plans for him, the company saw him as expendable.
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