The WWE has been one of the few sports still operating during the coronavirus pandemic thanks to an exemption order from Florida. But that wasn’t enough to save the jobs of a number of wrestlers and producers, who were laid off on April 15. Pregnant and retired WWE star Brie Bella, 36, took to Twitter from the account she shares with fellow retired wrestler twin sister Nikki Bella. She wrote, “My heart is filled with so much sadness today. Sending so many prayers to all who have been effected. WWE is one big family, you never want to see a member go.”
Also pregnant Nikki added in her own tweet, “Today has been a sad and tough day so far for the whole WWE family. Please send a lot of love and light our way. We all need it.” Some of the WWE stars who were let go were already free agents. But there were others like superstar and three-time United States Champion Rusev, who has been with the WWE since 2010, who got a pink slip. The 34-year-old Bulgarian shocked fans as the list of names kept growing throughout the day and he eventually tweeted, “Thank you All, Rusev out!”
Rusev’s name shot to the number one topic on Twitter, with fans noting how ironic it was that he was let go after dipping into his own wallet to help WWE workers during the coronavirus work shut down. @Fiend4Follows tweeted, “Rusev tweeted a few weeks back said that he was willing to pledge 20k of his own money to help pay staff without pay in WWE.” User kctharington noted, “Rusev literally gave $25,000 of his own money to pay WWE production workers cause they weren’t getting paid.”
Fans were absolutely furious about the cuts and many pointed the finger at WWE CEO Vince McMahon, 74. User @joshhodge81 tweeted, “My #WWE Network subscription can honestly get to f**k and so can Vince. Maybe @CMPunk was right after all these years. In a time of crisis, for a billionaire to do such a thing to people depending on him for a livelihood is a f**ing disgrace. #wwereleases.” Fan @TheLegitDeadly tweeted, “Hey Vince, maybe you and your wife could have taken some of that 18.5 million you threw at Trump‘s campaign and I dunno, ACTUALLY KEPT YOUR PEOPLE EMPLOYED. What a d**che move. Worst of the worst.”
@TonioFranco tweeted, “TIMELINE: Vince keeps WWE going despite pandemic, endangering talent, but stops XFL. XFL fails, files bankruptcy. Vince pressures state of FL to insanely declare WWE essential. Vince mass fires wrestlers he put in danger to make money in order to save more money. #wwereleases.” Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE an essential business and has allowed the WWE to continue to run live TV shows from it’s Orlando facility, albeit without an audience present.
User @Allan_Wrestle wrote, “These #WWEReleases just goes to show what a pathetic person @VinceMcMahon is. I’m through supporting WWE financially, I’ve just cancel my subscription to the Network. Vince is firing people left and right to save a little bit of money, while having a reserve of $500M.” Others were just plain upset overall. @MTTRDDN tweeted, “WWE cutting wrestlers to maintain profits, meanwhile… they just paid Goldberg millions for 1 month of wrestling. Throwing away years of storylines for sh*t nobody even wanted to see. Disgusting #wwereleases.”
My heart is filled with so much sadness today. Sending so many prayers to all who have been effected. WWE is one big family, you never want to see a member go. 💛✨ -Brie
— Nikki & Brie (@BellaTwins) April 15, 2020
Today has been a sad and tough day so far for the whole WWE family. Please send a lot of love and light our way. We all need it. ❤️N
— Nikki & Brie (@BellaTwins) April 15, 2020
Here is the list of WWE wrestlers and behind the scenes talent including producers and writers who were let go:
Deonna Purrazzo
Aleksandar Jaksic
Andrea Listenberger (writer)
Rusev
No Way Jose
Zack Ryder
Maria Kanellis
Mike Kanellis
Rowan
Sarah Logan
Mike Chioda (referee)
Primo
Epico
Billy Kidman (producer)
Pat Buck (producer)
Shawn Daivari (producer)
Scott Armstrong (producer)
Sarah Stock (producer)
Kurt Angle (producer)
Shane Helms (producer)
Dave Finlay (producer)
Lance Storm (producer)
Mike Rotunda (producer)
Heath Slater
Rusev
Aiden English
Eric Young
Drake Maverick
Curt Hawkins
Karl Anderson
Luke Gallows
EC3
Lio Rush
Our thoughts go out to all of the talented people who lost their jobs with the WWE today.