Backstage News On Today's WWE Releases

WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan reportedly led a meeting at WWE HQ today where decisions were made on the talent releases that have been confirmed.

As noted, WWE released the following 13 Superstars this afternoon – Killian Dain, The Bollywood Boyz (Sunil Singh, Samir Singh), Marina Shafir, Arturo Ruas, Curt Stallion, Fandango, Tyler Breeze, Ever-Rise (Chase Parker, Matt Martel), Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, August Grey.

Khan let a meeting earlier this afternoon and made decisions on multiple cuts, according to Fightful Select. As of this afternoon, there were apparently more names set to be released that had not been confirmed, but there were also several names that ended up being released, who weren't leaked via sources, and at times this year there have been wrestlers who were "saved" from the chopping block at the last minute.

It was also noted that several of the WWE 205 Live Superstars released today were on higher contracts than WWE had been giving out for work on that brand as of late.

Today's releases were a part of ongoing budget cuts, like other recent departures, according to Jon Alba. The cuts were apparently in the works for some time. As we've noted, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast reported that more cuts were to be made back on June 2 when Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Lana, Santana Garrett, and Ruby Riott were released.

Regarding non-compete clauses, word is that Nese has a 90-day non-compete, while Grey has a 30-day non-compete. Dain revealed that he is under a 90-day non-compete as well. Wrestlers under the 30-day non-competes will become free agents after Friday, July 25, while wrestlers under the 90-day non-compete clauses will be free agents after Thursday, September 23.

Stay tuned for more.