MR. TITO: Does the Recent WWE Releases (Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, etc.) + Prior Firings = WWE For Sale?

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Baby if you’re feeling good, and baby if you’re feeling nice. You know your favorite columnist is working hard, he’s worth a deuce! Welcome back to a back-to-back edition of the Excellence in Column Writing brought to you exclusively by NoDQ.com. Many of you don’t realize how hard I worked on content during the past weekend, as I wrote my longest ASK MR. TITO Column yet and then I worked hard late during Saturday and Sunday nights to create a brand new YouTube video entitled Unwrestled Mysteries: The Infamous Macho Man Randy Savage and Stephanie McMahon RUMOR on NoDQ’s YouTube Channel. I lost track of time, thanks to Memorial Day, and had many of you asking where my Tuesday column was… Being a bit burned out, I went for a FUN column discussing my favorite Nintendo 64 wrestling video games as seen by my column yesterday.

Then, during yesterday, a METRIC TON BOMB of a newsbyte dropped onto the Internet Wrestling Community:

Breaking news: Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, and other WWE stars released

WWE announced the following on Wednesday morning…

WWE has come to terms on the releases of Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott and Santana Garrett.

WWE wishes them the best in all of their future endeavors.

HOLY COW…

And this follows the recent NXT cuts from a few weeks ago and the WWE cutting many production and office staffing last week. Oh yeah, the infamous 4/15 WWE roster cuts.

What is WWE doing? Are they preparing to be sold? Are they out of their minds?

If you’re All Elite Wrestling (AEW), this is freakin’ Christmas to you. WWE is about to hand you it’s FORMER WWE Universal Champion that won the title last year at Wrestlemania 36 on a silver platter. That is INSANE to me… Braun Strowman is good talent who was poorly trained on fundamentals and being humble via the WWE Performance Center and then used horribly by the WWE creative team. This is HUGE for AEW if they can pull off this signing.

Let’s go over each cut, one by one, from the 6/2/2021 releases.

Braun Strowman
This one seems to be more financial, as Braun Strowman signed a reported 7 figure contract during the period when the WWE was locking up many of its wrestlers. 2 years later, the are rethinking this contract and Braun Strowman’s contribution to the WWE roster. That’s hilarious to say considering they had him DEFEAT BILL GOLDBERG at WRESTLEMANIA 36 for the WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE. Then, like everything with Strowman, the WWE Creative Team butchered him with that Bray Wyatt/Fiend JOKE of a Supernatural feud and Braun lacked the stones to disagree or say “no” to the Creative Team for their idiotic ideas. Braun seriously tagged with a Child at Wrestlemania a few years ago… As my good friend and rival Virtue of NoDQ stated, Braun was never right after being unable to hang with Brock Lesnar. That “receipt” punch broke him and he’s never been the same, confidence wise, since. On top of that, the WWE Creative Team keeps switching him from heel to face.

But it’s not like Braun was just a job guy on RAW… He was in the WWE Title match on the LAST WWE Pay Per View known as “Wrestlemania Backlash”. He wrestled in the Triple Threat match against Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. Previously at Wrestlemania 37, he was in a big cage match spot with the President/CEO’s son Shane McMahon.

I did not expect this one… It’s suggested that this is financial but I believe there is more to the story that we’re not hearing.

Aleister Black
Didn’t we have a recent story that his real life wife, Zelina Vega, was reportedly rejoining the WWE with a new contract? Did that actually happen or was it a rumor? In my opinion, Black was one of those “Triple H Clones” between him, Damian Priest, Tommaso Ciampa, Karrion Kross… They are just big, jacked up guys who have a brooding attitude and present themselves as overwhelmingly tough just like Triple H. Their gimmicks are dark, much like Triple H, with a hint of fantasy or gladiator themes to them. Aleister Black is your typical jacked up guy with tattoos, beard, and either long hair or shaved… Wrestles mostly without leaving his feet. Did I get that right on yet another Triple H apprentice?

You could certainly argue that he really didn’t get much of a shot on the WWE roster, but it’s the WWE training system and overpushing him in NXT that failed him when he joined the WWE. NXT isn’t teaching guys how to work multiple styles like Ohio Valley Wrestling did… They train you to fit a specific style and specific character. Then, when you arrive to the WWE, Vince McMahon has a different idea on how to use that wrestlers and they are completely confused because it reverses all that they were taught at the Performance Center and NXT.

That said, Black is a 6’0″, 215 pound wrestler who looks bigger than he really is and has been a Pro Wrestler since 2002, believe it or not. If used the correct way, he could be a reliable hand.

