Thursday, it was announced that WWE released 18 members of talent in the company. Former NXT Champions such as Keith Lee, and Karrion Kross were among those let go. As well as former RAW Women’s Champions such as Nia Jax and Ember Moon.
This news came as quite a shock across social media. At one point, the news on the releases gained seven of the top ten trending topics in the United States. Many fans were disappointed to see so many talented wrestlers not be given the chance to make a name for themselves any longer in the WWE.
Vaccine The Reason?
Sean Ross Sapp reported some interesting developments in the story on Fightful Select. According to reports, numerous releases were due to wrestlers’ vaccination status. Fightful confirmed with their sources that at least five of the released wrestlers were “openly unvaccinated." That does not mean that that was the sole reason for the releases, and not all of the releases were due to vaccine records. It has not been confirmed which wrestlers were unvaccinated, and which were released due to other reasons.
Source Confirms Reason For Nia Jax's Release
Though, quickly after the report of the releases, the New York Post reported that a source “with knowledge of WWE’s operations” said that one of the reasons why Nia Jax was released is that she is unvaccinated. This is the only wrestler from the cuts that have had a source say why they were cut. Thursday, WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis stated that budget cuts were a reason why WWE decided to make these releases at this time.
Reason For Vaccination Status
With as much traveling as wrestlers do, going to states where vaccination records shift from lenient to strict, international travel, media appearances, and more, the vaccination status of a wrestler can be important to maintain a spot on a WWE roster. Also, with the amount of physicality going on in the ring, there could be hesitation from vaccinated wrestlers wanting to work with unvaccinated wrestlers, especially if they have children or are perhaps immunocompromised.
Athletes Vs. The Vaccine
Sports are no stranger to controversy with athletes remaining unvaccinated. In the NBA, Brooklyn Nets Guard, Kyrie Irving is openly unvaccinated and has talked numerous times about his desire to do his own research on the subject. On Wednesday, it was reported that Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, [tested positive for COVID-19] (https://www.inquisitr.com/6498166/packers-aaron-rodgers-violated-nfls-covid-protocols-all-season) and that he was unvaccinated and would miss the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. However, in Rogers case, he took an “alternative treatment“ to the vaccine, and was disputing with the NFL to have him considered vaccinated, a request that the NFL ultimately denied Rogers. It will be interesting to see if vaccination status will change any other wrestler’s status within the company.
]]>The Inquisitr
