WWE sent out a short note justifying releases today: “With the continued evolution of NXT 2.0, we’ve decided to part ways with some of the staff based in our Performance Center. We thank them for their many contributions throughout the years and wish them the best.” However, not all the names coming out were directly tied to NXT.
Wrestlers released today include:
- Timothy Thatcher (Timothy Moura) had been a main eventer at one time in NXT, in the pre-2.0 times
- Danny Burch (Martin Harris) is a British wrestler who had been an NXT tag champion with Oney Lorcan
- Hideki Suzuki, who was Hachiman in the Diamond Mine faction
So far, there are a number of non-on-screen names that have apparently been released, including:
- William Regal, who was an on-screen NXT general manager, and behind the scenes had the title of Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting / NXT General Manager
- Road Dogg (Brian James), who was the Promo & Character Development Coach at the WWE Performance Center
- Scott Armstrong / Scott James, a referee and producer, brother of Road Dogg; he had previously been furloughed when WWE was not running events during the early days of the pandemic, but returned in the fall of 2021
- Chris Guy, who was a coach at the Performance Center, and wrestled as Ace Steel previously
- Ryan Katz, who was a part of NXT’s creative team, and worked a lot on characters and vignettes. His Twitter bio noted his roles: “Helping create the next generation of WWE Superstars and Divas. Creative Producer at the WWE Performance Center.”
- Dave Kapoor, who had been on TV as Ranjin Singh, the manager of The Great Khali, but had more recently had a backstage role with NXT; previously, he had been Senior Vice President of Creative for WWE
- Cathy Corino, a trainer who had wrestled as Allison Danger, and had only been there a short while; she tweeted out a thank you to her big brother, Steve Corino: “A HUGE thank you to the best big brother in the world @StevenCorino. Working next to you has been the absolute BEST. Dos Corinos forever.” Steve replied: “The greatest time working with you.
#DosCorinos“ - George Carroll, who worked behind the scenes at NXT as a writer and producer (though could occasionally be seen in the crowd), and had previously been the Director of US Operations at New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- Sarah Cummins, who was Senior VP of Consumer Products for WWE; she had been there since 2018, having come over from the New York Road Runners after nine years, where she ran merchandising for the New York City Marathon.
Johnny Gargano tweeted out, “If it wasn’t for William Regal a lot of your favorite guys wouldn’t be on television. He got so many of us “indie guys” an opportunity. He will never take credit for that, but he deserves his flowers for helping and molding this generation of wrestlers. #ThankYouRegal”
This follows Scott Garland / Scotty 2 Hotty’s departure as another trainer at the WWE Performance Center in November, and Toni Storm’s abrupt departure from the active roster at the end of December. Garland tweeted, “Heartbreaking, but there is life after the machine and it’s a beautiful thing. I love you all.”
WWE released over 80 names in 2021.
TOP PHOTOS: Left, Timothy Thatcher, WWE photo; right, William Regal, Photo by George Tahinos, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com