Lana
Did everybody watch her WWE Chronicle documentary on the WWE Network? This whole time with Lana, she has been playing an either an evil character or something comedic. Then, when you watch her Chronicle documentary, you see what a dedicated family person she is and how much her husband’s release from WWE last year affected her. On top of being a good human being, she actually works hard at her craft… WWE has tried too hard to make her an in-ring performer but she should be perfect as a valet instead as her best assets, her looks + charisma + personality/charm can still be in display without struggling to keep up with others inside the ring.

She has to go to AEW and I would instantly make her a valet to Miro. Just put on hot outfits and let Miro brag about banging a hot wife to draw heat. That simple.

Murphy
I’ll be honest on this cut… It’s expected. His former tag partner, Wesley Blake, was released during the 4/15 cuts and Murphy’s biggest claim to fame on the WWE roster was being a flunky for Seth Rollins for a while. Yet, what did he repeatedly do? LOSE matches. A good idea would be to re-team with Blake and go somewhere where Tag Wrestling is appreciated.

Ruby Riott
I did not fully expect this one to be a cut. She’s a solid worker and looks much different than the rest of the female roster with her shorter hair and covered in tattoos like a punk rocker. Maybe they are cutting her so that that Liv Morgan can be pushed but why couldn’t they just break up Riott Squad instead? Makes no sense… She’ll find work easily, as again she looks different and is a solid in-ring performer. Sad part, however, is that she cannot take the GREAT wrestling name of “Ruby Riott” with her. Creative was on point when they invented that awesome name!

Santana Garrett
This is going to sound terrible and it will prove how little I watch the NXT brand… Who? She’s a NXT talent which I missed and I cannot even remember her appearing in the Royal Rumble. I wish her luck, as she has a good resume of experience and she looks amazing. It’s probably WWE’s loss. *watches a few of her matches on YouTube* Wow, she’s pretty good, but NXT seemed to use her as mostly enhancement talent. Could be a decent hire somewhere.

If I were advising All Elite Wrestling, I would definitely hire Braun Strowman call him by his real name. Don’t give him a goofy gimmick name… Let him be a real person, as it did wonders with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to reveal their real names and proved how phony WWE was with their gimmick names. Although, “Adam Scherr” might be hard to read or market to the fans. Maybe something like “Adam Shearer” instead or use the middle name to call him “Adam Joseph”. His Power Slam will be now called the ADAM BOMB!

I’d definitely hire Lana to be Miro’s hot chick valet to give him some heat. Just have her look fine at ringside and have her help him cheat to win as necessary. Just call her by her real name, too, “CJ Perry” or you could really get funny can call her “Cathy Perry” to sound like Katy Perry.

As for the rest of them… I don’t know for AEW. Their roster is pretty damn full of WWE castaways already and other signed wrestlers from other promotions.

Now, let’s get to the REAL STORIES of these cuts…

Have you noticed that NOBODY from the WWE Creative Team and NOBODY from the Creative Team’s Writing staff, all 40 of them reportedly, were NOT CUT by the WWE for both 4/15, part of the NXT cuts, part of the Office/Production Team cuts, or now the 6/2 cuts? How can a wrestler get over if they are put in bad spots by the WWE Creative Team or the writers preparing scripts for them to write. You tell me how anyone can survive being put through a table weekly like Lana has. Or how about this? Aleister Black gets drafted and then disappears off of WWE television.

And why hasn’t Keith Lee been part of these cuts? Nobody can confirm injuries or COVID with this guy and last we heard from when he was performing last, Lee was sent back down to the WWE Performance Center with Adam Pearce to retrain as a big guy. We have not seen this guy in any capacity since January 2021. He’s in the WWE Creative’s doghouse and with time, people will speak out on what is happening inside the WWE locker room.

Remember… Many of you readers ATTACKED good ol’ me for suggesting that members of the WWE Creative Team should be “terminated” for putting this utter CRAP on television each and every week. Read my 05/25/2021 Column entitled “WWE Creative Has Ruined Lives and Caused Unemployment for Many Wrestlers” again and get back to me. Lots of overpaid personnel backstage at WWE events and reportedly 40 writers REMAIN in the WWE. Their storylines, gimmicks, and scripted promos control every aspect of what a professional wrestler can do inside the WWE. THEY ARE RUINING LIVES.

More wrestler job cuts… Congrats, WWE Creative… You have caused more unemployment!

