WWE continues to cull their front office staff in the TKO era with their lead production designer joining their director of production travel on the unemployment line.
First reported by PWInsider, lead production designer Jason Robinson has either left the company as of this past weekend or is finishing up after more than 23 years with WWE.
He is notable for having “a hand in creating just about every modern major event and television set you could think of” according to the report, adding that Robinson was considered a “Kevin Dunn guy.”
The departure follows the layoff of Michele Carlucci this past Friday. Carlucci was the company’s director of production travel and had been within WWE since 1988. She was in her final role since 2019 after spending the prior 14 years as director of the freelance crew, travel & special projects.
Robinson and Carlucci are among a long list of executives who are no longer with the company as of this year for various reasons including the aforementioned Dunn, former president Frank Riddick, chief operating officer Brad Blum, executive vice president of live events John Porco, executive vice president of WWE TV Chris Kaiser, executive VP of development & digital Jamie Horowitz, executive vice president of HR Suzette Ramirez-Carr, executive vice president of talent relations Dan Ventrelle, senior vice president of athlete ID & development Trent Wilfinger, vice president of talent relations operations Kristin Altman, vice president of international events Michael Levin, and senior director of TV event relations Steve Rubin.
The changes and consolidations within the new TKO corporate structure have again hit WWE’s front office, once again in their talent relations department.
First reported by PWInsider, Kristin Altman — the company’s vice president of talent relations operations — is no longer with WWE after starting there in 2007.
Altman began her run as a receptionist before moving to the talent relations department, eventually getting promoted to her final role in August 2022. It’s unknown what the reason was for being let go.
It’s the latest exit by a vice president or senior director in a year that has seen a lot of them with many changes in talent relations.
In March, it was revealed that WWE executive vice president of live events John Porco was gone and then in April, executive vice president of talent relations Dan Ventrelle was let go in addition to senior vice president of athlete ID & development Trent Wilfinger.
COO Brad Blum resigned from the company on May 1st after being identified as “Corporate Officer no. 2” in the Vince McMahon vs. Janel Grant lawsuit. Later in the month, it was learned that senior director of TV event relations Steve Rubin was gone after 26 years in addition to vice president of international events Michael Levin.
Executive vice president of WWE TV Chris Kaiser was ousted in June which was preceded by executive VP of development & digital Jamie Horowitz being let go.
Other key executives who parted ways over the last year include longtime production lead and McMahon right-hand man Kevin Dunn, former company president Frank Riddick, and executive vice president of HR Suzette Ramirez-Carr.
The new issue of the Observer is out, and it’s a big one:
The WWE merges with UFC and transitions into TKO, the most in depth look at the changes to be expected and where changes aren’t to be expected
Amount of cuts expected to be made
What type of people are expected to be cut
Nick Khan’s letter to employees before the cuts
First major departure
How Saudi Arabia investing in PFL affected the stock
New board of directors
New hierarchy
Dana White talks merger and shoots down another exec’s goal for the new company
Talk on future television rights
Current market value and did it reach projections
Biggest financial concerns
Crossover promotion
Match of the week and performer of the week
AEW All in attendance with notes on other stadium shows including actual WrestleMania turnstile counts vs. announced and paid attendance
Bryan Danielson’s full-time career winds down, why, how long he’s thought about this and talks candidly about his decision
Long-term concerns
UFC 293 in Australia with one of the biggest upsets in history. Who’s house? Sean’s house.
