Former WWE commentator and sometimes man for AEW in the booth Jim Ross recently discussed the cuts to the WWE roster following WrestleMania 42 this year. The former WWE Head of Talent Relations noted that while a lot of talents are signed to ‘5 year deals,’ these are not literally ‘you’re signed for five years’ deals, there is (by default) always a cut clause in them.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Grilling Jr podcast, JR would note: “I think probably most of them [the recently released talent] probably got a 90 day out, meaning they get paid for 90 days and they’re free to go where the hell they want. So essentially when you sign those five-year deals, a lot of them have outs, all of them have outs of some sort, and if they don’t? You’re stupid…and WWE is not stupid.”
Jim Ross on 5 year WWE deals
JR also clarified that these ‘5 year deals’ that a lot of talent reportedly signed back in 2024 don’t automatically mean you’re around for the full 5 years: “Just because you got a five-year deal, it doesn’t mean you got five guaranteed years to pay at this particular rate. If I’m a talent, I like the five-year deal, cause it gives me a little bit of security, but it’s not guaranteed unless you negotiate that in your deal, that “I got five years guaranteed and my contract ends in 2032 or something.”
Usually WWE releases have a 90-day no-compete clause if they were main roster contracted talent. NXT talent will usually have a 30-day clause where they cannot appear on another televised competing product.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including more WWE releases including New Day, John Cena at Backlash, what’s up with Roman Reigns, nonsensical story not true, New Japan, Smackdown and Collision recaps, all the news and more! A fun show as always so check it out!
Timestamps: Start: More WWE departures & releases including New Day 11:19: Roman Reigns off the road in June, Backlash’s first hour to air on ESPN 2 & John Cena advertised, NXT Lowell event cancelled 19:20: NJPW Wrestling Dontaku night one thoughts 30:05: Most famous wrestlers by city 37:44: AAA & CMLL notes, Trevor Murdoch announces retirement 45:36: More on the AEW & WBD non-story from over the weekend 58:29: UFC notes 1:02:15: Lineups for the week, WWE SmackDown & AEW Collision notes
It’s the Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.
It turns out the departure of talent from WWE isn’t finished yet. On Saturday, The New Day of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods and others parted ways with WWE. Jim will talks about the names, their history and where you might like to see them appear next.
Ricky Saints made his WWE SmackDown debut Friday facing off against Cody Rhodes, Fatal Influence is still shaking up the top of the women’s division, and Jacob Fatu continued his march of terror towards Roman Reigns and the World Heavyweight Championship.
Plus, an AEW Collision preview, NOAH, AAA and more.
Dave Meltzer goes in depth on last Friday’s WWE and NXT releases, the decision making behind it, and speculates on where some of the talent could go next.
He also dissects this past Monday’s WWE town hall and the reporting that brought some of the interesting comments from Nick Khan and Mark Shapiro to light.
Dave also looks at the latest change in the Nielsen ratings and how it appears to again be negatively affecting wrestling.
All that plus an early look at AEW Double or Nothing, WWE Backlash, CMLL, news, notes, UFC, and more.
Regarding the main roster cuts, among those were Zoey Stark and Santos Escobar, both of whom were dealing with injuries. Stark had been cleared for an in-ring return prior to her release, while Escobar was recovering from a tricep injury.
“Regarding cuts, I was told Zoey Stark had been cleared when she was cut, just wasn’t being used. Meanwhile, Santos Escobar was just injured on that AAA show about a month ago and was NOT cleared,” Alvarez pointed out.
One of the more prominent and shocking cuts was Kairi Sane, who was in the middle of a storyline between herself, Asuka, and IYO SKY. While there are reports of her already being back in Japan, Alvarez notes that it may not be related to her release.
“Regarding reports of Kairi being in Japan, this may or may not be related to her release,” he said. “She [has] traveled home at least once or twice per month every month since she first signed.”
Sane was trending following the news of her release, with stars such as IYO SKY reacting to the news.
Luca Crusifino (real name Roman Macek) announced his retirement from pro wrestling after being released by WWE.
The former NXT star took to X, expressing gratitude to the fans who supported him in his wrestling career, and the coaches who mentored him to put his best foot forward. He confirmed his official retirement from pro wrestling is not an easy decision but is the right call.
