What's next for TKO?

After more than two dozen releases from the WWE roster in recent weeks, reports surfaced that there was a concerted effort from TKO to cut the budget, which will ultimately yield a higher profit margin for the next conference call to report Wrestlemania earnings to investors. As I wrote about when the initial rounds of departures were announced, the annual purge of talent after Wrestlemania is an unfortunate tradition, and merely a part of the business to make room for the call-ups to the main roster. As much as it's disappointing that someone gets fired from their dream job, a wrestler had to get cut from their contract before that to make room for those same performers. Shuffling of talent is simply the nature of the beast when it comes to sports entertainment, and in some cases, being fired from the WWE provides the silver lining of an opportunity for a talent to reinvent themselves. Drew McIntyre was cast as a secondary comedy figure before time away allowed him to reignite his career to eventually become one of the top performers on the roster.

However, The Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez reported that not only were several talents cut to reduce costs, but at least half a dozen talents so far were asked to restructure their existing contracts to take a pay cut in an effort for the corporation to pad the profit margin.

As we know, The New Day, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, were among two of the stars that declined to restructure their deals and were released. In the time since their exit, reports have surfaced that Xavier Woods, who has established a video game Youtube channel outside of the realm of WWE, might be offered a contract similar to that of Tyler Breeze a few years ago that would keep him under the WWE umbrella for appearances surrounding social media content, but he wouldn't be an active member of the roster. This might have something to do with the WWE 2K video game series, which is a major revenue stream for everyone involved so it makes sense to have an ambassador of sorts, or this could also be a way to keep him away from AEW with the potential for relatively easy cash from WWE. As of this writing, there's no indication if Woods will ink a new deal or go elsewhere.

Budget cuts are a part of any business, it goes along with the peaks and valleys of any industry. As a market shifts, it's only the wise move to adapt to those trends, and if there's a dip, it can be key to respond according.

The task to cut the budget within sports entertainment isn't anything new, either. Infamously, the WWF took the water coolers out of the Stamford office in 1996 when business was still in the slump of the mid-90s, and WCW began to take a measurable portion of the market with the addition of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to the roster. The latter era of the Memphis territory was known for some lean years. When "Stunning" Steve Austin still sported blonde hair in his rookie year, he ate raw potatoes at a time when he made $40 a night at the Sportatorium, the same famous venue where he watched the legendary Free Birds/Von Erich feud years earlier. When Eric Bischoff became the executive producer of WCW in 1994, he eliminated house shows and began marathon tapings at Disney to save as much money as possible. When there was an uptick in business a few years later, house shows and live Nitro every week were a regular part of the business model.

The major difference between when promotions cut costs to survive a downturn in business, and the WWE of today is simple, TKO already has record-setting profits from the media rights deals. They aren't firing dozens of performers to keep the lights on, it's an example of corporate greed to add a few more numbers to the page. As we've established, wrestlers getting cut is a part of the process, but given the economics of the situation, the company isn't going to get any sympathy since these were cuts made specifically to bring in more money for the corporation, not a business move that had to be made to be realistic about payroll. In fact, Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, and a few of the other TKO executives were given millions of dollars in raises while the athletes that risk injury are left without a job.

Don't get me wrong, WWE is still the place to be, and in many respects, the merger with the UFC a few years ago put so much media muscle behind the machine that it's going to be tough to sway talent away from WWE being the goal. But, it's also possible that some of these business practices might jump the shark to the point that some of the talent consider working for the other billionaire in the industry. This is where the laundry list of mistakes from Tony Khan don't help the situation, but the fact that he's almost unanimously praised as a great guy might make the decision a little tougher for talent that could work for him or the conglomerate that will cut payroll when there are already record profits.

The WWE had a hot period, at least by the standard of serving its audience a few years ago, but when some of the fan favorites are fired, while the audience knows the those endless commercials only translate to more money for the corporation, there's a risk of souring the audience. It goes without saying that TKO is cemented as a media empire, there's not much debate about that, but if they continue to erode the goodwill with the audience, there could still be a potential downturn in business. In some ways, it could be reminiscence to WCW in 1998 when the group essentially overplayed their hand, assuming anything that they put on screen would translate to revenue. The Wrestlemania ticket sales proved that the audience has already become more hesitant from a financial perspective, it's not too much of a stretch that it could extend to other portions of the product if corporate greed becomes the narrative of WWE. Sure, the audience will still pay for Summer Slam, but maybe they skip the other pay-per-views that aren't considered "must-see" because of a dissatisfaction with the corporate spin on the product.

As far as the talent itself, the top-tier guys that actually move the needle, and there are very few of them that can truly do that, will be paid more than enough to be content within the TKO bubble. No, despite the rumors, Roman Reigns wasn't one of the talents that were asked to take a 50% pay cut. Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Rhea Ripley, Randy Orton etc. are those that will be a priority for management. In short, it's someone of that level isn't a part of the discussion of those that will have to take a pay cut to continue to work for WWE. Of course, it's possible that some of the other names with star power could become discontent with TKO and decide to explore their options, but it's doubtful that it would make a major difference in the big picture. The reason being is that we've already seen a slew of former WWE stars make the jump to All Elite, and there was ultimately a ceiling as to how far it boosted the company. This isn't a situation where someone with the cache of Macho, Hall, or Nash will make the jump to the competition. Again, that level of talent is being paid more than enough to want to stay under the TKO banner.

