During a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, John Cena was asked about WWE releasing so many wrestlers in the last couple of years.
Here’s what the 16-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion had to say:
“There’s a lot to unpack. When I started at WWE, the WWE had just absorbed WCW and ECW and also had two developmental territories and the rosters were abundant, is probably a good word.
When I started in the WWE there were releases twice a year and it created stakes for developmental talent and it created stakes for talent to try to make a name for themselves.
We just knew that on a calendar year shortly after WrestleMania and either before or after the holidays there would be cuts. That seemed to stop right around when we began to redefine ourselves with our Ruthless Aggression style of characters. Me, Brock [Lesnar], Randy [Orton], Dave [Batista].
When those guys began to anchor in and develop a program going forward into the next decade and more and we started to expand our reach, we started to have more programming, the talent roster started to get big.
I think a lot of it might have been a little slightly defensive hiring because there was and still is a giant boom right now in sports entertainment. People are absorbing this content, they are engaging. People are making a name for themselves outside of the WWE. It’s no longer a one-stop shop.
I think with its flux of passionate people who love sports entertainment, people do get a name for themselves outside of WWE and if the WWE feels that maybe they can be a fit in that world, they’re gonna try to give that person a shot.
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