The rolling nature of how WWE announced which independent contractors were let go as part of the budget cuts they implemented on April 15, as well as the lack of an official confirmation of developmental talent released or other employees furloughed, made it difficult to keep up with yesterday’s news cycle.
More names may need to be added to these lists before all is said and done, either because WWE makes more changes or we learn of more reductions in the categories they don’t announce.
These are the names either confirmed or being widely reported after one of the more chaotic days in the history of the business.
Raw & SmackDown talent released
- Kurt Angle
- Drake Maverick (James Curtin)
- Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers)
- Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra)
- Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson)
- Heath Slater (Heath Miller)
- Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz)
- Rowan (Joseph Ruud)
- Sarah Logan (Sarah Rowe)
- Mike Chioda
- EC3 (Michael Hutter)
- Aiden English (Matthew Rehwoldt)
- Lio Rush (Lionel Green)
- Primo (Edwin Colon)
- Epico (Orlando Colon Nieves)
- Mike Kanellis (Mike Bennett)
- Maria Kanellis
- Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona)
- No Way Jose (Levis Valenzuela)
- Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev)
- Cain Velasquez
Producers, coaches & other employees furloughed or laid off
- Billy Kidman
- Mike Rotunda
- Dave Finlay
- Pat Buck
- Shawn Daivari
- Scott Armstrong
- Sarah Stock
- Shane Helms
- Lance Storm
- Ace Steel (Chris Guy)
- Serena Deeb
- Kendo Kashin (Tokimitsu Ishizawa)
- Andrea Listenberger (SmackDown writer)
- Jerry Soto (Spanish-language announcer)
- Gerald Brisco
- Nigel McGuinness
* Note: There was a rumor going around NXT’s Norman Smiley was let go, but Kassius Ohno pointed out it came from a fake Twitter account
NXT talent released
- Dorian Mak (Dan Matha)
- Deonna Purrazzo
- MJ Jenkins
- Josiah Williams
- Aleksandar Jaksic
- Alyssa Miles
- Jon Quasto
- Nick Ogarelli (Nick Comoroto)
- Taynara Conti
- Cezar Bononi
- Mars Wang
- Tino Sabbatelli
- Kassius Ohno
- Mohamed Fahim (Mohamed Abdelfattah)
- Marco Gomes
- Faisal Kurdi
- Hussain Aldagal
- Edgar Lopez
- Rocky (Yifeng)
- Rachel Evers (Ellering)
For reactions from many of the names above, click here.
For reactions from their friends and colleagues, click here.