Is WWE Positioning Itself for sale? 6 Roster Cuts.

By Ryan Joy
Updated: June 4, 2021
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Body Slam Brigade May 28, 2021

BSB #57 – WWE Cuts 6 More

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WWE Releases 6 More

WWE announced another round of cuts this week that included Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Murphy, Lana, Ruby Riott, and Santana Garrett. This particular set of cuts along with continued consolidation, down-sizing, and leadership changes has led journalists and fans to speculate about whether the WWE may be positioning itself to be sold.

As of this writing, there have not been any leaks from within WWE or from third parties (banks, acquiring companies, etc) to indicate that a sale is imminent. Mike Johnson from PW Insider brought up the idea earlier this week that WWE could be positioning itself to acquire other media companies itself rather than positioning WWE for sale.

Here is a summary of some of the staffing and talent changes that have occurred since WrestleMania (4/11).

April 15th Roster Cuts – WWE announced the release of Samoa Joe, Bo Dallas, Peyton Royce, Mojo Rawley, Billie Kay, Mickie James, Chelsea Green, Tucker, Kalisto, and Wesley Blake
NXT Roster Cuts – Velveteen Dream, Jessamyn Duke, Ezra Judge, Skyler Story, Vanessa Borne, Alexander Wolfe, Drake Wuertz, and Jake Clemons
Announcer Cuts – Adnan Virk, Tom Phillips
June 2nd Roster Cuts – Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott and Santana Garrett.
Consolidation of WWE’s Advanced Media Group and Digital divisions.
Downsizing of WWE Studios staff.
Senior leaders in International offices were let go.
WWE added three members to their Senior Leadership Team
- Jamie Horowitz – EVP Developmental and Digital
- Samira Shah – General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
- Matt Drew – Senior VP of International
WWE also added three people to their Board of Directors
- Nick Khan – Current WWE President
- Connor Schell – An award winning producer of film and television
- Steve Koonin – CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

The above list is vast and doesn’t include everything that’s happened within WWE over the last six weeks. It also doesn’t present any sure fire evidence that WWE is doing anything but cutting costs and eliminating redundancy to maximize profits for shareholders while Nick Khan also sets his course for the company as the new WWE President.

Having said that, media companies are being acquired left and right these days (Disney acquired Fox, Amazon acquired MGM, and AT&T is acquiring Discovery to combine it with Warner Media), and these are the types of moves that a company like WWE might do to position themselves for the highest possible selling price.

But. . . who could/would acquire WWE? There are a few players in the market that may have interest in WWE: Disney and WWE’s long time partner NBC-Universal. To me, it has made sense for a long time that NBC-Universal should at least consider a purchase of WWE. As of right now, NBC is paying WWE around 500 Million dollars in rights fees for Raw, NXT, and Peacock each year. If they want to bring Smackdown back to NBC when the Fox deal expires, then they can count on spending another 250 Million for that. What’s more is that the NHL has taught us that declining ratings don’t mean that these content deals will shrink when it comes time for renewals. With all that in mind, if NBC wants the Raw, NXT, and WWE Network deals to persist plus adding Smackdown, then NBC will be spending over 750 Million dollars a year to have the content.

WWE’s 2020 Revenue was approximately 975M. That number will likely be higher in 2021, but most of that revenue will come from the Raw, Smackdown, and Peacock deals. If NBC paid a price of 10 Billion dollars for WWE, the acquisition would pay for itself in about 10-12 years (if not sooner when you consider escalating rights fees).

Again – we have no real evidence of a sale on the horizon, but it’s still fun/worrisome to think about. What might a sale like this mean for wrestling fans, talent, etc? Who would be in charge? Would the McMahons leave wrestling? All questions that we could spend a lifetime discussing (and we will).

For now, let’s just hope that all the people losing their jobs land on their feet for the next chapter of their lives. Best wishes to all that are impacted!

If you enjoy this newsletter, consider giving the Daily Wrestling News Show (DWNS) a listen. DWNS is a podcast where I sort through all the B.S. in wrestling news to find the truth. Here’s a link to Apple Podcasts.

