New details are shedding light on who’s actually behind WWE’s latest round of roster cuts.
On Friday, 23 talents were let go. Some of the names included The Wyatt Sicks, Aleister Black, Kairi Sane, Zelina Vega, and others. There has been speculation that TKO Group Holdings is behind the firings, as they are the ones who made the calls to the talent. Some fans pointed to executives like Ari Emanuel or WWE President Nick Khan as the key figures behind the cuts.
According to a report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, that assumption isn’t accurate. He said,
“Nobody above Levesque is saying who to cut. Maybe [WWE President] Nick Khan, maybe not. Ari Emanuel isn’t sitting there saying we have to fire Zelina [Vega] and Kairi. By and large the decision maker, for good or for bad, here is Paul. It’s like in other years where people blamed this person or that person when the decision was 100 percent Vince [McMahon].”
He continued, “There’s not a chance TKO is ordering who to cut. It is possible they’ve got an unofficial salary cap and Levesque as the manager has to keep the number below that. Most likely the salary total would be a Khan decision, and as far as the key in the personnel decision, that’s Levesque although Khan having input and others having input is likely. It’s like Vince would consult with a few people but at the end, it was Vince’s call, not evil Jim Ross or evil Johnny Ace or evil JJ Dillon.”
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