William Regal & Other Key NXT Personnel Released From WWE

By Mick Robson

Another wave of releases has hit WWE today, this time comprised of those working behind-the-scenes at the WWE Performance Center. As of the time of this writing, no wrestlers have been cut from their contracts. (EDIT- Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch & Hideki Suzuki have also been released.) Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported the releases, along with a statement from WWE which reads:

"With the continued evolution of NXT 2.0, we’ve decided to part ways with some of the staff based in our Performance Center. We thank them for their many contributions throughout the years and wish them the best".

Most prominent among those names is William Regal. Regal served in an on-screen capacity as NXT General Manager, although hasn't been used in the 2.0 re-brand, last seen mediating the contract signing between Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly for NXT Takeover 36. In addition to his on-screen role, Regal was the WWE Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting- a very influential and respected person backstage at WWE/NXT.

Other names let go from WWE were Brian "Road Dogg" James (producer), Dave Kapoor (writer), Scott Armstrong (producer), Ace Steel (coach), Ryan Katz (writer), George Carroll (writer) and Cathy Corino (coach). Most of these people were long-time employees instrumental in the success of NXT as it grew from a developmental to a third brand. Now that NXT 2.0 is a developmental show once again, they were all deemed surplus to requirements.

Thoughts: This is more of a damaging blow to WWE/NXT than many fans realise, especially when it comes to Regal, with many comments of "well, NXT 2.0 doesn't need a GM anyway". Regal's role was so much more important than what we saw on screen, as he had a large hand in scouting and selecting talent from all over the world for years. We wouldn't have had the stacked roster that NXT 1.0 had without him.

You know how Bron Breakker literally broke down the old NXT sign at New Year's Evil? Turns out that was more symbolic than we realised, as this wave of releases is largely killing everything about Triple H's NXT. I really wouldn't be overly surprised to see Paul Levesque on the chopping block next, just to make family dinners really awkward. Regal, Road Dogg and Scott Armstrong were Triple H's "boys", and a name that will probably slip under the radar is Ryan Katz. He was the head writer for NXT during its most acclaimed period.

A sad day for fans of the original NXT (well, the non-game show version). I'm going to go console myself with a tub of ice cream and old NXT Takeovers on the Network.