And congrats NXT/WWE Performance Center. More job cuts from wrestlers that you tried to develop and they not only aren’t what the WWE Creative Team wants, but they can’t overcome the crap that WWE Creative gives them. Great talents can overcome bad Creative, as Batista was once called “Deacon” Batista. Look at how Booker T was treated for years in the WWE and then hit it big as King Booker. Well trained talent can overcome garbage from the WWE Creative Team and right now, the NXT/WWE Developmental System isn’t preparing wrestlers to handle different scenarios.

Now, let’s get into the Meat & Potatoes of this column…

WHY is the WWE making so many job cuts? And are they preparing for a sale?

Let’s answer the latter question first…

Is the WWE preparing for a sale?

My answer is “no”. What WWE has realized is that remaining fans watch the brand and aren’t as loyal to particular wrestlers. WWE seems to only care about treating Roman Reigns with the Superstar status while everybody else could be potentially replaced with a new cast of wrestlers and the “WWE” brand remains strong. Take Roman off of Smackdown and that house of cards will fall fast.

I would worry about the WWE being up for sale if they sold large portions of their business versus just labor. In economics, you’ll learn about the “Production Function” which discussed Fixed Costs versus Variable Costs. Variable Costs are expenses that are flexible to pay and can increase or decreases by the employer based on their choice. Employees are variable costs because it’s the company’s choice to pay people salaries, benefits, and other costs associated with the workforce. You can choose to pay an employee more or terminate them. Fixed costs, however, are harder to get out of and that would be things like Bank Loans, Lease Agreements, Accounts Payable contracts with Vendors, and other things that must be paid over a particular period of time. You cannot just walk away a Bank Loan, for example…

Looking at the WWE’s 2020 10-K Report report, when comparing the Balance sheets for the entire years of 2020 versus 2019… And realize that 2020 was a pandemic year with a recession happening… Here is what I see:

– Property & Equipment, as an Asset, was down about $13 million. That reduction could signal that the WWE is selling physical capital goods, but their main properties still remain in tact. In fact, they are actually building a new Titan Towers office facility. The decline was probably a continuation of their television production reductions and not using as much transportation during 2020. WWE likely became more efficient as a company during 2020 with the pandemic and more people might be working from home more than ever.

– Investment Securities are down by $17 Million, but that could be due to the pandemic and the fluctuations seen in the markets. WWE is very cash heavy right now on their balance sheet, which is an indication that the WWE is very liquid with their assets right now and might be looking to buy something in the near future.

– Debt wise, WWE has about the same Long-Term debt for 2020 versus 2019. The fact that this isn’t significantly down during a pandemic indicates to me that WWE isn’t backing down on whatever that debt is financing. Short-term debt is higher, though the WWE could be taking advantage of recession pushed lower interest rates as well.

– Accounts payable is way up for 2020 versus 2019 as a Liability by $44 million. Their investments that are paid out to items tied to Vendors and other operations were higher during 2020 despite the WWE traveling much less. This tells me that the WWE is investing in something at the moment.

I don’t know, folks… Without knowing the internal components of the WWE, I just don’t see them being in SELLING mode right now. Something BIG would have to be closed by the WWE for me to read it this way… For example, if NXT just outright shut down… That would be a major indicator of a major cost cutting move to make the WWE leaner to be sold. If the WWE began to outsource its media and merchandise operations instead of mostly keeping it in-house. If they began relying on third parties for more services, such as trucking of equipment to and from events. If the WWE outsourced its own television production team and began fully relying on Comcast or FOX to fully film and air their shows.

If the WWE was truly preparing itself to sell, then why are they preparing to move to another office building? The new facility will be larger than their older and WWE has expressed plans to add another facility on to the same property. You don’t make that major financial investment if you’re selling.

You know what is REALLY happening? It is the ascension of Nick Khan to President/CEO of the WWE Corporation.

I believe that Vince McMahon and his tender age of 75 knows that the “end is near” for his WWE tenure and his life. Vince Sr., his Dad, made it to 69 and so thus Vince has outlived his own father. He knows that he is on borrowed time and he’s probably starting to slow down. In fact, I would guarantee that Vince does much less at the office and just retains his backstage role for Creative and overseeing the TV shows. Nick than then handle the finances and deal making for the WWE.

Look at what is happening in the WWE offices… The employees that they let go last week were consolidating what are suggested to be redundant, but for every executive that Khan has probably recommended to separate from, he’s replacing with new executive. Usually when a corporation hires a new Executive, they give them free reign to hire employees of their own choosing and repurpose existing employees. Been there, done that folks… I’ve seen others do it and I’ve done it myself within a corporation. Executives want folks that fit their own systems to be on the same brain length or to be productive elements for that system. This is very typical behavior by a corporation.

