Peyton Royce is the latest released wrestler to say thanks

It’s a now familiar pattern. After WWE announces a wave of talent releases, we get a wave of slightly smaller gracious, grateful messages from the talent about their time with the company, and how much we fans mean to them. They close with a vow that the best is yet to come.

We saw a couple batches of these reactions yesterday (April 15) as this year’s post-WrestleMania cuts were made.

Cassie “Peyton Royce” McIntosh is the latest:

Thank you, Peyton. It was a blast watching you transform from somebody I’d thought I’d seen on a Shimmer show one time to a performer who consistently entertained me when you showed up on NXT, Raw, or SmackDown. Looking forward to whatever comes next for you.

With regards to these statements? While there’s some part of me that would pop for somebody tagging Vince McMahon & team with just a GIF of a Stone Cold salute, it’s probably not going to happen. And while it’s shitty Peyton, or Samoa Joe, or any released wrestler didn’t get to main event WrestleMania or have a lengthy run with a top singles belt en route an Undertaker-esque lifetime contract, they did get to live their dream, and they are more marketable now than they were before they worked for the biggest company in the history of the wrestling business. A lot of them would go back to work for WWE, and some of them will.

They’re heartfelt and they’re good business. They let the talent and their fans have a moment to appreciate each other. I’ll never look forward to seeing them, but I can’t ever be mad at them.

Here’s wishing the best for Royce, and everyone who lost their job yesterday.