Here we go again!
Less than a week after WrestleMania 42 left a large portion of the wrestling world staring at their screens in bewilderment — wondering how the self-proclaimed Grandest Stage of Them All had been reduced to a glorified advertising hoarding with the occasional match bolted on — WWE has done what WWE always does in the days following its flagship event. It has swung the axe.
At least 18 talents were released on Friday, April 24, 2026, in a sweeping post-WrestleMania roster purge spanning the main roster, NXT, and WWE developmental. The full toll may yet climb higher. As has become something of a grim annual tradition — the wrestling industry’s answer to Black Monday — careers were ended, contracts were expired, and people who had dedicated years of their lives to this company were handed their P45s with almost no public acknowledgement from WWE itself. WWE has not issued an official statement. Of course it hasn’t. Why would it? That would require treating these people like human beings rather than line items on a quarterly report.
Let’s talk about who is gone, because these are real people and real careers, and they deserve more than a corporate non-statement.
Aleister Black: A Cautionary Tale in Wasted Potential
The release that has understandably drawn the loudest reaction is that of Aleister Black. Black returned to WWE last April after a four-year run in AEW — where he wrestled as Malakai Black — and was placed in a long-running rivalry with Damian Priest that never produced a clear payoff. Black never gained meaningful momentum during his second WWE run despite being one of the most distinctive characters on the roster.
Read that back. One year. They brought this man back from AEW, where he had built one of the most compelling characters in wrestling — brooding, theatrical, genuinely unsettling in the best possible way — and they did precisely nothing with him. A feud with Damian Priest that went nowhere. No meaningful title programme. No memorable moment to point to. And now he’s out the door.
This is perhaps the most damning indictment of where WWE’s creative priorities currently lie. Here is a performer with an immediately recognisable look, a soundtrack in Malakai Black’s entrance music that gets a reaction every single time, and the in-ring ability to back all of it up. WWE had him for a year and couldn’t figure out what to do with him. That’s not a problem with Aleister Black. That’s a problem with the people making the decisions.
He is married to Zelina Vega, who has also been released. Vega had been with WWE on her second tour with the company since 2017 after originally being signed in 2014. She held the Queen of the Ring crown, won the Women’s United States Championship, and was a regular on the SmackDown roster as a multi-faceted in-ring competitor and manager. So they’ve lost both of them on the same day. A couple, cut simultaneously, with no statement. Classy stuff.
The Wyatt Sicks: An Idea Given Up On
All five members of the Wyatt Sicks have been confirmed as departing WWE. Bo Dallas formed the faction in June 2024 after returning as Uncle Howdy to honour his late brother Bray Wyatt. Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy held the WWE Tag Team Championship together during the group’s run. Erick Rowan’s release was confirmed by PWInsider. Nikki Cross, who portrayed Abby the Witch in the stable, was among the first to confirm her exit publicly on X.
The complete dissolution of the Wyatt Sicks is worth pausing on. Not just because of who is involved, but because of what it represents. This was a faction built on one of the most genuinely emotional moments WWE has produced in years — Bo Dallas stepping out as Uncle Howdy to carry on his late brother’s legacy. There was something real there. Something that could have connected.
Out Of Gas
Sadly, WWE seemed to run out of ideas as it related to the Wyatts, relegating the spooky group to a never-ending feud that seemed to have no endpoint. And so rather than invest in finishing the story properly, rather than giving one of WWE’s most unique stables a worthy conclusion, they’ve simply shown them all the door. Five people, gone in one day. The Wyatt story — one that began with genuine grief and ended with corporate indifference — deserves better than this.
Andre Chase confirmed his release in an emotional social media video. He credited fan support for turning him into an on-screen star after initially being told he would never appear on television. Chase won the NXT Tag Team Championship twice during his run. He also had just revived the Chase U brand on the April 22 episode of NXT before today’s news. Think about the timing there. Two days after reviving the Chase U brand on NXT television. Two days. That’s not creative planning. That’s negligence.
Kairi Sane and the Motor City Machine Guns
Kairi Sane is believed to be among the departures. Sane returned to WWE at Crown Jewel 2023 after a stint in STARDOM and NJPW, where she won the inaugural IWGP Women’s Championship. Back in WWE, she reunited with Asuka as the Kabuki Warriors and won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship for a third time. The duo lost the titles to Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY on the January 5, 2026 episode of Raw. Sane was in the middle of a storyline with IYO SKY and Asuka that did not make the WrestleMania 42 card.