Future of middleweight division
Business notes on the show
History of promotional wars, timing, how AEW vs. WWE is the same, how it differs
AEW and its decline in live attendance, the key reasons and what can be done, and how WCW turned it around under Zane Bresloff
How other companies turned it around and how the circumstances to do that aren’t there in this situation
A look at the next major WWE, AEW and NXT shows and early business notes
WWE Superstar spectacular in India coverage
The unique career of Brett Wayne Sawyer, top singles champion on the most-watched television show in the country at 23, and a career that fell off quickly
The early days of the Road Warriors
The booking of Ole Anderson
The most detailed look at the ratings, weekly and nightly standings, segment breakdowns, comparisons to one year ago in a very important and newsworthy week
CMLL 90th anniversary show this week
Legends special match coming
Stardom PPV notes including one of the week’s best matches
Performer of the week and match of the week
First time ever for a true rookie in match of the week
Major dream match this weekend with Will Ospreay
Updates on Jim Duggan
Notes on the death of former Carolinas announcer Rich Landrum
Notes on the Cassandro movie
Pro wrestling star leaves the business for one year, wins a gold medal in the Olympics–this long forgotten piece of wrestling history
Bandido returning
Impact Hall of Fame notes and notes on Mike Tenay
Jade Cargill update
Business updates on PPV from All Out, Backlash and All In
What percentage of WWE buyers purchased an AEW show in the last few weeks
Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
International TV ratings
Streaming numbers for WWE
Ortiz & Santana breakup explained
Paul Wight’s name in ESPN story on PED investigation
Georges St-Pierre into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame
UFC top star leaving the promotion
UFC Hall of Famer gets DWI
Bray Wyatt funeral
Vince McMahon’s return
Thoughts on Smackdown and what is the best day for the show if FX gets it
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Friday Update
Garrett Gonzales and I talk the news of the week and going forward with Wrestling Observer Radio today. The show was just recorded and we go into depth on the stories in the Observer, including the Dwayne Johnson at WrestleMania story, the merger, the layoffs, AEW attendance at Wembley, the history of promotional wars and how things have and haven’t turned around, and so much more. From a business standpoint this is probably one of our best discussions as we talked the Charter Cable vs. Disney/ESPN situation, AEW on MAX and potential for 12 PPVs a year and break down the business reasons, Bryan Danielson, and more. Our weekend show with Bryan Alvarez will be on Sunday night.
Lots of office layoffs today in WWE but nothing related to talent or the production team. This is consistent with the Endeavor purchase of UFC in 2016. Our lead article in the new issue goes through the lessons from that purchase and how things would be expected to go with the merger. There were about 100 layoffs in the company which would be more than 12 percent of the workforce. A lot were upset the way it happened as they were not even allowed to say goodbyes. All employees were told not to come to work and to work remotely, and then those let go were informed. People were told that this is it for the merger layoffs and everyone else is safe, but UFC employees were told the same thing in 2016 and there were still more rounds of layoffs.
Nobody in talent or production was let go. The people let go were those mostly where there was duplication of jobs within UFC, so it was the business side and not the talent side.
Regarding the laying off of Dana Warrior and people being surprised, this is the exact type of layoff the new owners would do. When Endeavor purchased UFC, they quickly laid out Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes, who were promised lifetime employment by the previous regime. There are no sacred cows to the new group, or legacy employees.
They gutted the analytics department, which is notable because a few years ago that was considered such an important department when learning about trends and what fans wanted. They also cut back on marketing, graphic design and live events, but that was expected since there was duplication with UFC having similar departments. One would expect UFC cuts as well in departments with duplication with WWE. They also cut people from the WWE Network division since UFC had people working at Fight Pass which is a similar business and the podcasting division.
The biggest names let go were Jamie Horowitz, the EVP of Development and Digital who was one of Nick Khan’s first major hires, Catherine Newman the EVP of Head of Marketing since that division was gutted, who came highly toured last year from being CMO at Manchester United Media (famous U.K. soccer team), Andy Levine, Vice President of International & Platform Strategy, Amanda Bloom, Director of Enterprise Master Data & Governance. Horowitz came from DAZN, but was a major player at ESPN. There was a lot of controversy over his hiring. Horowitz was a major player at ESPN behind the scenes as well as with Fox Sports, where he was let go over a sexual harassment investigation. When he was hired by WWE, because of that investigation, there were a lot of unhappy people who contacted us about the decision to hire him, but we never heard of any issues while he was in WWE.
Nick Khan announced a mandatory staff meeting at the offices on Tuesday.
TKO Holdings had a huge SEC release that went out today. The key is that for the first six months of this year, WWE generated $707.9 million and ended up with $88.7 million in profits. UFC generated $611.9 million but had $169.8 million in profits. UFC would have been even more profitable but because of the varying interest rate in some of their loans, the interest charges this year were way up.
Smackdown tonight is from Denver and it sold out with 12,700 tickets out as of a few hours ago. Lots of rumors about Dwayne Johnson only because we know he was in Boulder, CO for the Pat McAfee show and openly talked about possibly facing Roman Reigns at this year’s WrestleMania. We have a lot and covered the proposed Rock vs. Reigns planned match for SoFi Stadium extensively last year, and talked about it on today’s Observer radio as to what happened and why it didn’t happen. I don’t know why those close to Johnson like Brian Gewirtz kept claiming that there was nothing to the story and all made up when obviously we’d seen documentation regarding it, but there you go.