The wrestler cuts, to me, are corporate types like Nick Khan and others inside the WWE Corporation advising Vince that the BRAND of the WWE is much more powerful than the sum total of its parts. Besides Roman Reigns, nobody else has real drawing power in the WWE. Each year, people will tune into Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, or SummerSlam no matter what. RAW and Smackdown are drawing enough to bring in television viewers no matter who is on it. On top of that, Saudi Arabia will pay top dollar to host WWE events.

UFC has been enduring the same model for years… They are very brand centric, as only a few fighters from that promotion transcend the sport. Even then, their shelf life is limited and UFC just replaces them with the next younger fighters ready to come up. NFL is like that, somewhat, where the “shield” of the NFL is stronger than individual players. And again, NFL players have a shelf life.

When you tune into a WWE event, you’re going to get the WWE style of television show no matter who wrestles on it…

Thus, the Pro Wrestlers are very expendable right now to the WWE because Vince and Nick know that besides Roman Reigns, nobody is drawing. You watch what John Laurinaitis does… He’ll likely morph the training facility into mass tryouts and the wrestlers will be trained to fit a specific role of what Vince wants compared to what Triple H has wanted and that doesn’t match what Vince wants.

WWE’s revenue streams are mainly supplied by Comcast/NBC/Universal/Peacock and FOX while Live Events will begin providing revenue soon once this COVID-19 pandemic dies down. There is likely some sort of escape clause in those TV contracts if a brand new owner, other than the McMahons as top shareholders, takes over the company. The sale of the WWE as a company could possibly void the contracts for all I know. WWE has more than 3 years left on those deals and more than 4 years left on Peacock for the new WWE Network. Unless Comcast is the buyer of the WWE, those contracts would be desired to be retained.

If the WWE shuts down production of the E! shows, reduces the # of Pay Per Views, closes NXT and/or the Performance Centers, closes NXT UK and other foreign training facilities, starts selling merchandise through other venues besides their own Shopzone, outsources other operations, and stops the move to the new office building… Then yes, those are red flags of a pending sale coming.

What I see is Nick Khan becoming the the CEO/President of the WWE and possibly getting into another type of business OTHER THAN wrestling. They are cutting Variable costs that coordinate the Pro Wrestling side of the house and are loading up on CASH on their balance sheet. That tells me that they are going to buy something HUGE in the future. For example, is there a rival MMA promotion to UFC that might need a new investor? Maybe boxing, as Vince tried that before and Nick Khan has ties to boxing. Something like that… Remember, Nick Khan was a sports agent before joining the WWE. Maybe they might outright buy New Japan? Sounds crazy and would probably cause a big fan revolt there, but they have many talented wrestlers over there and Americans love Japanese stuff in their pop culture (Nintendo, Pokemon, Anime, Godzilla, etc).

In my opinion, everything that you’ve seen is with Nick Khan as the mastermind, as it now believed that the WWE brand is larger than its combined WWE roster (besides Roman) and thus expenses towards the in-ring roster aren’t as needed as before. Furthermore, Nick Khan is implementing new officers and executives that fit and manage his system and thus many older employees had to go who didn’t fit his system. With things getting more efficient during the pandemic, it has opened the eyes of many corporations to streamline things. Khan is acting like a typical executive within the corporation.

But for the rest of the WWE roster, LOOK OUT. The BRAND is bigger than you… WWE will be pushing and advertising the WWE logo more than ever instead of its wrestlers.

That’s my opinion… My prayers to all of those who were released by the WWE and their success finding new employment.

Nick Khan is the puppet-master of the WWE right now and likely to be the new CEO/President once Vince decides to step down.

But if you want any signs that WWE is for sale, just watch their balance sheet movements AND see if they sell off or close down any elements of their operations. Reduction in Pay Per Views, shutting down E! shows, outsourcing more operations, shuts down NXT, shuts down NXT UK, closes WWE Performance Center, and/or reduces other things with Fixed Costs would all be signs of the WWE preparing to sell. None of those events have happened yet and Vince McMahon is still in charge until further notice.

We’re just seeing the ascension of Nick Khan into becoming President/CEO and the stronger belief that wrestling fans tune into WWE for the WWE brand or style of its wrestling and NOT for the wrestlers specifically (besides Roman).

Scary times for WWE wrestlers right now and they need to really hope that AEW is successful at making some of their terminated friends into stars.

Nick Khan is hardly the “con man from Connecticut”… The guy is for real and he’s making major changes within the WWE to position the company into a brand centric company for the future.

So just chill… Until the next episode!

Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments.

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MR. TITO: Does the Recent WWE Releases (Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, etc.) + Prior Firings = WWE For Sale?

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