“After much reflection, I’ve decided it’s time to close this chapter of my life. Being a part of the WWE has been a dream ever since I was a child. Getting the chance to live out my dream in front of the world is something I’ll never take for granted. To the fans … thank you for every cheer, every boo, every moment of support. You made this journey unforgettable.”
“I am forever grateful for the friendships that I made along the way. From talent, to coaches, to the creative team, to every single person I came in contact with at the performance center … thank you! Thank you for pushing me, believing in me, and sharing the ring with me. I’ve learned more than I can ever put into words and met some of the greatest people that will be friends for life.”
“As of today, I’m officially stepping away and retiring from professional wrestling. It’s not an easy decision, but it’s the right one for me.”
“This isn’t goodbye, just the end of one incredible chapter. Again, I can not say this enough … Thank you! What an amazing last 4 years and don’t worry about me … I’ll figure it out And, no, i’m not joining onlyfans. With love, Roman Macek (Luca Crusifino)”
Crusifino was one of the nearly 20 stars WWE released on Friday. The names included main roster, NXT and LFG talent.
Crusifino signed with WWE in 2022 and made his official NXT debut in 2023. He was a member of The D’Angelo Family led by Tony D’Angelo until July 2025. His last WWE match was on the March 20 edition of Evolve, teaming up with Tate Wilder against Harley Riggins and Kam Hendrix.
After much reflection, I’ve decided it’s time to close this chapter of my life.
Being a part of the WWE has been a dream ever since I was a child. Getting the chance to live out my dream in front of the world is something I’ll never take for granted. To the fans … thank you for… pic.twitter.com/RI5i8fpftV
Andrew Zarian is back with another episode of Wrestling Observer Live, talking about the latest news in professional wrestling.
He starts with a quick recap of last Sunday’s second night of WrestleMania 42 and the aftermath, Brock Lesnar’s match with Oba Femi and his pending retirement, and whether CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns was the best WrestleMania main event of all time.
WWE did its annual post-WrestleMania releases on Friday and he discusses all the departures, including some big names like Aleister Black, Zelina, and Kairi Sane. Where do they go, and in the case of Sane, does she return based on the negative backlash?
I also talk about the interaction between Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay that happened on AEW Dynamite, involving the Death Riders abducting Ospreay, and the follow-up on Collision in which Ospreay was given a choice by Moxley.
Plus, he looks ahead to Double or Nothing, security issues at WrestleMania weekend, and more!
— Garrett Gonzales and I will be up today doing a show covering the last week, and what a week it was. Bryan and I will be back for our weekend show on Sunday night.
— Releases are going on today in WWE. Those released are Zoey Stark (surprised because she’s very good and also rehabbing a knee injury), Alba Fyre, Joe Gacy, Andre Chase, Uncle Howdy and Nikki Cross. I was told to expect a fairly long list.
— Smackdown tonight is from Fort Worth, TX. The only match announced is Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton for the US title. Rhea Ripley becomes a Smackdown regular tonight, plus Trick Williams & Lil Yachty are together again. They had 9,528 tickets out at last look from Wrestletix.
— Tonight is the 70th anniversary of pro wrestling at Arena Mexico. The show sold out 16,000 the day after the lineup was announced. CMLL announced the sellout last night but apparently all tickets were gone by Wednesday:
Dragon de Fuego & Dragon Legendario & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Elemental & El Hijo del Villano III & Villano III Jr.
Lluvia vs. Jarrochita vs. India Sioux vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Zeuxis vs. Reyna Isis vs. Olympia vs. Keyra for the 70th Anniversary Cup
CMLL vs. Japan: Barbaro Cavernario & Esfinge & Soberano Jr. & Templario vs Kushida & Okumura & Shoma Kato & Yutani
CMLL vs. Don Callis Family for 70th Anniversary men’s Cup: Mistico & Neon & Angel de Oro & Ultimo Guerrero vs. El Clon & Mark Davis & Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
Mascara Dorada vs. Black Tiger vs. Hechicero for the Universal Champion of Champions tournament final
— CMLL also announced Sunday and Tuesday at Arena Mexico are kids day shows, and a Copa Juniors (tournament with second generation wrestlers would be 5/22 and 5/29.