Despite how blatant the corporate greed is with wrestlers getting fired while TKO management gets a raise, the debate between wrestlers and promoters over cash has been around as long as the business itself. Vince McMahon offered Bret Hart a 20-year contract in 1996 to keep him from signing with WCW until he told the former WWF champion that he couldn't afford the deal the following year. The 2026 equivalent of that is TKO restructuring contracts, partially based on the more limited schedule of the modern era. It goes without saying that TKO doesn't need to restructure contracts to afford them, but it will be interesting to see if more talents decide to exit the company rather than take the pay cut.

Ted Turner passed away

Ted Turner wasn't a wrestling guy, but he was undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of the industry.

I was sad to hear that news that media mogul, Ted Turner passed away yesterday at the age of 87 after several years of a battle with a form of dementia. Of course, his most famous contributions were based on the distribution and expansion of cable television. The 24-hour news cycle was launched with the start of CNN in 1980. The domino effect of that can't be understated, as not only did it create an industry that ranks among the highest-rated programs more than 45 years later, but the concept of cable news quite literally decided Presidential elections. Granted, there are substantive arguments to be made that the same concept eventual had a detrimental impact on society, which was more or less after Ted was retired, but the point is, Turner put the foundation in place decades ago for the notion that the public could get some form of instant information,

As far as professional wrestling, probably because Turner wasn't vocal or in the public eye nearly as much as other promoters, I don't think he truly gets the credit for the contributions that he made to the industry. Keep in mind, it was Turner's TBS Super Station in the pioneering days of cable that gave sports entertainment its first national platform, albeit on a smaller scale because of limited distribution at the time. Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the cornerstones of the success of the Turner network from the late-70s through the mid-80s when Vince McMahon's purchase of the time slot on "Black Saturday" led to a brief run of WWF programming on the channel until the Jim Crockett line-up debuted on the station. When George Championship Wrestling's time slot was bought by Vince McMahon in July 1984, the promotion shuttered, which left the Carolina-based Crockett group as the largest remaining piece of the National Wrestling Alliance. 

Speaking of Crockett Promotions, when the group landed on TBS by the mid-80s, it was not only something that allowed the league to emerge as a competitor to Vince McMahon's national expansion as other regional territories folded under the pressure, it also put the groundwork in place for the narrative of the business in the following decade.

As we know, Crockett Promotions spent itself into bankruptcy when it tried to keep pace with the WWF during that era. Remember, Jim Crockett Promotions was the remaining force of the National Wrestling Alliance, with its storied history, both before the launch of cable, and after as the new form of media expanded throughout the country.

Ted Turner knew the value that professional wrestling had to his networks so he bought Crockett Promotions in late-1988 to keep the sport on his channels.

This is one of the aspects where Turner doesn't get nearly enough credit. If the NWA, which eventually morphed into World Championship Wrestling, had completely shut down in 1988, there wouldn't have been a promotion on the air to spark the Monday Night war almost a decade later. We saw in the aftermath of the WCW buyout that the pro wrestling business was often stable and sometimes bland without true competition. That's not a knock on the WWE either, but rather to point out what was probably an  unavoidable pitfall without competition. Furthermore, we saw how rare it was to have someone like Ted Turner with the passion for pro wrestling and the resources to give it a chance to be a national commodity, considering that it took two decades for All Elite Wrestling to launch on the Turner networks.

When you take into account that massive success that Turner had in the media business, especially after cable became more or less a household item by the 90s, he definitely wasn't a "money mark" as far as someone that was willing to throw money at a wrestling venture just to be a part of it. In fact, while it's said that Ted Turner enjoyed the matches, he wasn't someone that used the WCW platform to promote himself. You didn't see Turner battling the NWO or standing in the middle of the ring to open Nitro.

Turner had a loyalty to pro wrestling because it had been good to him for years previously so when WCW couldn't turn a profit for the first six years that he owned it, Ted took the write-off on his taxes and kept the doors open, which was a critical part of the industry.

The story of how Eric Bischoff took over as executive producer in 1994 and eventually got Turner to not only invest the money into the high-priced acquisitions of former WWF stars, but took steps to start the previously mentioned Monday night ratings battle is well-documented. However, let's keep it in perspective, Turner was the one that signed off on Bischoff's ambitious suggestion to go head-to-head with Raw each week. Without Turner being willing to give a pro wrestling show a prime time spot on his network, there might not have been the biggest boom period in the history of the industry.

We could parse detail on what went right or wrong with WCW in the late-90s. Macho was given a second run when Vince thought Savage was too far past his prime, Hogan reignited his entire career for a major heel run, the NWO ultimately pushed the WWF to embrace the attitude era, and American audiences were exposed to more international talent than ever before with a mixture of lucha, as well as Japanese talent, on Nitro. The company was mismanaged, dozens of wrestlers were paid to do nothing, and the booking eventually got so horrendous that the product fell off a cliff.

