Real Reason Behind WWE’s Massive Post-WrestleMania Roster Cuts Revealed

WWE’s ongoing roster cuts just got a major explanation — and it all points to a deliberate strategy rather than random decisions.

After weeks of speculation surrounding the growing list of departures following WrestleMania 42, Meltzer broke down the situation during Wrestling Observer Radio and explained that WWE’s current release wave is partially tied to decisions the company deliberately avoided making last year under TKO Group Holdings.

“The story on the cuts being so many, there’s a couple of reasons behind it.”

Meltzer explained that after TKO first took control of WWE, the company intentionally avoided making large-scale roster cuts in 2025 while leadership settled into the new structure. According to Meltzer, that restraint didn’t last — and WWE is now effectively making up for lost time.

“What happened is essentially, last year, because they had basically just taken over the company and they were trying to be good guys, so they didn’t order a lot of cuts last year, they kinda held back. So it’s kinda like a catch-up.”

He then shifted into what he described as the biggest internal reason behind the main roster cuts: the amount of talent moving up from NXT to the main roster. Meltzer revealed that WWE internally wanted to balance out those call-ups by removing a similar number of existing roster members, with the creative team being directly involved in identifying names they no longer planned to use.

“The main roster cuts, essentially, it was two things. Number one, all the people who were brought up from NXT that got spots, essentially, they wanted to remove a similar amount of people. They went to creative. It was creative that made the call as to who. They said, ‘Who are you not planning on using? Give us X number of names.’”

Meltzer also explained that another major factor is the upcoming change to WWE SmackDown, which is reportedly returning to a two-hour format by the end of May. That reduction in television time reportedly created even more pressure to trim the roster.

“The number that were brought up, and additional names from SmackDown, the reason being that SmackDown at the end of this month is going to two hours. So therefore there is an hour less time of television, so therefore there is less time to put as many people on, so therefore there would be additional cuts on the SmackDown side. So that’s the story behind the number of cuts.”

This adds major context to what has already become one of WWE’s largest post-WrestleMania release waves in years. As of now, there have reportedly been 30 known departures since WrestleMania 42, including 18 names from the main roster alone.

That number is dramatically higher than last year’s post-WrestleMania cuts, which reportedly included only six main roster releases during the same period. Among the biggest names released this year were The New Day, The Wyatt Sicks, Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, and Motor City Machine Guns.

Bottom line: WWE’s release wave wasn’t random. Between TKO “catching up” on cuts they avoided last year, balancing out NXT call-ups, and preparing for SmackDown losing an hour of television time, the company made a calculated decision to significantly reduce roster size heading deeper into 2026.

Do you think WWE is making the right business move by cutting down the roster this aggressively, or could these departures come back to hurt the company later on? Let us know your thoughts.