Malcolm Bivens, Dakota Kai among WWE NXT releases (Updated)

According to Fightful, on Fri., April 29 WWE has released two long-time members of the NXT roster.

Dakota Kai (real name Cheree Georgina Crowley, who worked the independent & international scene as Evie) signed with WWE in 2016. She competed in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, reaching the semi-finals. A feud with Shayna Baszler followed which established her babyface character, and she climbed the card even more when she turned heel at WarGames in 2019. The 33 year old New Zealander twice won the NXT Women’s Tag titles with Raquel González — now Rodriguez — including for a brief run earlier this month. Her last match with the company was April 12 when she unsuccessfully challenged Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s championship. In a paywall update, Fightful says Kai “was said to have seen the release coming, and beyond that had indicated to WWE that she was not planning on renewing her WWE contract.”

Malcolm Bivens (who worked the indies under his real name, Stokely Hathway) joined the company in 2019. After more than a year of sporadic appearances, his manager character became a regular television presence in late 2020. Recently, he’s been working with the Diamond Mine stable and serving as the mouthpiece for rising stars like The Creeds and Ivy Nile. His case is said to be a little different, as Fightful reports he was asked to sign a new contract in February and declined.

Also notable on the cut list are Harland (Parker Boudreaux), and Persia Pirotta (Stephanie De Landre). Harland had been paired with Joe Gacy until recently, and was at one point hyped as a “Brock Lesnar clone”. Pirotta was introduced on television right around the time of the 2.0 rebrand, and was in a high profile program with Duke Hudson, Indi Hartwell & Dexter Lumis. Lumis, who signed in 2019 after a runs in Impact & elsewhere as Sam Shaw, was also released.

Others who were let go today include:

• Sanjana George (Vish Kanya)
• Draco Anthony (Reginald Chase Crews)
• Mila Malani (Kellie Morga)
• Raelyn Divine (Jaylen Williams)
• Blair Baldwin (Paige Prinzivalli)

More as we have it.