Regardless of the positives or the negatives of World Championship Wrestling, the biggest takeaway from the entire narrative of the organization under Turner ownership was that the media barron was the only one to ever put Vince McMahon on the ropes. Ted Turner was the only guy to ever get the better of Vince McMahon on a truly measurable scale in the history of pro wrestling. In 1994, Uncle Sam couldn't put Vince in as much jeopardy as the Turner networks did by 1997. For years, the WWF didn't acknowledge anything outside the realm of its own organization, but when Nitro took a noticeable portion of the audience on Monday nights,  the infamous "billionaire Ted" skits aired in 1996 to mock Turner, Savage, Hogan, and Gene Okerlund. Vince McMahon didn't sell for the federal government, but he reacted to Ted Turner. Obviously, the skits were designed to downplay WCW as the retirement home for older WWF stars, but the recognition alone told the audience that there was another player in the game. That notion was reinforced when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash made the jump to WCW just a few months later. As we know, when AOL merged with Time Warner in January of 2000, the domino effect led to the consolidation of the amount of authority Ted had over the Turner side of the assets. When WCW lost $60 million that year, it was easy for the executives to decide to cut their losses and sell to Vince McMahon for pennies on the dollar. Make no mistake about it, Ted Turner had a track record of staying behind wrestling, even through the financial slumps so if he had the power to keep WCW in the portfolio, he would've kept it open in 2001. That's why there's speculation about the status of AEW's television deal in the future with the upcoming Paramount/Warner Brothers Discovery merger.   

All Elite Wrestling did a very nice tribute to Turner on Dynamite last night with Tony Schiavone and Sting to open the show. There are a lot of criticisms about All Elite, many of them valid, and as mentioned, there's speculation about the future of its TV contract, but it was certainly fitting that the first truly competitive option since the closure of WCW twenty years earlier found a home on the Turner networks. Outside of the business world, Turner donated to many charitable causes and looked to donate most of his fortune upon his death. As I said, Ted Turner wasn't a wrestling guy, he didn't book angles, run a territory, or take bumps in the ring, but his impact and the domino effect that it had shaped the direction of the entire industry.

UFC 328

Amidst the online chatter about the pay cuts that the WWE talent are being asked to take, some in the 50% range of their previous contracts, TKO has a stacked weekend. While Backlash will be in Tampa with a 6 PM start time, the octagon will be further up the east coast in Newark, New Jersey for the UFC 328 pay-per-view. One of the few perks for consumers with the WWE and UFC being under the same banner is that hopefully the start time is by design to get Backlash finished up within three hours to allow viewers to switch over to Paramount+ for the MMA card. That would be refreshing after almost an hour and a half worth of commercials over the two nights of Wrestlemania. 

The MMA event will be headlined by a Middleweight title clash between the defending champion,  Khamzat Chimaev and the challenger, Sean Strickland.

In truth, this match-up has more to do with Strickland being a controversial figure in the sport than the justification of a title shot. Quite frankly, he's known more for the outlandish things he says outside of the octagon than his record as a fighter. In September of 2023, as a 5-to-1 underdog on most sports books, Strickland dethroned Israel Adesanya for the 185 LBS belt with the upset of the unanimous decision on the score cards. That was the start of a four-fight losing streak that Adesanya is currently on, with a TKO loss in the second round to Joe Pyfer in March. While the victory for Strickland was surprising, his reign as champion was short-lived when he dropped the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297. He rebounded with a decision win over Paulo Costa in June of 2024 before he lost a rematch against Dricus du Plessis for the belt in February of last year. Strickland was away from the cage for a year before he beat Anthony Hernandez via second round TKO a few months ago.

Strickland only has one victory since he lost the rematch for the title, does that truly justify another title shot, particularly when he failed to successful defend the belt before that?

I don't think so, but this is another example of how the fight business is still the entertainment business, even in the "entertainment value," or lack thereof is in poor taste.

Strickland, for all intents and purposes, is a guy that is a reflection of his pro record, which isn't always the case, but it's fairly accurate here. With a record of 30-7, and 24-7 of that being in the UFC, he's a solid fighter that is in the upper mid card as someone that is going to beat the average fighter, but won't truly crack into the top-tier of the division. Yes, he defeated Adesanya, but couldn't successfully defend the belt or recapture it when he had a rematch. Besides Dricus du Plessis, he lost to Alex Pereira and Kamaru Usman. Don't get me wrong, Strickland isn't a tomato can, but it's not as though he has an established legacy that would justify him a title shot on merit alone. So far, Strickland has had a 12-year UFC career and is still relatively young with at least a few more years of competition ahead of him, but again, none of what he did previously would make it a logic jump for him to compete for the title for a third time after only one victory to rebound from a prior loss.

Again, Strickland is a solid fighter, but he's known for his comments outside of the cage more than anything else. He took the Chael Sonnen approach to hyping himself up with over-the-top claims, but the difference is that everyone knew that Chael's clown routine was nothing more than an act to generate interest, whereas Strickland's comments go beyond trolling to the point that you have to wonder about head trauma in the sport.

Strickland made several homophobic and misogynistic remarks. He used homophobic slurs, and implied a racist remark when Bad Bunny was the headliner of this year's Super Bowl halftime show. He dismissed the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano bout on Netflix with derogatory comments about women's MMA, despite the fact that Rousey was one of the company's biggest pay-per-view draws during her peak in popularity. When asked about Strickland's comments, Dana White cited free speech, which isn't surprising when you consider that he's throwing a birthday party for Trump with an event at the White House in June. Trump has been accused on making similar comments in the past as well, but even Strickland has scaled back his support of Trump with criticism of Israel based on the ongoing conflict in Iran.

So, maybe Strickland's ignorance spans across the spectrum.