— I want to clarify all this because it is in the Observer but it’s become a topic of conversation. At Wednesday’s hearing before the U.S. Senate committee, Nick Khan, in running down the WBC (the idea is they are anti sanctioning bodies) said that they had purchased $265,000 worth of tickets for the Alvarez vs. Crawford fight. He compared that to Make-a-Wish purchasing $2,500 worth of tickets to WrestleMania. I, and others, noted being surprised that they would charge Make-a-Wish for tickets. And I’m still a little surprised. This led to people making up things or getting things wrong such as Make-a-Wish is forced to buy tickets as a charity and can’t accept freebies, somehow they are forced to buy tickets or else the families of the kids will be taxed for them a gift, none of which is true or even close to true. Khan was saying this as a way to make a comparison with the idea the WBC is using its money as a non-profit group for its members to spend like crazy buying tickets, which another charity, Make-a-Wish, does not do. So that’s why he said it. As far as WrestleMania goes, all Make-a-Wish kids if they were at the show would be comped. WWE did comp tickets for Make-a-Wish but had a number listed and Make-a-Wish’s purchased tickets were over the allotment. They did not involve kids themselves, but people who were involved in bringing the kids. In my mind they could have comped them as well, but they did comp tickets. So the theories of why “it had” to be like this are wrong. But they also did not force Make-a-Wish kids or Make-a-Wish to purchase tickets for the kids themselves.
— I’ve only seen part of the Hulk Hogan Netflix documentary. I was very surprised that it was not in the top ten for either Wednesday or Thursday for the day. It could be a glitch, last week’s Raw didn’t make the daily listing’s one day last week on a Tuesday, for Monday, when it obviously should have.
— We will be doing one weekend poll, covering Sunday’s Stardom show from Yokohama. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. Saya Kamitani puts up the World of Stardom title against Sayaka Kurara, and if she loses, the Cosmic Angels group will cease to exist.
— In Mexico, FS2 aired the matches previously in the Universal tournament and hyped up tonight’s show last night. We had reported the midweek show as CMLL Classics, but it looks like it’ll be a show to build up the Friday show. Tonight’s show airs on FS 2 in Mexico with a 30 minute pre-show and then the full card.
— Tomorrow night at Arena Coliseo, which will almost surely sell out, has Shotzi Blackheart vs Sanely, Templario & Neon vs. Kushida & Yutani, Mascara Dorada & Niebla Roja & Soberano Jr. vs. Clon & Rocky Romero & Volador Jr., and Atlantis Jr. & Averno vs. Mark Davis & Hechicero. Sunday at Arena Mexico has Mistico & Dorada & Neon vs. Cavernario & Difunto & Clon, Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge vs. Black Tiger & Kushida, Angel de Oro vs. Romero in a lightning match, Shotzi vs Skadi and Kemalito vs. Tengu for the micros title. Dorada & Neon vs. Cavernario & Soberano Jr. headlines Puebla on Monday.
— New Japan RedZone will air at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning Eastern and 1 a.m. Pacific from Hiroshima:
Yuto-Ice & Oskar defend the IWGP tag titles against Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X defend the IWGP jr. tag titles against Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita
Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji & Gedo & Daiki Nagai vs. Callum Newman & Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay
— A&E starts back on Sundays with a WWE block. From 8-10 p.m. will be part one of a two part biography series on the Von Erichs, followed by LFG at 10 p.m.
— The Lucha Underground Twitter account did a tease like it would be returning. Nobody seems to know what that means. This may be some kind of a deal made somewhere to air the old episodes.
— TNA announced for the 5/14 tapings in Sacramento, a Battle Royal to determine a TNA title shot plus AJ Francis vs. KC Navarro in a street fight.
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 5/1 at the Newark, CA Pavilion features a meet and greet with Tommaso Ciampa plus QT Marshall vs. Royce Isaacs with Ciampa as referee, Aaron Solo vs. Tome Filip, Satnam Singh vs. Ben Bishop, Vert Vixen vs. Indi Hartwell, Viva Van vs Simone, Bad Dude Tito vs Jordan Cruz and more.
