One of the mainstays of the WWE Raw roster, Nia Jax was released from the company, this week amid a massive round of cuts. As always, these cuts were touted to be a part of another round of budget-related cuts in the WWE. However. The reported reason, especially for this Samoan Superstar is something different and it’s related to the COVID-19 vaccination issue.
As reported earlier, 18 wrestlers were released earlier this evening across WWE Raw/Smackdown/NXT – Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Scarlett Boudreaux, “B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Eva Marie, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Harry Smith, Oney Lorcan, Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, and Katrina Cortez.
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It was already reported via Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Wrestling Podcast, that there is a belief within WWE that at least 4 of those above wrestlers were released because they have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. In an update, Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post reported that one of the reasons Jax was released is because she is unvaccinated. A source with knowledge of WWE’s operations has reportedly informed them about the backstage reason for this particular release.
Nia Jax was away from WWE Raw for sometimes
Jax had not wrestled since losing to Shayna Baszler on the September 20 episode of WWE RAW. WWE also enacted a post-match injury angle for Jax where she suffered an elbow injury at the hands of her former tag team partner, that night. A few weeks ago, it was reported that she was supposed to stay away from WWE programming for some time.
In more news to the situation, at least 5 of the released wrestlers from WWE Raw/Smackdown/NXT were “openly unvaccinated,” including some very surprising names, according to Fightful Select. It was emphasized in the report that being unvaccinated was not the ‘exclusive reason for these cuts,’ and the other talent released from the contract have no issue with COVID-19 vaccines.
Wrestlers in other companies (possibly colleagues of the release superstars) reportedly heard rumblings of vaccination-related talent cuts being in the works in WWE which became a reality, last night.
Jax is a cousin to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Usos, and Roman Reigns. She was signed by WWE in early 2014 who concludes her career as a one-time WWE RAW Women’s Champion and a two-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions with Shayna Baszler. She was the first woman to win a singles championship match at Wrestlemania 34 during this ongoing Women’s Evolution in the WWE. Besides, WWE has also used her for the Total Divas reality TV series in the past.