As much of a doofus as Strickland is, and as unfortunate as it is, there's an entire demographic, particularly within the usual target audience of the UFC, that align with Strickland's dismal ideology. There's an entire "bro culture" that assume spewing the same nonsense as Strickland makes them "edgy," while they assume that they obtain some type of groundbreaking knowledge listening to Joe Rogan's podcast. In reality, these dorks with the horrendous Jake Paul hair cuts would fold like a house of cards if there were actually confronted, but ignorance is bliss.

It's a sad statement about society, but someone like Strickland, specifically because of his fecal-level rhetoric, will sell tickets for the UFC. It will be the same reason that the crowd in Newark will chant "USA!" not because of any level of patriotism, but rather in spite of  Khamzat Chimaev being from another country.

In short, someone like Strickland fighting a Russian muslim will move the needle, both for those that will mindlessly chant for Strickland, and others that want to see him choked out. It's extremely disappointing, but Strickland's thinly-veiled bigotry is more or less the selling point for the pay-per-view.

As far as the fight itself, Chimaev made a name for himself during the pandemic era when he fought several times in a short span, racking up wins at a quick pace. Bringing an undefeated record of 15-0 into UFC 328, Chimaev unseated the previously mentioned Dricus du Plessis for the Middleweight championship via unanimous decision in August of last year. Before that, he had victories over Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns. Besides being undefeated, Chimaev has a mixed of wins via strikes, submissions, and decisions so he has a well-rounded skill set. More specifically, he proved in his last fight that he can go the distance if the bout reaches the championship rounds. The champion has an extensive freestyle wrestling background, as well as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Taking into account that Strickland also has a wrestling background and is known for his striking defense, I'd expect this bout to be a grappling contest, at least in the early rounds.

Because of that, I have to pick Khamzat Chimaev to retain the championship. The bottom line is, nobody has been able to figure out the formula to defeat him, and as mentioned, Strickland's losses have been against the top level competition. I think it's fair to say that Chimaev has done enough to prove that he's in that category. Furthermore, five of the seven losses of Strickland's career were via decision, and taking into account the shared grappling background, I'd guess that this one will stretch into the championship rounds, with the advantage going to the champion. Strickland has proven himself to be durable, but I'd guess that over the course of 25 minutes, Chimaev will be able to get the decision on the score cards.

What's the status of Jacob Fatu?

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the commercialism of Wrestlemania, essentially the longtime debate between the art of media and it being reduced to the lowest common denominator to reach the widest audience possible. Along with that is the process where rather short-term business decisions are made at the expense of potentially bigger success in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, it's unavoidable, but can simply be the nature of the beast for the global, publicly-traded corporation of TKO.

Just three weeks after the biggest show of the year and the payoff to many of the current crop of storylines, the WWE is tasked with bringing another pay-per-view to its audience with a $30 price tag on the ESPN app.

Don't get me wrong, Backlash looks very solid on paper, and I'm expecting an entertaining show this weekend, but as the puzzle pieces were put in place, specifically with the past few weeks of Raw, I'm wondering if management is disposing of one of its drawing cards way too early. Part of the reason that Drew McIntyre was left without a direction prior to WM 42, and thus thus the shotgun approach to his feud with Jacob Fatu on relatively short notice, was that the Drew/Cody Rhodes match was used up late last year and didn't have enough steam left just a few months later to be a viable option for one of the marquee bouts of the biggest show on the calendar. We saw Drew/Cody on pay-per-view, Saturday Night's Main Event, and a few times on Smackdown.

Obviously, for TKO to cash-in on the WWE brand with the astronomical ticket prices, they are rarely going to cut back on the pay-per-view schedule. So, the office had pay-per-views that needed a match rather than matches that were built to justify a pay-per-view platform. I'm not saying the WWE was wrong in their use of Cody/Drew to get through the latter portion of 2025, as it might've been unavoidable, but rather to point out that the trade off was that it wasn't a realistic option further down the road. That's one of the reasons why the build to WM and eventually the perception of Cody Rhodes as champion were disjointed because what was set up to look like a Cody/Drew showdown to settle the score quickly pivoted to Rhodes/Randy Orton.

Unfortunately, the sum total of that scenario, and this has been the case for most of Drew's career since he returned to the company in 2017, he's kept at a notch below the true main event guys. McIntyre is a tremendous performer and the quality of his performances reflect that regardless of his position on the card, but he hasn't been showcased at the same level of other guys like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, or CM Punk. It goes without saying that even a small step behind that group isn't a bad position, but again, there's a reason why Drew is just underneath the top-tier as far as star power.

With the build to Backlash, the question might be, is management truly ready to run with Jacob Fatu or did they hotshot this main event match with Roman Reigns because Backlash needed a major selling point?

Make no mistake about it, as I've written before, Jacob Fatu has the potential to be a major star for the organization. He has incredible agility for someone of his size, he got in the best shape of his career before he signed with WWE to minimize the risk of injury, and he has an authenticity that very few have in the industry today. It seems like it's easy for the audience to believe the Fatu character, and that can draw money.

However, timing is everything, and there are key points where the perception of a performer matter if they are going to get as over as possible.

