The past two years have seen more cuts than ever as the COVID 19 Pandemic goes on. Just recently, WWE added eight more names to the now 80 cut stars. Talent such as Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick, John Morrison, Jaxson Ryker, Shane Thorne, and the remaining members of Hit Row were released from their contracts on November 18.
The same day these cuts were made, WWE superstar Xavier Woods participated in a live stream on the newly revived G4 when he appeared to receive a message on his phone that saw him get up and temporarily leave the stream. You can see a clip of the moment below:
Xavier Woods finds out about releases live on G4 pic.twitter.com/7jnaZMj2nt
— Shawn (@s__carson) November 19, 2021
After a week of speculation that he left in reaction to the cuts, Xavier Woods confirmed so while speaking with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport. “Yeah, it sucks, dude. It sucks because those people are my friends, and some of those guys didn’t even get a chance to have a match on TV. So, it always sucks hearing that news. I saw that floating around too, somebody sent it to me, and I legit didn’t take a second cause I knew we still had an hour left to live stream. That’s my job, I have to do my job, but I also have to check on my friends and make sure people are okay. And I’m not trying to say like, ‘Me, me,’ like no, it’s just, obviously, it happens. It’s a job, it happens everywhere, but it doesn’t make it suck any less when you’re not working with your friends anymore.” (H/T sescoops.com)
Of the stars that had been released, Hit Row had only appeared on the main roster a handful of times before they were let go. Before being drafted, Tegan Nox had previously been in a tag team with Shotzi Blackheart but had not seen a match as a singles star. Shane Thorne had not been used at all since leaving the Retribution faction. Jaxson Ryker is reported to have heat and was not liked, so that may have contributed to his firing. Since his split with the Miz, John Morrison had been minutely utilized, but his release was still the biggest shock added to the list.