Tonight’s show has John Cena on the Grayson Waller Effect, Asuka vs. Bayley, Finn Balor vs A.J. Styles and L.A. Knight vs. The Miz.
Rampage tonight on TNT at 10 p.m. features the likely farewell of Jade Cargill, who faces Kris Statlander for the TBS title. Other matches are Lucha Bros & Hardys vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal & Butcher & Blade, Matt Taven & Mike Benett vs Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels and Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Peter Avalon & The Outrunners in a non-title match.
This weekend we’ll be doing a poll on the CMLL Anniversary show, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
For this weekend, we’re looking for reports on these shows:
WWE Smackdown tonight in Denver (dark matches only)
AEW Collision tomorrow night in State College, PA (matches not on the Collision broadcast, so ROH stuff and dark stuff)
CMLL, the oldest wrestling promotion in the world, has its 90th anniversary show tomorrow night at Arena Mexico with Templario vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. in a mask vs. mask match on top, plus there will be a hair vs. hair match with either Ultimo Guerrero vs. Averno or Volador Jr. vs. Angel de Oro. Guerrero & Averno face Volador & Angel and the winning team will then face each other in a hair match. There is nothing in wrestling like the atmosphere at a sold out Arena Mexico, so this will be one of the highlight shows in wrestling of the year.
Paul Levesque appears on this week’s episode of “Billions” on Showtime. He plays himself. Chuck Roades, the US attorney character on the show asks Levesque for advice on how to execute a double turn, making a babyface a heel and a heel a babyface at the same time. He calls him Hunter and the conversation takes place in an empty arena with the Raw graphic prominently displayed (thanks to Joe Puccio)
Ticket sales have picked up for AEW Grand Slam on Wednesday. Yesterday sold more tickets for the show than any day since the first day. There were ticket price reductions that helped as a lot of early complaints were about the high prices. We’ve noted many times the new philosophy through the live events industry and early high pricing. Fact is when an act is hot, this strategy works, as it does for WWE which is still raising prices. It doesn’t work as well for volume of sales if an act isn’t hot although it may be an effective total gate strategy.
The final episode of the second season of Heels on STARZ is tonight at 10 p.m.
Today’s San Francisco Chronicle in the movie review section gave the movie Cassandro their highest possible rating (thanks to Derek Sousa)
Some matches were announced for the RevPro FantasticaMania shows. 9/23 at 2p.m. has Trent Seven & Hechicero & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Atlantis Jr. & Michael Oku & Guerrero Maya Jr., Titan vs Robbie X (if they gel this one could be great), Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews vs. Okumura & Zandokan Jr. and Capitan Suicida vs. Wild Boar.
UFC Noche takes place tomorrow from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. I believe it’s the first T Mobile show since the pandemic which is far from a sellout. The show airs on ESPN+ starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time:
Joseline Knutsson (1115.5) vs. Marric Mann (115)
Alex Reyes (155.5) vs. Charlie Campbell (155)
Tracy Cortez (126) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (125.5)
Edgar Chairez (125) vs. Daniel Lacerda (125.5)
Roman Kopylov (185.5) vs. Josh Fremd (185.5)
Loopy Godiez (116) vs. Elise Reed (115.5)
Fernando Padilla (145.5) vs. Kyle Nelson (146)
Daniel Zelhuber (155) vs . Christos Giagos (156)
Raul Rosas Jr. (135) vs Terrence Mitchell (135.5)
Kevin Holland (170.5) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (171)
Alexa Grasso (124.5) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (124.5) for the flyweight title
MCW presents Bruiser Strong on 9/16 at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD with an 11 man Bruiser Rumble.
Defy on 9/23 in Seattle at Washington Hall features Eddie Kingston vs. Rocky Romero for the New Japan Strong title, plus Christopher Daniels & Sinner & Saint & Soul vs The Bollywood Boyz & Curry Man & Guillermo Rosas, Artemis Spencer vs Starboy Charlie, Amira vs Bambi Hall, Galeno del Mal (son of Dr. Wagner Jr.) vs. Miles Deville and Cody Chhun vs KC Navarro. You must be 16 to attend. They also have a 10/13 show at the Yakima Valley Sundome features El Hijo del Vikingo
Combate Global runs Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. on Univision and Pramount+ with Estefania Rodriguez (4-0) vs. Stephanie Hernandez (3-1) in a women’s atomweight main event. Ivan Nunes Miranda, a former Mexican national boxing and kickboxing champion debuts in the semi against Loxbey Montalvan.