The times that the office missed the boat on a performer during the latter tenure of Vince McMahon as the boss are numerous. The WWE narrative in retrospect might be that the "Yes!" movement was a grand plan, but the reality was that WWE brass were forced to change course because 2014 was Daniel Bryan's year. That same year, Bray Wyatt should've defeated John Cena. It's almost unbelievable now given their current status, but in 2018, when the audience still rejected the Roman Reigns super push in the main event, Braun Strowman was organically over with the audience. Braun won the tag titles with the youngster Nicholas, and Roman worked the main event to very little crowd reaction. By the time the office tried to move Braun to the title picture a few years later, they missed the opportunity since his momentum had declined significantly and injuries affected his in-ring performance.

That's the concern ahead of the Backlash pay-per-view, if Fatu loses, does it hinder his momentum or pigeon-hole him into a secondary spot on the card?

With the countless hours of television and expanded international tours, it's easy to allow the complacent notion of "there's another opportunity next time" for a talent to skew the optics of a situation. Again, timing matters, and unless the office is ready to push Fatu as the champion, I'm not sure booking him to lose in a spotlighted main event won't take away some of his shine. It's a drastic example, but Wrestlemania 14 was the right time for Stone Cold to win the championship, if the office missed that key opportunity, it might've impacted his peak run as the top guy.

As far as the result of Backlash, I can't imagine that WWE brass takes the title away from Roman three weeks after he won the championship, specifically because it would neutralize most of the sizzle from his stellar bout against CM Punk to capture the championship. At the same time, I don't think a loss does anything to Roman's status as a top star. This is meant as a compliment, Roman is as over as he's going to be, and he reached a spot where he doesn't have to be the champion to maintain his main event status. Fatu signed with the company tow years ago so the question appears to be, are they ready to put the stock into him as someone they expect to be a major draw? On one hand, the argument could be made that more of his story needs to be developed, and it does seem rushed, but on the other hand, with the amount of retirements in recent years, it's imperative that management attempts to replenish the star power on the roster.

If I had a vote, I'd say that Fatu should win the championship to give him a shot to elevate himself to the next level. Granted, I wouldn't have booked the match this early, but if it's going to happen then I'd say that there's a bigger opportunity cost if he loses that would typecast him as someone not on the level of the championship than they would be to give him a chance to become a cemented main eventer. This scenerio has somewhat booked Fatu into a corner in terms of his perception if he doesn't win the belt, but at the very least, there's a compelling main event for Backlash, which is the balancing act for the office with so many different priorities for the company.

The New Day released

I penned an article last week citing the notion, as well as the track record, of corporate suites that ruin pro wrestling. With the development of a few more exits from the WWE, it provided more proof that TKO uses a paint-by-numbers approach to the very unique genre of sports entertainment.

As I said earlier this week when I discussed the two dozen cuts from the roster, it's not surprising when this happens since it has become an unfortunate annual tradition after Wrestlemania where management purges talent that are middle of the road in terms of their importance to the card. Ultimately, this is a necessary step toward moving more wrestlers up to the main card. It's not fun when someone loses their dream job, but it's simply the nature of the beast. Those same people that got released previously had a spot because someone got fired before them. Still, this year, there were some surprising names, even if the round of post-Wrestlemania releases were expected. The Wyatt Sicks, despite solid merchandise numbers, were axed. Aleister Black, who re-signed with the company just a year ago after a rocky tenure in All Elite Wrestling, and his wife, Zelina Vega were also released. Kari Sane, who was involved n a current angle with Asuka, was fired as well.

The bottom line is, nobody was safe from TKO's efforts to pad the profit margin ahead of the next conference call when they can tout the financial success of Wrestlemania 42.

Just a week later, four more talents are gone from the WWE, revealing a possible short-sighted approach to the actual management of talent, as well as the perception of the role of the roster from the higher-ups at TKO.

While The New Day of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were secondary figures among the current WWE landscape because, quite frankly, they haven't been given much to do after their heel run yielded a rather forgettable tag title run last year, many would've thought that they were a pair they would remain under WWE contract until they decided to retire. That's not a favor job, either. Kofi and Xavier were one of the most entertaining acts of the modern era, and they can still go in the ring. Yes, Big E's injury was a major  dent to the presentation of The New Day, but that's not a jab at either of the remaining members, but rather to point out that each member of the trio was an important part of the overall package.

At the very least, and this is far from their ceiling, even at this point in their careers, The New Day could be good utility workers for the office to use when they need to plug the team in some where because of their cache with the audience. Kofi had a nearly 20-year run on the main roster, and Woods inked a deal with the company more than 15 years ago. That type of credibility means something to the fan base, if not the TKO executives. This is another example of one of the old school pro wrestling troupes, one that existed for good reason, that doesn't have any value to the Endeavor conglomerate. Kofi is known as a great guy behind the scenes, and you don't hear anything negative about Woods either. Kofi's title run was cut short to add more sizzle to Brock Lesnar that wasn't needed, but the fans respect him for his accomplishments over the past two decades. At 44 and 39 respectively, Kofi and Woods theoretically have a few more years left in the ring, but the bigger picture is that since The New Day is so beloved by the audience, they would be great in the goodwill ambassador roles after they retire. You would think that this would be an easy decision with how many different sponsors TKO is trying to juggle, and how effective those guys would be as representatives, but the literal bottom line is all TKO is concerned with the next time the corporation reports earnings to investors.

