Backstage Report Offers Details On Another WWE Release

WWE disrupted the feel-good vibes following a historic WrestleMania weekend with a slew of releases on Friday, with more names trickling out as the weekend continued. According to Fightful Select, we can add another name to that list: "WWE NXT's" Von Wagner.

Per Fightful, Wagner — along with fellow "NXT" performer Xyon Quinn — was cut because the company felt his five-plus year tenure in WWE had not led to the trajectory the company expected. Like everyone who was released, it was said that WWE had no significant plans for Wagner on the main roster. Wagner was featured in last year's WWE Draft, but despite his "free agent" status, he quickly returned to "NXT" and his longtime alliance with Mr. Robert Stone. Since then, his success has been limited, with recent weeks seeing him take TV losses to the likes of Noam Dar and Lexis King. His sole main roster match (apart from his debut as jobber Cal Bloom on "WWE SmackDown" in 2020) was a battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender for the Intercontinental title on "WWE Raw" in May 2023.

Jinder Mahal, Indus Sher, and Xia Li were also let go on Friday, the most recent spell of WWE releases since September, when a number of talent were fired following the consolidation of UFC and WWE into TKO Group Holdings. Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer noted that many of the talent who were released were talent who had been featured during the company's attempts to break into the Indian and Chinese markets, which had been abandoned due to WWE signing a deal with Netflix which would see the popular streaming service essentially take over the company's expansion into global markets.