Have a Great Weekend,

Ryan Joy

PS – Keep sending me your choice for topics to [email protected]

Daily Wrestling News Show

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Here are this week’s top stories:

Special Episode – AEW Double or Nothing Post Show
Episode 107 – Who is Your Favorite Wrestling Commentator
Episode 108 – NXT TakeOver In Your House Comes Together
Episode 109 – WWE Releases 6 More

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General News

WWE released Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott and Santana Garrett
WWE added three members to their Senior Leadership Team
- Jamie Horowitz – EVP Developmental and Digital
- Samira Shah – General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
- Matt Drew – Senior VP of International
WWE also added three people to their Board of Directors
- Nick Khan – Current WWE President
- Connor Schell – An award winning producer of film and television
- Steve Koonin – CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
Jimmy Smith made his Raw commentary debut on 5/31. The reception was generally positive. Smith said the coaching from McMahon and others during the show was positive. I noted on the Daily Wrestling News Show that it felt like Smith was being eased into the role. Corey Graves and Byron Saxton did more transitions than normal.
WWE Began a series of network specials counting down the top 50 tag teams in WWE History. They named numbers 50 through 36:
- 50. The Bushwhackers
  49. Too Cool
  48. The Quebecers
  47. Smoking Gunns
  46. Strikeforce
  45. The Headshrinkers
  44. Kane & X-PAC
  43. Batista & Ric Flair
  42. MNM
  41. Nasty Boys
  40. Rated RKO
  39. Paul London and Brian Kendrick
  38. DIY
  37. World’s Greatest Tag Team
  36. Money Inc.
Summer Slam was announced for August 21, 2021. That’s a Saturday. WWE will announce the city on 6/5 during the Belmont Stakes Pre-Race Show.
WWE announced additional cities and dates for their Summer Tour:
- Saturday, July 24: Supershow – PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
- Sunday, July 25: Supershow – KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- Saturday, July 31: Supershow – Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee
- Sunday, August 1: Supershow – Little Caesars Arena in Detroit
- Monday, August 2: Raw – Allstate Arena in Chicago
- Friday, August 6: SmackDown – Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
- Saturday, August 7: Supershow – Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, Fla.
- Sunday, August 8: Supershow – Stephen O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
- Monday, August 9: Raw – Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.
- Friday, August 13: SmackDown – BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.
- Saturday, August 14: Supershow – Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
- Sunday, August 15: Supershow – Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
- Monday, August 16: Raw – AT&T Center in San Antonio
- Friday, August 20: SmackDown – Phoenix Suns Arena in Phoenix
- Saturday, August 21: SummerSlam
- Sunday, August 22: Supershow – Ball Arena in Denver
- Monday, August 23: Raw – Pechanga Arena in San Diego
- Friday, August 27: SmackDown – Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Ark.
- Monday, August 30: Raw – Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City
- Friday, September 3: SmackDown – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
- Monday, September 6: Raw – American Airlines Arena in Miami
Tickets for these live events go on sale Friday, June 11

Upcoming Show Lineups:

Hell in a Cell on 6/20
The next major WWE Show will be Hell in a Cell on 6/20

Bobby Lashley (c) v. Drew McIntyre – WWE Championship
Rhea Ripley (c) v. Charlotte Flair – Raw Championship

NXT Take Over In Your House on 6/12
The next major NXT Show will be In Your House on 6/12

Karrion Kross (c) v. Adam Cole v. Johnny Gargano v. Kyle O’Reilly v. Pete Dunne – NXT Championship
Raquel Gonzalez (c) v. Ember Moon – NXT Championship
Cameron Grimes v. LA Knight
Xia Li v. Mercedes Martinez

Smackdown on 6/4

Jimmy and Jey Uso v. Dominik and Rey Mysterio (c) – Tag Team Championships
Kevin Owens v. Apollo Crews (c) – Intercontinental Championship

205 Live on 6/4

August Grey v. Ariya Daivari
Ari Sterling v. Sunil Singh

NXT on 6/8

Killian Dain v. Isaiah Swerve Scott
Austin Theory v. Oney Lorcan
Ember Moon v. Dakota Kai
Poppy Returns

NXT on 6/10

Walter Returns
Kay Lee Ray (c) v. Meiko Satomura – NXT UK Women’s Championship

Results – Links to Minutes To Bell Time Website

Wins and Losses Book Now Available

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AEW News

Britt Baker became the 4th AEW World Women’s Champion with her victory over Hikaru Shida at AEW Double or Nothing.
Mark Henry has signed with All Elite Wrestling as an analyst for the new Rampage show that debuts on August 13th.
Lio Rush made his AEW debut at the Double or Nothing PPV as the Casino Battle Royal Joker. It came out later in the week that Rush is actually signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Rush needed approval from NJPW to participate on the show.
Joey Janela is injured, and he announced that he’ll miss some shows with Game Changer Wrestling
The contracts of Awesome Kong and Shanna expired, and AEW did not renew their deals.
AEW signed the tag team Bear Country and the manager/wrestler Mark Sterling.