According to The Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez, the decision to release the tag team was "mutually agreed upon" when TKO asked the duo to restructure their contracts, but Kingston and Woods declined. If I had to guess, specifically because the negotiations ended with their releases, I'd say that TKO asked them to take a pay cut. Keep in mind, the WWE has touted record-setting profits for the past several years because of the media rights deals so it's tough to imagine that The New Day contracts were a burden for the corporation. The office is going to have to be very careful with how the narrative of this story unfolds, as they could be in danger of ending up with another R-Truth situation where the fans protest because one of the beloved stars were released. The fact that TKO essentially didn't want to pay the tag team the amount they were already signed for doesn't paint the company in a favorable light. If The New Day don't have a non-compete clause, it would probably serve the WWE best if they landed somewhere else ASAP to prevent the fans from revolting to attempt to prompt their WWE return. 

Someone should tell Mark Shapiro there was a reason that guys like Hillbilly Jim and Jimmy Hart were kept in the fold for years.

I have to be honest, I was really surprised that Jeff Cobb was cut from the roster just a year after he signed with the company. Truth be told, the office didn't really give him too much to do on an individual level and it looked like he did well with what he was given as a member of the Solo Sikoa stable. If I had to guess, and this is just a guess because I really don't see the logic behind the release, Cobb was somewhat of a victim of circumstance, as WWE brass might've seen him as expandable or replaceable, particularly with Talla Tonga being a younger performer that could work in a similar role, as far as with the Sikoa faction. Ar 43, Cobb might be toward the latter portion of his prime, but his career is far from over. I wouldn't advise a jump to All Elite since we know what happens with the vast majority of talent there, but a return to New Japan might be a win-win situation. The Japanese league needs more depth on the roster, and Cobb has more to offer than what he was given the chance to show in WWE. Tonga Loa was also released, and considering that his in-ring blunders were probably the most memorable part of  this stint with the promotion, it's not too surprising that he was given his walking papers. I'm not sure where he goes next, but New Japan might be the answer for him, too.

Speaking of the Sikoa faction, it's not impossible that the group could continue with its remaining members, but the fact that two of them were fired at the same time would suggest that the stable isn't a priority for the organization. It's an odd scenario because Solo and Tama Tonga have a current role on Smackdown, but these releases would suggest that the writing team only has a minimal investment in the direction of their characters.

As I said earlier, and this might be the biggest takeaway from this group of releases, TKO is taking a short-sighted approach to how they handle talent.

This isn't a ground-breaking notion, but wrestlers aren't actors. They aren't interchangeable, if they were, the business wouldn't have down periods when the search for the next crop of stars takes place. You can't assume, "we have other tag teams on the roster so we can cut The New Day," or "The Samoa family tree will keep us supplied with islanders, we can fire Cobb."

This is one of the smaller details of the impact of such a management style, but JC Mateo and Xavier Woods had new Mattel figures showcased as a part of Wrestlemania week. The figures are almost near the production stage, which is why there were among the upcoming products so they are essentially too far along in the process to be canceled from the line. Generally speaking, Mattel doesn't even consider working on a figure of a current performer unless they have a specific amount of time left on their WWE contracts, specifically to avoid this type of situation. On the flip side, a situation where a product for a talent is in stores, but the performer isn't in the company to indirectly promote the sales of the product is something that has happened several times in AEW. Obviously, that's not a pattern that TKO should emulate for any of its merchandise. The more macro view point is that if TKO continues to attempt to manage the pro wrestling venture as if it's any other entertainment commodity, it could sour a portion of the audience.

Chris LeRusso retirement

On February 28th, Chris LeRusso, a longtime pro of the squared circle, took a final bow, closing a chapter of his life that was almost 23 years in the making. 

In many respects, it was a full circle moment for the athlete that cut his teeth on independent wrestling when he was still in high school. LeRusso stood in the ring as a pillar of support for 880 Wrestling, an upstart league that took a DYI approach when it launched a few years ago, with the name as a nod to the postal code of the original location of New Kensington, a city just north of Pittsburgh.

"Chris has been integral in my journey as a pro-wrestler, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to learn so much from him. Beyond such an honor to have wrestled him last night," Marco Narcisso, one of the standout performers on the 880 roster, posted on social media following the bout. 

LeRusso, who broke into the sport with the moniker "Chaotic," wearing karate pants inspired by Rob Van Dam for that pro debut, went out with his shoulders on the canvas, giving back to a talented youngster, the same way many had done for him in the past two decades.

"Not only was it an honor that I never knew I'd have, mostly because of the impact that he had on Pittsburgh independent wrestling, but he's honest, genuine, and one of the best of us," said Chris Taylor on giving LeRusso his first match in 2003.

The decision to hang up his boots wasn't spur of the moment. In fact, it was quite the opposite, rather a reflection of the path he was on his entire adult life. 

"I think I sat down and took a long look at where my career could be going moving forward. I still love wrestling and love performing, but I’ll fully admit I have not kept up with the national products very much, save for a few of my students and friends. Nothing really happened, I just haven’t really connected with the modern product very much. That was kind of my first red flag," he explained.

The career of Chris LeRusso runs the gamut of professional wrestling. He has shared a ring with Adam Page and Jimmy Jacobs, while also working with local yokels like Love Boy Lou. He competed inside a former school building that looked so post-apocalyptic that it undoubtedly should've been condemned for an alphabet soup league, whereas he also eventually stood inside Stage AE, one of the most well-known Pittsburgh venues that is just minutes from Heinz Field, for Ring Of Honor during one of the promotion's hottest eras.

