Dakota Kai, Malcolm Bivens, Dexter Lumis among ten WWE NXT releases

[cero2k]

src: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/dako ... t-releases

Eight wrestlers, a manager, and a referee have been released by WWE as part of a set of NXT roster cuts.

Dakota Kai, Malcolm Bivens, and Dexter Lumis are among those who were released by WWE today. The 10 releases are listed below:

Dakota Kai (real name Cheree Crowley)
Malcolm Bivens (the former Stokely Hathaway)
Harland (Parker Boudreaux)
Dexter Lumis (Samuel Shaw)
Persia Pirotta (Stephanie De Landre)
Draco Anthony (Reginald Chase Crews)
Referee Blair Baldwin (Paige Prinzivalli)
Vish Kanya (Sanjana George)
Mila Milani (Kellie Morga)
Raelyn Divine (Jaylen Williams)

The releases were first reported by Fightful.

Fightful reports that WWE asked Bivens to re-sign with the company this February, but Bivens made it clear that he didn't want to do so. Bivens was the manager of NXT's Diamond Mine faction.

[Big Red Machine]

STOKELY IS FREE!

[Thelone]

Eh, the only mild surprise is the vague Lesnar lookalike considering the hype around him when he signed, but I assume he (and the other newer guys/girls on the list) just wasn't impressing/improving much.

Lumis is getting up there in age and while he plays the silent psycho really well, it also has a limited shelf life and he's been that character for almost eight years.

I've always enjoyed Hathaway (back when he was just the sign guy for RD Evans and Moose's manager in those Future of Honor shows in ROH), but I guess he didn't feel like being the new Drake Maverick on the MR (or be stuck as a manager in NXT).

As for Kai, the more time passes, the more I feel like we have kind of a "lost" generation of female wrestlers who can't seem to get over no matter where they are, even smaller places like Impact and AEW.

[cero2k]

Eh, the only mild surprise is the vague Lesnar lookalike considering the hype around him when he signed, but I assume he (and the other newer guys/girls on the list) just wasn't impressing/improving much.

Lumis is getting up there in age and while he plays the silent psycho really well, it also has a limited shelf life and he's been that character for almost eight years.

I've always enjoyed Hathaway (back when he was just the sign guy for RD Evans and Moose's manager in those Future of Honor shows in ROH), but I guess he didn't feel like being the new Drake Maverick on the MR (or be stuck as a manager in NXT).

As for Kai, the more time passes, the more I feel like we have kind of a "lost" generation of female wrestlers who can't seem to get over no matter where they are, even smaller places like Impact and AEW.

With the latter three, while your reasons are exactly correct, the surprising thing is that they were all somewhat still being used just last week, they're not names that had been fizzled out or that had nothing going on for them



well, i mean, as surprising as 'wwe firing people for no reason' can be anyway

[Thelone]

With the latter three, while your reasons are exactly correct, the surprising thing is that they were all somewhat still being used just last week, they're not names that had been fizzled out or that had nothing going on for them

Looks like they all put people over on the way out at least, but WWE doesn't seem to care too much about fully wrapping things up anymore. Like, didn't Aleister Black come back from injury and attack Big E to start a program, only to be released mere days later?

well, i mean, as surprising as 'wwe firing people for no reason' can be anyway

It's not against you personally, but shit like this is why I understand Vince's stance about "not listening to certain internet fans because they'll bitch and moan no matter what we do". WWE has too many people under contract? They're stockpiling talent so they don't go anywhere else. WWE trims the fat? Such greedy monsters for releasing people even though they do record profits (dUrInG a PaNdEmIc). Even if tomorrow, Vince randomly decided to "share the wealth" with everyone in the company (either by signing hundreds of talents or giving giant raises/status/benefits to his existing team), they'd still find new reasons to fed bad and act like he's the reincarnation of Satan.

Going back to that list here, we have two people who didn't want to sign a new contract apparently (Bivens and Kai), Lumis who they didn't seem to have plans for, and the rest falls into the new "if you haven't improved during the last six months, you're gone" rule. That's hardly "throwing darts at a board and fire whoever they landed on".