WWE Releases Megathread: Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, Shelton Benjamin & More

[Kemo]

WWE has started the first round of talent releases after completing their merger with UFC under TKO Group Holdings earlier this month.

The two combat sports giants officially completed their merger on September 12. The new entity known as TKO Group Holdings made its stock market debut soon after at the New York Stock Exchange.

The merger, however, also brought some grim news for many employees as it resulted in mass layoffs only days after. Dozens of employees were released in the divisions which were considered redundant after the two companies merged together.

The layoffs didn't stop with office employees only. As expected, the promotion has begun laying off some of the on-screen talents as well.

So far 9 WWE stars have been confirmed to have been released from the company as listed below. Stay tuned for updates on more names as we confirm them:

• Dolph Ziggler
• Mustafa Ali
• Shelton Benjamin
• Top Dolla
• Elias
• Riddick Moss
• Rick Boogs
• Dana Brooke
• Emma
• Aaliyah
• Mace
• Mansoor
• Quincy Elliot (NXT)
• