As per WWE’s announcement from earlier this week, several WWE Raw/Smackdown/NXT superstars were let go from the company. Overall, 18 superstars were released from their contract and the names are – Karrion Kross, Scarlett Bordeaux, “B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Eva Marie, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Harry Smith, Oney Lorcan, Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, and Katrina Cortez.
WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis issued a company-wide e-mail to the talents and noted that the 18 releases were made due to budget cuts, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. The same source noted that the reboots of Keith “Bearcat” Lee and Karrion Kross on WWE Raw were not their ideas.
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Then Lee, now going by the name of Professional Lee, had revealed on social media that this gimmick change was not his idea. Also, it’s been reported that several backstage names tried to alter the direction of Karrion Kross’ booking and character following his call-up on WWE Raw from NXT. There were even plans to adjust his character again (following a couple of changes). But then most within the company reportedly pointed that his booking to be the issue, not the characters.
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WWE RAW/Smackdown superstars weren’t utilized properly
Following the arrivals of Kross on the main roster, her girlfriend, Scarlett was booked as a wrestler on WWE RAW or SmackDown, but she was quickly “sidelined,” according to the report. Pushes were obviously there to use Scarlett with Karrion Kross on the main roster. Even fans chanted to see her on the red brand but she couldn’t be spotted, after all.
As for Keith Lee’s wife, Mia Yim, she was also drafted to WWE RAW but was never used. She hadn’t wrestled at all in 2021 to be precise. It was noted by the source that there were several tentative plans to use Yim on shows before the draft. Yim had also changed brands multiple times, quietly but no plans to use her on TV was utilized, after all. It should be noted that Yim originally debuted as a female member of the group, RETRIBUTION.
Most of the WWE NXT wrestlers have 30-day non-compete clauses attached to their release while WWE Raw/Smackdown wrestlers have a 90-day non-compete clause.