Upcoming Show Lineups:

AEW Dynamite on 6/4

Nick Comoroto v. Dustin Rhodes– Bul Rope matc
Pac and Pentagon v. The Young Bucks
Cody and Lee Johnson v. QT Marshall and Anthony Ogogo
Britt Baker Celebration
Christian Cage and Jungle Boy v. Private Party

Results – Links to Minutes To Bell Time Website

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The show is live every day at 10 AM on Facebook and You Tube or you can subscribe to the audio version on Apple, Spotify, or pretty much anywhere else you get podcasts. Use the links below to find the show!

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General News

Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada will face each other at Dominion for the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The title was vacated by Will Ospreay last month due to a significant neck injury. Ospreay suffered the injury in his 5/4 match with Shingo Takagi, and he was set to defend the title against Okada on 5/29.
The Dominion Show was moved from June 6th (Sunday) to June 7th (Monday) due to Japan having weekend restrictions pertaining to COVID.
Zack Sabre Junior and Taichi won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships from G.O.D. on the June 1st Road to Dominion Show.

Upcoming Show Lineups

New Japan Strong on 6/4

TJP v. Kevin Knight
Adrian Quest v. Barrett Brown
Karl Fredercks and Satoshi Kojima v. Danny Limelight and JR Kratos

Dominion on 6/4

Sho, Yoshi-Hashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi v. ELP, Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens, Evil, Yujiro Takahashi
Bushi, Sanada, Tetsuya Naito v. Douki, Sabre, Taichi
Yoh v. El Desperado (c) – IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
Jeff Cobb v. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada v. Shingo Takagi – IWGP World Championship

Major Show Results –

Tommy Dreamer by My Ill Gotten Brain

General News

Impact Wrestling will allow fans back into Skyway Studios for their Slammiversary PPV in July.
Steve Maclin (the former Steve Cutler) was featured in a video package during this week’s Impact Wrestling.
According to Fightful Select, Lady Frost (a well known wrestler on the independent scene) was at the most recent Impact tapings.

Upcoming Show Lineups

Impact Against All Odds – 06/12
The next major Impact show will be Impact Against All Odds on June 12

Moose v. Kenny Omega (c) – Impact World Championship
Satoshi Kojima v. Joe Doering
Rosemary v. Deonna Purrazzo (c) – Knockouts Champion
Fire N Flava (c) v. Susan and Kimber Lee – Knockouts Tag Team Championships
Rich Swann v. W. Morrissey
Deaner and Rhino (c) v. Decay – Tag Team Championships
Petey Williams v. Trey Miguel v. Ace Austin v. Chris Bey v. Rohit Raju – X-Division Number 1 Contender Match.

Impact Wrestling – 6/10

Havok v. Rosemary – If Havok wins, she gets into the Knockouts Championship Match at Against All Odds.
W. Morrissey v. Willie Mack
Appearance by Tony Khan

Results – Links to Minutes To Bell Time Website

Impact Wrestling on 6/3

Essential Wrestling Podcast Episode 55 – Click Here

The Essential Wrestling Podcast airs every Tuesday at 6:00 PM. Join Al Karl, John D’Aconti, John Smith, Gary Mehafy, and Minutes to Bell Time’s Ryan Joy as they take you through the latest in Pro Wrestling. Find out and get the rationale behind who they think wins the week’s matches.

General

MLW Had The Third Round of Draft Announcements as they reload their roster. Here are the talent announcements so far:
- Savio Vega.
- Zenshi.
- Lee Moriarity
- Aramis.
The May 5th episode was the season finale. MLW does not plan to return with programming until the July dates, which will include fans.

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ROH News

Willow Nightingale has been announced as the latest participant in the ROH Quest for Gold Women’s Tournament.
Willow Nightingale joins Mazzerati, Allysin Kay, Trish Adora, Rok-C, Angelina Love, and Miranda Alize.

Upcoming Lineup

Best in the World
The next major PPV from Ring of Honor will be Best in the World on July 11th. The show will include fans.