Along those same lines, he wore more or less every hat possible in the sports entertainment industry since the time he first burst through the curtain as a scrawny, fresh-faced kid that grew into a well-respected veteran that the next generation looked to during his two decades in the sport. He was a trainer, an in-ring performer, a matchmaker, an occasional announcer, and a valuable resource for his peers. With such an extensive and versatile skill set, it's no surprise that the man once dubbed "The Heir Apparent" had tenures with every major promotion within the flourishing Pittsburgh scene. As his career evolved, so did his roles and responsibilities within the genre.

"I’ve definitely relaxed and tried to find perspective. I look back at things I got mad about or blew up about or lost sleep about over the past 20 years in wrestling and I’m just embarrassed. Family and friendship means so much more. I think it’s important to care about wrestling and to treat it with respect and hold it to a higher standard. But at the end of the day, the people you make friendships and relationships with are more important,"

He was the heavyweight champion for the now-defunct Pro Wrestling Express organization, he was the header trainer of the Iron City Wrestling Academy under the International Wrestling Cartel banner, He was a matchmaker for Ryse Wrestling, he had the previously mentioned mentorship of those within 880, and even dipped his toe into the national scene with a handful of ROH bouts, including a few matches on their television show that was aired on Sinclair Broadcasting across the country at the time. 

He traded hammerlocks with Davey Richards and Johnathan Gresham before he taught those maneuvers to AEW's Wardlow, and NWA's Spencer Slade.

"My best pure match was probably against Davey Richards back in VOW or Jonathan Gresham at IWC, but part of that was just the insanely talented opponents. My greatest moment was my match against John McChesney with Ricky Steamboat as the ref, it was loudest pop I’d ever heard. My favorite match might be the dog collar match against Jack Pollock. I haven’t even mentioned my ROH time and that was so important to me too. As far as students, I can’t pick a top or a favorite. They’re all special to me," Chris commented.

With such a list of professional accomplishments, the decision to step away from the sport that molded him into the man today carried an amount of personal weight to it. The live entertainment business has a history littered with cautionary tales as the schedule can be a meat grinder for those that want to push themselves to their fullest potential. There's a reason that there are dozens of episodes that cite tales of the dark side of the ring. Thankfully, for the man that makes his living outside of the ropes as a lawyer to grapple with legal jargon, LeRusso made it passed his 40th birthday without falling into any of the traps of the wrestling business.

"I have made it through 20 years of wrestling without major injury thus far, but I know as I get older and slower, the chances for a major injury go up. On top of that, I didn’t want to continue wrestling past the point of good taste. People have told me 'wow, you can still go,' and I wanted to retire when that was still the case. I’m proud of the fact that I left the game still as Chris LeRusso rather than a shell of himself. I look back on my career with incredible fondness and gratitude. Wrestling gave me my wife, my best friends, and the most fun I’ve ever had. I can’t ask for much more,"

While the squared circle  played such a pivotal role in his life, there was an even more important ring that he discovered through professional wrestling, the ring he used to propose to his wife, former grappler, Laura Loveless After years together, the couple recently announced that they are expecting their first child in the coming months.

"I can't wait to meet him," LeRusso said enthusiastically.

At 41, Chris LeRusso never "made it big" in the business, but he undoubtedly made it big in life. A successful 9-to-5 career was balanced with in-ring mayhem on the weekends, adventures that yielded him professional and personal happiness. That's a rousing success story.

Given that LeRusso was independent throughout his career, working with a myriad of groups, it was fitting that 880 Wrestling, the league built on the same type of ambition, would host his last match.

"880 is something I’m actually quite jealous of. I remember when I first saw what was MV was doing in New Ken and I thought, 'this is exactly what I would want to do if I had the money and resources.' His focus on developing new talent and a new scene outside the legacy groups in the area is something I admire so much. I really didn’t help them as much as they helped me. They gave me a place to do Chris LeRusso on his own terms," he said.

With the benefit of a few months of hindsight since he unlaced his boots for the final time, LeRusso had a chance to reflect on the journey that shaped much of his professional and personal life.   

"My legacy isn’t for me to decide. I know how I would like to be remembered, but that isn’t up to me. It’s up to my students, the fans, and the next generation to decide how to tell my story. Regardless of the final verdict, I have no regrets," LeRusso concluded.

What's the status of Ric Flair?

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Ric Flair is arguably the greatest professional wrestler to ever lace up a pair of boots. There are counter examples that can be made, depending on the criteria, but his impact on the sport as an iron man of the industry and one of the cornerstones of the business, especially in his heyday, isn't up for debate.

His impact on the sport might not be up for debate, but his legacy, specifically since his original WWE retirement in 2008, is questionable.

Maybe Ric Flair is a product of his time or the embellishment of the pro wrestling business has that type of effect on those that spend most of their lives hyping their next big bout. The late Hulk Hogan gained a notorious reputation for outlandish lies that weren't remotely true or even possible in some cases. Maybe some of the old timers get too wrapped up in their pro wrestling persona. They were on the road the vast majority of the year, with Ric Flair as a prime example of a nonstop schedule of being The Nature Boy during his prime. But, within the modern age of technology, some of the aging legends have too much access to the public or a platform that fans will flock to based on their previous accomplishments.

Ric Flair has became known as someone that puts his foot in his mouth more often that not when he makes public statements these days.