AIW’s annual JT Lightning Invitational tournament is this weekend, with a show tonight, Saturday at 3 p.m. and the final on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Temple Live in Cleveland. Tom Lawlor, Eric Taylor, Joseline Navarro Alec Price, Paul London, Colin Delaney, Mance Warner, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Joshua Bishop, Masato Tanaka and Dominic Garrini are among those appearing. Eddie Kingston appears Saturday night as do Matt Cardona and Steph De Lander.
Lucha Va Voom will be doing a tribute show for Cassandro on 9/22 at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. That’s the same day the Cassandro movie gets released on Amazon Prime Video. Rey Misterio El Heredero, Misterioso Jr., Diva Salvaje, Jessy Ventura (not the governor), Pimpinela Escarlata, Bestia 666, Magno, Ll Cholo and others are all scheduled to appear.
The all-women’s Invicta promotion debuts in Boston on 10/27 at Citizens House with strawweight champion Danni McCormack (7-2) facing Karolina Wojcik (11-3) as the main event.
Kassius Ohno (aka Chris Hero) was part of this week’s WWE layoffs, according to our Dave Meltzer.
It’s unknown whether he was laid off or furloughed, but it’s assumed to be the former as he changed his Twitter name to ‘WWE Alumni’. He has yet to confirm the news publicly as of this writing.
The 40-year-old returned to WWE in 2016 and spent his entirety of the run in NXT, recently becoming part of the NXT UK roster as both a wrestler and a trainer. He was originally signed in by WWE for a short run in Florida Championship Wrestling/NXT in 2012-13 before returning to the indies.
A wrestler since 1998, the highly regarded Hero has worked all over the world including for Ring of Honor, Chikara, EVOLVE, Impact Wrestling, PWG, IWA Mid-South, and more. He is also a two-time winner of wXw’s 16 Carat Gold tourney.
WWE laid off or furloughed dozens of employees Wednesday as part of cost cutting measures due to economic concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. While many of the in-ring talents let go are known, names continue to trickle out on a daily basis.
Three WWE Performance Center coaches — Ace Steel, Serena Deeb, and Kendo Kashin — were all furloughed Wednesday as part of WWE’s mass layoffs and personnel changes.
The 47-year-old Steel (Chris Guy) signed on as a coach in 2019 after an extensive career working in Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, and the indies. He was in WWE developmental from 2004 through 2007 and played the role of Donald Trump in a 2008 Raw skit with a Rosie O’Donnell impersonator. He also trained both CM Punk and Colt Cabana. Squared Circle Sirens first reported his furlough.
Deeb was signed as a coach in February 2018. She was in WWE for the better part of two years, best known for her role in CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society. A 2005 Ohio Valley Wrestling trainee, the 33-year-old has worked extensively in both OVW, Shimmer, and the indies. Squared Circle Sirens first reported her furlough.
The 51-year-old Kashin (Tokimitsu Ishizawa) is a former IWGP junior heavyweight champion and worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling for the majority of his career. He also fought six times profesionally in MMA, going 1-4-1. He was signed as a coach in August 2019.
By being furloughed, the employee is unpaid for an indefinite period of time, but is still associated with the company and could be brought back. For example, WWE furloughed nine producers that are not needed currently because the company can’t do house shows.
The company released several dozen wrestlers, referees, and backstage personnel on both the main roster and NXT as part of cost cutting measures associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of a massive amount of layoffs Wednesday, WWE has furloughed nine of their producers.
Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, Mike Rotunda, Dave “Fit” Finlay, Pat Buck, Shawn Daivari, Scott Armstrong, Sarah Stock, and Shane Helms were all put on furlough, a temporary suspension without pay for a period of time versus a layoff, meaning they could be brought back once company fortunes change.
The news was first reported by PWInsider and confirmed by our Dave Meltzer.
Kidman and Finlay have been with WWE since they acquired WCW in 2001 while Storm, Daivari, Buck, and Helms were all part of hirings within the last year.