A storyline that didn’t make WrestleMania. Released days later. WWE had one of the most beloved performers in women’s wrestling history, had an active storyline with her, and couldn’t find space for her on the biggest show of the year. Remarkable.
Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are also believed to be among the departures. The Motor City Machine Guns signed with WWE in September 2024, debuted on SmackDown on October 18, and won the WWE Tag Team Championship in just their second week on the job, upsetting The Bloodline. They lost the titles to #DIY in December 2024. Their departure ends a run that many considered long overdue — Shelley and Sabin spent two decades winning championships in TNA, ROH, and NJPW before finally arriving in WWE. Two decades of excellence, a brief window in WWE, and now they’re done. At least they got to do it. But they deserved a proper run, not a footnote.
The Backdrop: WrestleMania 42 and the Ad-Itude Era
None of this exists in a vacuum. These releases are happening in the immediate aftermath of what many are calling the most commercially compromised WrestleMania in recent memory, and the timing tells you everything you need to know about where WWE’s priorities lie.
Nearly 25% of the total runtime across both nights of WrestleMania 42 was eaten up by commercials. Coupled with a 15% drop in attendance compared to last year, the message is clear: TKO’s focus on the bottom line is actively hurting the overall quality of the product by prioritising profit margins over the fan experience.
Night 1 delivered mostly quick matches, with the exception of the main event between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, alongside relentless advertising. The four-hour, seven-match broadcast offered just 86 minutes of wrestling against a staggering 74 minutes of commercials. Take a moment with that statistic. The Grandest Stage of Them All. Eighty-six minutes of wrestling. Seventy-four minutes of commercials. One fan’s description of the event as “ads with a side of wrestling” was not hyperbole. It was a pretty accurate summary of the broadcast.
ADS, ADS, ADS
Following the United States Championship bout, viewers were left bewildered when a four-minute commercial break appeared on their screens showing only the WrestleMania logo with the text “We’ll be right back.” There were no backstage interviews, no commentary. A static screen. For four minutes. At WrestleMania.
Parent company TKO also dedicated every second of WrestleMania 42 they could to advertisements, and when they were forced to show pro wrestling instead of movie trailers or commercials for snack products, they put partners’ products and logos wherever they could find space. The turnbuckles. The ringside barriers. The LED mat. Logos everywhere you looked.
Inside The Stadium
The reaction from the live crowd was pointed. Fans reacted with a “f*** TKO” chant during the post-show. Once he found out what they were saying, Roman Reigns quipped that the fans were a “bipolar bunch.” The chant did die down, but it was another bad look in a weekend that had a few of them.
Ariel Helwani put it plainly, saying: “I don’t know if it’s because there are people at the very top of TKO who aren’t wrestling fans and don’t understand the history. They have gone from nothing to overboard. There’s got to be an in-between where the soul of the company and the product remains.”
He’s right. And the response from WWE following those criticisms? WWE bragged about its ad partnerships at WrestleMania 42 in the days that followed. They were proud of it. That tells you everything.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has reported that there is frustration behind the scenes at WWE amongst some wrestlers because of TKO’s approach to ads and shorter matches at WrestleMania 42. When the people inside the company share the same frustrations as the people watching at home, you have a problem that goes beyond fan noise on social media.
What This All Means
Here is where we are. In the same week that WWE staged its biggest annual event — an event that drew legitimate, widespread criticism for feeling like a corporate revenue exercise dressed up in pyrotechnics — the company has released somewhere in the region of 20 performers. People like Aleister Black, who was given a year and nothing to show for it. Like Kairi Sane, who had an active storyline that wasn’t good enough for the Mania card. The Motor City Machine Guns, who spent two decades being brilliant everywhere except WWE and got less than two years to prove they belonged. Like Bo Dallas, who carried the weight of his brother’s memory and was given the bin once they couldn’t figure out what to do with him.
WWE’s talent well is not shallow. The company continues to attract and develop extraordinary performers. The problem is not who they have. The problem is what they do — or increasingly, don’t do — with them. And when the creative and commercial decisions are being driven by people whose primary interest appears to be maximising advertising inventory on the biggest shows of the year, don’t be surprised when the wrestlers carrying that creative weight find themselves surplus to requirements a week later.
The Ad-itude Era is well and truly here. And the casualties are mounting.
All Your Wrestling covers WWE, AEW and the wider world of professional wrestling. Follow us for ongoing coverage of the post-WrestleMania fallout.
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