The claim that Hulk Hogan died from street drugs last year that he had to back peddle from, the bizarre criticism of Jim Ross on Twitter after the legendary announcer provided an update on the skin cancer treatment that he was undergoing at the time, his claim that WWE blocked his deal with the Roots of Fight clothing line, his public feud with former longtime friend, Mark Madden and a slew of other nonsense that you'd think would be beneath a former world champion of his caliber. There were also the very disheartening cameo videos where Flair was obviously very intoxicated when he recorded video messages that he charged $500 for, the video of when he was kicked out of a pizza place while also sounding intoxicated, and of course, the other occasional nonsense.

Sure, Flair is a capable adult, but given his lengthy track record of unwise decisions, including being broke a few different times in his career, despite making millions of dollars as a pro wrestler, someone close to him should step in to advise him to stay out of the public eye. At 77, he sounds like an old fool that is grasping at straws to stay relevant rather than being regarded as a legendary elder statement of the industry, which is the statue that his skills justify.  

The former NWA world heavyweight champion was a guest on the Ariel Helwani show last week, and while I don't think the MMA reporter's objective was to get some "red meat" to create headlines, he obviously wasn't going to steer Flair a way from the rant, as the controversy only made the segment on his show more newsworthy. This appearance, as if it was needed, provided exponentially more evidence that Flair, despite being a masterful promo in his heyday, should be nowhere near a live mic on television or anywhere else. Flair is still under contract to All Elite Wrestling, even those he has only made a handful of appearances since he signed with the company a few years ago If Tony wants to keep him under contract to give him a payday as a sign of respect, that's fine and even admirable on some level, but as a commodity, Ric Flair is more of a liability than an asset for any organization. His association with AEW is more or less under the radar so there's no negative publicity for the organization, but the point remains, would any company want to publicly do business with Flair if these are the type of headlines about him?

Flair claimed that he wasn't invited to Wrestlemania 42 because of incident last year when he called Ludwig Kaiser, who was dating Tiffany Stratton after Kaiser posted a reaction to an infamous promo between Stratton and Charlotte that made a few real-life references. According to Flair, he got Kaiser's number from someone and threatened to fight him. Flair claims that Kaiser went to management and told them about the incident, leading to Flair not being allowed to attend Wrestlemania this year. If the incident actually took place, what exactly was Kaiser supposed to do? If he gets approached by Flair, he's in a no-win situation. He can't smack a 77-year-old man with a lengthy history of health problems, nor would he since he's not going to risk his job. Furthermore, if Kaiser said anything to the office, which hasn't been confirmed, maybe the decision was made to keep Flair away for his own good. Does TKO need a drunk senior citizen causing a scene backstage? Ironically, this entire fiasco was based on a promo on television, and reportedly, Kaiser and Tiffany ended their relationship almost six months ago. Just a few days ago, Flair posted an apology to Kaiser online. During the tirade, Flair claimed that "a red carpet to the front row" should be put out for him at WWE events. This interview is exactly why it's not and shouldn't be.

As the interview progressed, Flair sounded intoxicated. He praised Triple H, but mentioned their friendship wasn't the same. Given that being friends with Flair would consistent of putting out fires on social media, it's understandable why a guy that runs a publicly-traded company would keep his distance from Flair. Dutch Mantel, Stevie Richards, and their co-host, James Romero were the subject of Flair's disdain because of their criticism of his post-WWE career. Considering how publicly Flair embarrassed himself, it's going to be a topic of discussion. Flair bragging about his ability to call Trump as a response lets you know that he doesn't have much of a comeback to the criticism. Yes, Ric Flair was a bigger star than Stevie or Dutch, but neither of them took anything away from his wrestling ability. They have also echoed the statements of many others in the industry about Flair's behavior. Ric Flair worked more main events than Stevie in his career, but Flair had more bankruptcies than Richards so success depends on prospective.

Later on, Flair said that "everyone in the world should be thanking Vince McMahon." There's no doubt that Vince built the WWE from a north east territory to a global corporation, but if any of the deviant accusations against him are true, it's difficult to celebrate him within a modern context. In reference to drinking Flair said that he "drinks because he wants to drink and it helps him keep his sanity." Considering that Ric Flair almost died from alcoholism in 2017, the fact that he brags about it online shows that he's not grateful for a second chance at life. Flair praised Tony Khan, which probably has  more to do with the fact that Tony is paying him than anything else, but it's also more proof that despite the booking blunders, Tony is known as a genuinely good guy. Flair went on to brag about his $300,000 boat and of all the outlandish things that he said during the 55-minute interview, that's probably true, which is another reason he was broke on a few occasions.

As I said, someone that is close to Ric Flair should keep him away from the public eye. At 77, this is who Flair is, he's a tremendously entertaining and legendary performer that can't seem to handle any of the responsibilities of real life. He's not The Nature Boy living like a rock star in 1985 anymore, he's a senior citizen that can't handle that he's not the center of attention. He comes off as foolish, not legendary. That's the saddest part of all of this, as this appears to be an indication that Flair has a lot of problems that he either didn't deal with for many years or he still hasn't dealt with them because the story has more or less been the same since he retired from WWE in 2008. Again, there's no doubt that Ric Flair is one of the all-time greats, but that shouldn't shield him from rightful criticism. He was one of the top drawing cards of his era, but he has made himself too much of a liability for any sports entertainment company to promote today.