Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, Nia Jax part of 18 WWE releases

Shortly after WWE’s quarterly investors call wrapped, the company began making cuts to their talent roster, citing “budget cuts” as the reason. 

From the main WWE roster, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Eva Marie, Lince Dorado, Gran Metalik, Harry Smith, and B-Fab were released. 

From the NXT roster, Scarlett, Ember Moon, Franky Monet, Jessi Kamea, Katrina Cortez, Jeet Rama, Oney Lorcan, Trey Baxter and Zayda Ramier have been let go.

Mass releases have become a regular occurrence in WWE throughout 2021 as they made 13 roster cuts on August 6, another 14 on June 25, six on June 2, eight on May 19, and 10 on April 15. 

Kross and Lee are both former NXT Champions. Lee had been rebranded as “Bearcat” Keith Lee on Raw. Kross had not been accompanied by Scarlett on the main roster as he had been in NXT. 

Jax is a former Raw Women’s Champion and a two-time former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. Her pairing with Shayna Baszler was the focus of the women’s tag division in WWE throughout much of this year. 

Scarlett stated on Twitter that she has a 30-day non-compete clause following here release, while Oney Lorcan stated on YouTube that his non-compete is 90 days. 

Monet tweeted: “TAYA VALKYRIE” while Moon tweeted: “All I can do is laugh…”

Scarlett Bordeaux granted release from Impact Wrestling

Scarlett Bordeaux has been granted her release from Impact Wrestling.

Impact posted a statement this morning announcing that Bordeaux has been released from the promotion: “IMPACT Wrestling confirms that it has released Scarlett Bordeaux from her commitments to IMPACT. We wish her every success in her future endeavours.”

PWInsider first reported last month that Bordeaux had requested to be released from Impact. It was noted that she was said to be on a pay-per-appearance deal.

Bordeaux joined Impact in 2018. She’s recently been part of a team with Fallah Bahh in the promotion. She faced Rohit Raju in an intergender match at April’s Rebellion pay-per-view, feuded with Glenn “Disco Inferno” Gilbertti prior to that, and has hosted her “Smoke Show” talk show segments while in Impact.

Bordeaux was formerly with ROH earlier in her career.

Killer Kross, Bordeaux’s real-life partner, has also requested his release from Impact, though it hasn’t been expected that it will be granted. Bordeaux and Kross both wrestle for Lucha Libre AAA in Mexico.

Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Rohit Raju added to Impact Rebellion PPV

Impact Wrestling has added another match to the lineup for tonight’s Rebellion pay-per-view.

Scarlett Bordeaux will be facing Rohit Raju of the Desi Hit Squad in an intergender match tonight. It was originally announced that Bordeaux would be hosting a live Smoke Show segment on PPV, but Impact noted that Bordeaux vs. Raju is replacing that.

Raju tweeted to set up the match: “My second year @IMPACTWRESTLING and I haven’t been on one major PPV, no t-shirts, and ZERO love for the DHS. Yet here we are GIVING @Lady_Scarlett13 a spot on the PPV to do that hot garbage Smoke Show. Truly ‘well deserved’. YOU DON’T BELONG IN THE RING! What a joke!!

Bordeaux & Fallah Bahh teamed together to defeat the Desi Hit Squad (Raju & Raj Singh) in a match that aired on the April 19 episode of Impact. On last month’s Against All Odds special episode, Bordeaux defeated Disco Inferno.

Rebellion is taking place at the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada tonight and will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Here’s the updated card for the show:

  • Impact World Champion Johnny Impact defending against Brian Cage (Lance Storm will be the special guest referee)
  • Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Jordynne Grace
  • Impact Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) defending against LAX (Santana & Ortiz) in a Full Metal Mayhem match
  • X-Division Champion Rich Swann defending against Sami Callihan in an oVe rules match
  • Tessa Blanchard vs. Gail Kim
  • Moose & The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) vs. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel)
  • Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Rohit Raju