Who was responsible for the NXT releases and WWE official comments on situation

In regards to the releases of 13 WWE NXT stars, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com noted that they were Vince McMahon calls. Meltzer also shot down the idea that WWE President Nick Khan should be blamed for the cuts and stressed that “it’s always Vince” who is making the final decisions.

A WWE official, under the condition of anonymity, spoke on the record with Fightful Select about the situation. The official mentioned there being “honest intentions” when it came to signing numerous talents in 2018 as the company was looking to expand the NXT brand and developmental system on a global scale. Plans for the expansion changed when focus was shifted to NXT moving to the USA Network and when the Covid-19 pandemic started. There was said to be “extreme frustration” about the releases but also an understanding of the business aspect of it.

Fightful also noted the following…

“When asking the source who the releases fall on, they noted that ‘Vince McMahon can personally put a stop to any of these,’ but the calls are a collaborative effort. The source confirmed that WWE releases are going to be a regular occurrence moving forward, but says that they personally expect 2021 to be an outlier with both the frequency and the level of talent.”