Age Played A Role In Recent Wave Of WWE Releases

WWE has been experiencing a youth movement. The goal is to keep the NXT 2.0 roster as young and fresh as possible so there are always long-term stars being fed to the main roster. While that strategy’s success remains to be seen, the recent WWE releases indicate that the promotion is sticking to the tactic.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer discussed various reasons that contributed to the wrestlers being let go. One of the contributing factors was age.

“Age is also likely a part in many of the decisions because the company is well aware that they don’t have enough talent in their 20s on television and are looking at recruiting bigger, younger and people with more of a legitimate athletic background going forward. The new directives on hiring new women is the recommendations are 25 or younger.”

Most of the rest of the releases from the main roster weren’t being used in any meaningful way. Frankie Monet had a short main event push, but her appearances have lessened. Oney Lorkan had a brief stint as a champion, but largely was sliding down the card.

Scarlett, Frankie Monet, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, and Oney Lorcan are all thirty years of age or older. Obviously, WWE is prioritizing cutting older talent and taking their chances with the less experienced but younger wrestlers in NXT. They want youth and the company is sticking to their guns.

Over a dozen wrestlers and several office staff were let go in yesterday’s sweeping cuts. WWE said that the firings were a cost-cutting measure. These measures were taken briefly after the company issued a very positive financial report. We hope for the best for those who were affected by these cuts. You can check out some of the cut wrestler’s reactions on Twitter below.