Brody King v. Jay Lethal

Upcoming on ROH TV Episode 507

Josh Woods v. Silas Young – Pure Rules Match
Rey Horus v. Flamita – Survival of the Fittest Round 1

Results – Links to Minutes To Bell Time Website

Women’s Wednesday – 05/26

NWA

NWA Powerrr Results for 5/25
The next PPV for NWA takes place on 6/6 under the When Our Shadows Fall Name
- Nick Aldis (c) v. Trevor Murdoch – NWA World Championship
- The End v. Mecha Wolfe and Bestia 666 v. Rockett and Slice Boogie v. Rinauro and Rudo
- Tyrus v. Pope – Non-Title
- Thunder Rosa and Melina v. Kylie Rae and Taryn Terrell
- JTG v. Rosser
- Kamille v. Serena Deeb (c) – NWA World Women’s Championship
- War Kings v. Latimer and Adonis v. Stevens and Kratos (c) – NWA World Tag Team Championships.
NWA will welcome fans back into the arena for the “When Our Shadows Fall” PPV and associated Powerrr tapings.

Coastal Championship Wrestling (South Florida)

Bash at the Brew 5 takes place on June 5th at Unbranded Brewery in Hialeah, FL.
- Will Austin v. Alex Ocean – Last Man Standing
- Vandal Ortugan v. Nick Turner – GWE Latin American Championship
- Leila Grey v. JC Storm
- Jake Tucker v. Cha Cha Charlie
  - Jake Tucker unavailable (replacement TBD)
- Super Crazy and Ricky Marvin v. South American Alliance
- Mantequilla v. Vic Arson
- Roma v. Kelsey Heather
- El Jefe Santos will be at Bash at the Brew
Wynwood Fight District – June 18th at Fun Dimensions – Miami, FL
- Ariel Levy v. Rayo
- Featuring Davey Richards
American Made – July 2nd at the Boca Black Box in Boca Raton, FL
Patriot Games – July 10th at the MidFlorida Event Center in Port Saint Lucie, FL
CCW’s Summer Glory featuring Brian Cage takes place on June 19th at Xtreme Action Park.
- Jackal Stevens (c) v. Davey Richards – CCW Southeaster Championship
- Brian Cage v. Facade
Music City Fight Night – August 28, 2021 – Nashville

Ignite Wrestling (Vero Beach, Florida)

Ignite Posted the matches from Fierce

MCW Pro Wrestling (Joppa, Maryland)

This week’s MCW Cast featured Pat Brink

Game Changer Wrestling

Hybrid Wrestling Roll of the Dice – June 4
- Lio Rush v. Homicide
- Gangrel v. KTB
- Jordan Oliver v. JJ Garrett
- Masha Slamovich v. Holidead
- Willow Nightingale v. Marti Belle
- Fire ‘N Flava v. Yoya and Janai Kai
- Mance Warner v. Manders
Death Match Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Atlantic City, NJ – June 5
- Sick Nick Mondo
- Supreme
JCW – June 5
GCW Tournament of Survival – Atlantic City – June 5
- Nick Gage calls out Zack Ryder
- Alex Colon v. Bam Sullivan
- Nolan Edward v. Orin Veidt
- Effy v. G-Raver
- Manders v. Atticus Cogar
GCW Show – June 6 – Zombie Walk
- Ninja Mack v. Joey Janela
- Rich Swann v. Dante Leon v. Ninja Mack
- Tony Deppen v. Jack Cartwheel
- JOrdan Oliver v. Ricky Marvin
- Dickinson v. Starboy
- Grim Reefer, Nick Gage
- Lucky 13 Returns
- AJ Gray v. Calvin Tankman
Outlaw Mudshow from Laramie, WY – June 19th
- Jordan Oliver
- Mance Warner
- 2 Cold Scorpio
- Ricky Morton v. Atticus Cogar
JCW – Ridgefield Park, NJ – July 3
Backyard Wrestling – 7/4
Fight Club Houston from Houston, TX – 7/9
- Nick Gage v. Sadika
- AJ Gray, Arez featured on the card
- Aramis, Joey Janela appears
GCW You Only Die Once from Dallas, TX – 7/10
- Bryan Keith Returns
- AJ Gray appears
- Joey Janela appears
Mixco v. Zona 23 – July 18
GCW Homecoming from Atlantic City, NJ – July 24, 25
Los Angeles – 8/7
Detroit – 9/2
Chicago – 9/3 – 9/4
Los Angeles – 9/17
Los Angeles – 10/23

Other General News

AAA TripleMania will take place on August 14th. Announced for the Show
- Andrade v. Kenny Omega – AAA Mega Championship
- Faby Apache v. Deonna Purrazzo – Title for Title