Here's your wrestling news for May 26th 2021
And your headlines for today include
As Many As 35 WWE Employees Have Been Released; Backstage Reaction To The Releases!
Many Upset Former WWE Employees React To The Latest Firings!
John Cena Apologizes To China After Calling Taiwan A Country!
Backstage Heat On John Cena In WWE; Details Revealed!
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk Takes A Shot At John Cena!
Ted DiBiase Makes Unexpected Turn On WWE NXT!
Status Of WWE Money In The Bank Presale Tickets! And More!
We’re starting today with WWE, who cut a ton of employees yesterday, and not just from their offices in Stamford, Connecticut.
It’s been reported that the company also cut a number of international office employees, and employees from WWE Studios too,
according to PW Insider and Deadline, who report that the film, TV and social media divisions in Stamford and Los Angeles were
impacted with the layoffs at WWE Studios and their various divisions, which was all related to the cuts in WWE’s Advanced
Media Group. These cuts are all part of a plan to consolidate various departments into a single division, run
with a smaller staff and overseen by Kevin Dunn. Deadline described the cuts to WWE Studios
company’s film-making department as “deep” whilst PW Insider called than a “bloodbath,” with WWE President and Chief Revenue
Officer Nick Khan breaking the news of the departures via a phone call.
Khan will be extra busy from now on, as in another show of his growing power, he will personally oversee WWE’s international offices,
to keep them in alignment with WWE’s United States headquarters. One major name gone is WWE’s Executive
Vice President of International, Jay Rosenstock, who’s departure was part of the international changes, and whilst Rosentock had been
responsible for overseeing WWE’s eight international regional managers, now Khan will handle those duties.
WWE’s Human Resources department held a brief call this afternoon to confirm the reports of mass firings, and explained to those that
remained in WWE’s digital/Advanced media groups, that they will now report to Dunn, the Executive Producer & Chief of
Global Television Distribution. This HR call didn’t consist of much more than that, and it’s reported that the layoffs will be
discussed in greater detail during an employee meeting today. The end of WWE’s Advanced Media Group as
it existed has unsurprisingly been taken hard by those who worked there, as these changes apparently came out of nowhere, c
cutting through a department that has only grown in importance and revenue over the past 15 months.
PW Insider reports there was some “gallows humour,” among some of the released employees, as these mass layoffs came justa
week after an internal email, promising employees bonuses for referring potential future hirings to the company.
Many employees joked that they should just refer themselves to WWE, get their jobs back, and a nice bonus in the process.
At least 35 people were let go today, with that number increasing by a lot when the WWE Studios and international departures are
factored in, and the names so far confirmed are, or rather, were some of WWE’s most powerful individuals. The following names
were previously confirmed: Former WWE Advanced Media Group Executive Vice President Jaylar Donlan,
after more than 8 years with the company; former Senior Vice President of Production Brian Pellegatto, after just under 9 years
with the company; former Executive Vice President of International Jay Rosenstock, after just under 2 years with the company;
former Vice President of Media Operations Makham Nolana, after just over 2 years with the company; former Content Director James
Wortman, after 11 years with the company. Though he wasn’t a Vice President, long-time employee Adam Kirshner was also released,
after being on staff for over 15 years, most recently as the Manager of Media and Metadata.
Kirshner was a major part in growing WWE’s YouTube channel, which boasts 77.4 million subscribers, and the WWE Network, and his
departure was a big shock to those remaining in WWE. On Twitter, Kirshner issued a statement, saying:
“As of today I am no longer with WWE. I’ve had a tremendous career and had the honor to build the greatest team. From first ever dotcom intern to
leader I’ve seen and done it all. I am truly looking forward to giving this same 110% and then some where ever I land.”
Kirshner isn’t the only one who’ll be missed as when news broke of Brian Pellegatto’s departure, RAW’s Xavier Woods tweeted about
him, saying: “Without @Pelle1105 – An unbooked me wouldnt have been able to hone my mic skills
on the WWE app (second screen) – I wouldnt have had a creative space to build chemistry with @WWEBigE & @TrueKofi – I wouldnt have
able been able to create @UpUpDwnDwn – I wouldnt have the life I have now” It seems WWE’s cuts are over for the time
being, but you can never say for sure, as the company’s efforts to streamline production has cost a ton of employees their jobs this week.
Cathy Kelley doesn’t work with WWE anymore, but she made a lot of great friends in the company, many of whom were cut this week.
As part of WWE’s digital team, Cathy knew a lot of people who lost their jobs yesterday, and on Twitter, said she was devastated about all
these releases, saying: my brain can’t comprehend and my heart is f*cking breaking for all my friends. along with
being great humans, everyone behind the scenes at wwe digital worked their asses off to build a huge money making brand and
making brand and don’t get near the credit they deserve The WWE’s digital department covered a lot
of content that fans really enjoyed, and hopefully the firings are over, with those remaining now having even more work to do.