— UFC from the Apex Arena tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+
Talita Alencar (116) vs. Julia Polastri (115.5)
Max Griffin (170.5) vs. Victor Valenzuela (170)
Francis Marshall (155.5) vs. Lucas Brennan (155.5)
Jafel Filho (135.5) vs. Cody Durden (135.5)
Mayra Bueno Silva (136) vs. Michelle Montague (135.5)
Sedriques Dumas (184) vs. Jackson McVay (185)
Rodolfo Vieira (185.5) vs. Eric McConico (186)
Marcus Buchecha (252.5) vs. Ryan Spann (264)
Montel Jackson (135.5) vs. Raoni Barcelos (136)
Davey Grant (135.5) vs. Adrian Luna Martinetti (135.5)
Rafa Garcia (155) vs. Alexander Hernandez (155.5)
Norma Dumont (135.5) vs. Joselyn Edwards (135.5)
Aljamain Sterling (146) vs. Youssef Zalal (145.5)
— AEW has announced shows on 7/1 in San Diego, 7/15 in Boston, 7/16 in Boston, 7/22 in Nashville, 7/29 in Detroit, 7/30 in Detroit and 8/12 in Baltimore. These are all in small buildings except San Diego. I was basically told that you’ll be able to figure out Grand Slam Mexico at Arena Mexico based on dates not announced, so perhaps 7/8 or 8/5.
Josh and Warren talk about AEW Double or Nothing, a show that saw two Owen Hart tournament winners, a big round of WWE cuts and events like Backlash and Saturday Night’s Main Event, all the happenings in NXTNAAA, Japan and the rest of the wrestling world.
Of course, they talk about the passing of Sabu at just 60 years old.
Over 300 headlines are scoured and discussed, so get out of that turkey coma and join them on the fifth entry into the year in review series.
Ridge Holland won’t be returning to WWE when he recovers from his current injury.
In a statement posted to his social media accounts on Monday, Holland revealed that WWE has informed him that his contract will not be renewed when it expires. WWE will still be paying for his injury rehab, but his guaranteed pay will end on November 14 when the deal runs out.
“I’ve been informed that WWE will not be renewing my contract when it ends on November 14th,” he announced. “WWE are still going to cover my rehab from injury but my guaranteed pay will end, quite frustrating to say the least as I cannot work for another 6 months due to the aforementioned injury, with a family of 5 to support.”
Holland — who suffered a lisfranc injury while facing Moose at a TNA television taping in September — underwent surgery to repair the issue at the start of this month.
“My career with WWE has been blighted by misfortune but I’m still thankful and grateful for the opportunity and experience,” he wrote in today’s statement. “The shining light that has always kept me going is the HUGE support from a handful of special human beings. Thank you.
“I’m unsure what lies ahead of me in terms of wrestling but going forward I will be working hard to heal up and in that time I will be launching my own online coaching business…..so stay tuned. Cheers”
Holland joined WWE in 2018 and spent time in NXT UK, NXT, the main roster, and Evolve while with the company. Real name Luke Menzies, he was a rugby player before getting into wrestling. Holland was best known in WWE for his main roster run as part of The Brawling Brutes with Sheamus & Pete Dunne.
This is the latest in a string of WWE departures that also included Wes Lee, Stevie Turner, and more being released from NXT last week.
John LaRocca and I, Garrett Gonzales, are back to talk about the major topics in the world of wrestling on this week’s Fight Game Podcast.
We kicked off this show by giving out our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before hitting the major AEW and WWE topics of the week.
It’s Saturday and that means Wrestling Observer Live.
The WWE SmackDown hot streak ends at one as after an exciting show with a classic main event last week, Friday’s show was back to the mundane.
In other Friday news, House of Torture was booted from Bullet Club, more on Friday’s WWE releases, TNA TV taping result, and a preview of tonight’s AEW Collision on TBS including another great Harley Cameron promo.
Plus, AEW’s cool factor or lack-there-of, Real American Freestyle Wrestling’s slim chances for success and more. Check it out.
In a year marked by significant roster changes, WWE has released a total of 30 Superstars across its main roster and NXT brand as of writing in 2025. These cuts, occurring primarily in February and May, have impacted both seasoned veterans and emerging talents in both developmental and the main roster.
Dave Meltzer and I, Garrett Gonzales, are back with our Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As we were doing the show, WWE release news was starting to come out. Dave’s phone was chiming throughout and we were discussing them all as the show was going on.
