WWE released 17 talent on Thursday, November 4, and New York Post quickly revealed that some were in part due to their vaccination status.
Fightful confirmed with WWE sources that at least five of the released talent were "openly unvaccinated," including some very surprising names. It was stressed to us that this wasn't the exclusive reason, and wasn't the reason across the board for firings. It should be noted, releasing talent for not being vaccinated is completely legal, and would have restricted many of the venues that performers could compete in and travel availabilities.
Rumors of releases have been running rampant for weeks within the industry, with many expecting cuts last Friday that never happened. There were also several office cuts this week, that were said to be completely unrelated to vaccination status, but there had actually been wrestlers in other companies that heard rumblings that vaccination-related talent cuts were on the way in WWE.
Fightful will continue to work to learn more about individual releases and any creative plans that did and didn't happen for respective superstars.
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