John Cena news next, and as a leading man in Hollywood, it’s important for the 16-time WWE World Champion to be liked around the world,
and recently, Cena’s words caused some serious outrage. During a promotional tour for Fast and Furious 9,
Cena referred to Taiwan as a country saying it’ll be the first country to watch the film, causing Chinese media to demand an apology
from Big Match John. In a video message on the Sina Weibo p latform, Cena clarified his comment, though
didn’t refer to Taiwan by name, saying he made one mistake, and added that he loves and respects China and the Chinese people. He said:
“Hi China, I’m John Cena. I’m in the middle of Fast & Furious 9 promotions. I’m doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my
interviews. I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, important now. I love and respect China and Chinese people I
I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologize, I’m very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect
China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you.” The confusion over Taiwan is that since 1949, t
there have been two Chinas, namely the People’s Republic of China, which is the China people know, and the Republic of China,
which is Taiwan. Whilst Taiwan enjoys many of the benefits of being a country, it is still considered by
many, especially China, as part of the country, and we’re sure Cena will think twice the next time he speaks on either place.
Cena was quick to apologise to China, saying he loves and respects the country and their people, but this apology hasn’t gone down
well in WWE. That’s according to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Wrestling Podcast, who reported that
Cena has some major heat in WWE for his apology, but didn’t explain why.
One criticism from fans is that Cena’s apology was very grovelling, especially to a country which has constantly been under scrutiny for
it’s lack of human rights. As one of WWE’s biggest ever stars, as well as an international leading man in
Hollywood, Cena knows how important it is to appeal to a widespread audience, but his apology this week may have
done more harm than good with WWE and it’s fanbase.
One person who saw Cena’s grovelling apology was CM Punk, who had some fun at the expense of his old rival.
Not long after Cena’s apology went viral, Punk tweeted that he has a new bio, and when fans go to check it, Punk’s new Twitter bio simply
says “Taiwan is a country.” Punk is no stranger to geographical mishaps, as he recently referred to Africa as a country
when asked which country he’d love to wrestle in, but was quick to clarify that he knows Africa is a continent, and was
referring to the countries in it. Punk’s botch was far less controversial than Cena’s, who many people, including Punk
believes was too quick to back down against the Chinese media.
Yesterday, we reported that Alexa Bliss missed RAW, because her beloved pet pig was seriously ill, and sadly Larry-Steve
has died. On Instagram, the former Women’s Champion said that though they were able to get a vet to
to see him, it was too late, and shared a photo of herself holding Larry-Steve’s hoof.
Bliss explained that though some people didn’t understand, that his life mattered a great deal, and in the comments, various names including
Natalya, The Miz, Renee Paquette and Naomi all shared their condolences.
Larry-Steve meant the world to Bliss, and now her life will be missing a very important part, and our thoughts go out to the RAW
Superstar at this very sad time.
NXT news now, as Ted DiBiase appeared on this week’s show to confront Cameron Grimes, but things didn’t go as fans expected.
It seemed that DiBiase had been warming up to Grimes, but their meeting of the millionaires ended with LA Knight appearing, saying he
has a claim to carry on the legacy of the Million Dollar Man, and attacked Grimes. DiBiase apparently agreed with him, as he
refused to help Grimes out, and left with Knight, seemingly confirming a new alliance between the two.
This seeming-double turn also made Grimes appear as a babyface, and we’ll have to see how the GameStonk aficionado responds on
next week’s show.
Back to the main roster, and on July 18th, the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas will host Money in the Bank, but tickets will be hard to
come by. Yesterday, the show’s pre-sale event started, and tickets flew out of the box-office during
that pre-sale, though we’re not sure if these were bought by fans or by an automated bot for scalpers.
According to Twitter Account @AEWTicketInfo, which clearly does statistics for WWE too, there are reportedly only 247 tickets available,
out of the 11,634 listed for the event. WWE will have no trouble selling tickets for their first run of live shows in over a year,
as it appears that the company’s return to the road will be a successful one.
And we’re ending with this Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing event, which’ll feature the second ever Stadium Stampede match.
The first Stampede, which happened at last year’s Double or Nothing, happened because there were no live fans, but that won’t be the
case this year, with the May 30th show expecting a sell-out crowd. According to Fightful, fans at Double or
Nothing are in for a treat, as the Stadium Stampede match will have quote “a significant live element to it,” and “unique live experience.”
Fightful were careful not to reveal what that’ll be, but after last year’s match between the Elite and the Inner Circle was 100% pre-taped,
we’ll have to see how a live Stampede match goes this Sunday.