Nick Khan explains the reason for several WWE releases this year
WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan has opened up about the large number of releases made by the company in the past year.
The past few months have seen WWE release several talented wrestlers from out of the blue. They have mostly come in batches every few weeks, with all levels of talent being affected by these increasingly regular cuts. Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, and Bray Wyatt were among them.
Nick Khan has been linked to these decisions, taking the brunt of criticism from WWE fans for these releases. He recently sat down with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, discussing a host of topics. Khan revealed how involved he was in making the releases. Vince McMahon ultimately has the final say.
"There's a collective of us. And keep in mind, in WWE there's one boss. That's Vince, as we all know. So between Bruce Prichard, who oversees the entire creative process, between Kevin Dunn who oversees all of our production, between Stephanie McMahon, [Triple H], all are involved in these decisions, with ultimately Vince making the final decision on everything," Nick Khan said.
Nick Khan says WWE doesn't live in the past
Nick Khan said there isn't necessarily one explanation for why there have been so many releases from WWE in the past year. He brought up the company's recent tryout in Las Vegas, from which over a dozen new talents were signed. Khan did clarify that it did not have anything to do with the recent cuts.
"I think ultimately what's looked at is - Is this person, for us, going to move the needle, now or in the imminent future," Khan said. "We're always looking for what's next. We live in the present, we live in the future. We don't live in the past. So when people leave and they move on in their life and their careers, that's good by us. For us, it's what works for us and our product at that moment in time and again, what's gonna work down the road. And largely in part, the existing roster is based on that," he added.
While several big names were released by WWE recently, the company remains in a strong position. Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar both returned to WWE at SummerSlam, following long absences.