Summary

A new report has offered more context on why WWE's 2026 round of departures was larger than the cuts made in 2025.

According to Dave Meltzer, last year's smaller number was tied to TKO being early in its run as WWE's parent company and holding back on deeper cuts. He said this year's departures were more of a catch-up, with developmental cuts focused on talent the company did not view as likely long-term projects.

On the main roster side, Meltzer said the decision also came down to which names creative was not planning to use, along with a reduced amount of television time once SmackDown moves back to two hours at the end of the month.

Quote from Dave Meltzer

"The story on the cuts being so many, there's a couple of reasons behind it. What happened is essentially last year, they do cuts every single year, last year because they had basically just taken over the company and they were trying to be good guys and all that, right, so they didn't order a lot of cuts last year. They kind of held back, so it's kind of like a catch-up.

Developmental, they're adding new people to developmental. The people who they figured aren't going to make it, those were the ones cut. So you know.

The main roster cuts, essentially it was two things. Number one, all of the people who were brought up from NXT that got spots, essentially they wanted to remove a similar amount of people and they went to creative. It was creative that made the call as to who. They said like: 'Who are you not planning on using? Who on the roster are you not planning on using? Give us X number of names.'

The number that were brought up and additional names from SmackDown, the reason being SmackDown at the end of this month, not next month, the end of this month, SmackDown is going to two hours. Therefore, there is an hour of less time of television, so therefore there is less time to put as many people on, so therefore there would be additional cuts on the SmackDown side. So that's the story behind the number of cuts."

How SmackDown and NXT affect WWE roster decisions

WWE's move to a two-hour SmackDown gives the company less weekly television time, and Meltzer's explanation points to that as one reason the blue brand was hit harder. If that change holds, roster depth on SmackDown becomes tougher to justify for wrestlers who are already outside regular creative plans.

The other notable piece is the link between NXT call-ups and main roster exits. In practical terms, WWE appears to be balancing incoming developmental talent by clearing space for the wrestlers creative does not expect to use.

Sources

Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio