Last Friday, WWE continued a post-WrestleMania tradition many do not look forward to, releasing at least 23 wrestlers, including the entire Wyatt Sicks stable, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Kay Lee Ray, Apollo Crews, the Motor City Machine Guns, Zoey Stark, Santos Escobar, and Kairi Sane. As per usual with releases, speculation has run amok regarding when talent learned they were being released, who made the call to let them go, and why they were let go.Fightful Select reports that talents were informed they were being let go on Friday around 5 p.m. EST, just a few hours before "WWE SmackDown" began, following speculation throughout the week that releases could be coming. Despite rumors that TKO executives such as Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro could've been behind the cuts, those within WWE confirmed that WWE chief content officer Triple H, WWE President Nick Khan, and members of WWE talent relations were the "primary decision makers" when it came to determining who would be let go.The primary reason for the cuts appeared to be WWE's desire to make room for talent they were calling up from "NXT," in addition to the potential of "SmackDown" going back to two hours necessitating fewer wrestlers. Of the talents let go, many were surprised, and frustrated, by Sane's release, given her involvement in a "WWE Raw" storyline with IYO Sky and Asuka. It's believed Sane will have many offers available to her once she is available to sign with another promotion.Escobar's release was also seen as a surprise, as he had just re-signed with WWE last fall after briefly leaving the promotion when his contract expired. Despite that, Escobar was hardly used after re-signing, and has recently been off TV after suffering an injury at AAA Rey de Reyes. Past WWE policy would've prevented Escobar from being let go while injured, though WWE has moved away from that in recent years, letting go of Karl Anderson, BJ Ray, and Ridge Holland while all were out with injury.
