On May 2nd, WWE made a round of talent releases that included main roster and NXT talent.
WWE doesn't give a public reason for releases, but has cited "budget cuts" in the past. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer said about the releases, "Many of those cut were perceived as not working hard in training. And if you don't work hard in training, there's so many people who do. And at this point, if the feeling is you're not working hard in training - I saw the term 'lazy' - the ones who are lazy are gonna be gone, and the ones who didn't stand out are gonna be gone."
Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade responded and shot down the comments.
On their Power Alphas podcast, Mandy Rose and Tino Sabbatelli, who have both been released by WWE in the past, weighed in on the releases and said reasons.
Mandy: There are some rumors going around that I happened to see on social media. One rumor was, 'Apparently, the people that got released weren't putting in enough work or they were lazy.' A couple of the girls, Cora and Gigi, made a comment about it on Twitter. I like that they spoke up. I think it's BS and it's so stupid because we've been there and we know how it works when it comes to releases. You can't sit and say there was a specific reason or make up a reason of being 'someone didn't put in enough work.' There is no time to be lazy at the PC. You're training all week, you're putting in the work, some of these girls have been there a couple of years now. You're going to live events and traveling all around Florida. You have one day off, like Sunday, to regroup and all that. You're hustling. To say that is so stupid. Then there was a rumor 'Braun Strowman was getting paid too much,' maybe that's true, I don't know.
Tino: Let me squash all that bullshit right now and tell you why it's all bullshit. They have to say something to justify the release.
Mandy: This isn't coming from WWE.
Tino: It's a business model with a revolving door, meaning as guys sit in their office and they are dorks and nerds and they crunch numbers all day and they know WWE has X amount of money for their salary and X amount of money to pay. Every six, eight, ten weeks, they have layoffs. That's what they do.
Mandy: Just like every company.
Tino: Whatever that period of time is, they probably sit in a room, 'We have cuts this week. Here we go. Who is running cold? Who is not cooperating?' They go down this list. 'We have to eliminate ten people so we can hire ten new people,' and that's the way the revolving door works. At the end of the day, there shouldn't be any kind of excuses or blame, it's just your time is up and your time is to move on and try something new. There are so many opportunities out there. They might call you back. It's a business. Professional industries: football, basketball, wrestling, whatever it is. You are a piece of meat, a ticket in the line, and when your ticket is called, you go play. When your ticket is thrown in the garbage, you have to leave. That's just reality.
Mandy: It really is. When it comes to WWE, we've been there and have seen people come and go constantly. What annoys the talent when they do get released is seeing stupid shit like that on the internet because me personally, I would find that annoying too. If I was Cora, Gigi, Jakara, Katana, Kayden, Dakota Kai and these other girls that got released, you can't say they were lazy or didn't put enough work in. Dakota Kai had two or three injuries. Do you know what it takes to get back from a knee injury? To get back into full tip top shape? You can't say that. I think that's what bothers them and why they spit back, which I don't blame them.
Tino: The reality is, everyone is in different situations. One person could be getting paid too much. One person is not being used or fizzling out.
Mandy: Contracts are coming up and they don't want to renew.
Tino: Every single person who gets released is a different scenario.
Rose noted she is doing better than ever since being released by WWE and told anyone who was released to reach out if they needed help.
Rose was released by WWE in December 2022, one day after losing the NXT Women's Championship. Sabbatelli was released by WWE in April 2020, re-signed in October 2020, and released again in June 2021.
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