WWE Raw and Smackdown roster continue to undergo trimming as the budget cuts for the company continues. A new set of superstars from both the rosters have been announced who have been let go from their contract.
WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis sent out an email last evening informing that Smackdown’s Hit Row (Top Dolla, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott & Ashante “Thee” Adonis), Tegan Nox, and WWE Raw’s John Morrison, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne and Jaxson Ryker were released. As always, these cuts were cited as budget cuts which began from last year onwards.
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This is the second round of releases for this month. On November 4th, several WWE Raw/Smackdown/NXT was released. 18 overall talents were released including Keith Lee, Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Eva Marie, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Scarlett Boudreaux, Oney Lorcan, and Ember Moon.
John Morrison is the top name from WWE Raw to be released about which the professional wrestling circuit is talking about. He re-signed with WWE in 2019 following an eight-year absence and debuted in early 2020. He was paired with the Miz during that time, and the duo faced Bad Bunny and Damian Priest in a tag team match at WrestleMania 37, earlier this year.
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Later, The Miz turned on Morrison this past August but the two never had wrestled since Miz was announced as a contestant for Dancing With The Stars. Taya Valkyrie (f.k.a. Franky Monet of NXT), Morrison’s wife was also released earlier this month.
Tegan Nox was also a top name from the NXT brand who had just made her main roster debut this past July in a tag team with Shotzi Blackheart under the name of Shotzi and Nox. The team made sporadic appearances before Nox was drafted to the WWE RAW brand, last month while Shotzi remained on SmackDown.
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Drake Maverick from WWE Raw was signed with WWE in 2017 who was immediately named the General Manager of 205 Live. He had since made most of the appearances on 205 Live and WWE NXT. However, he did have stints on the main roster, mainly on the red brand as he most recently ran after the 24/7 championship held by Reggie. Drake was actually released by WWE in April of 2020, but he was re-hired to a new deal after a couple of months.
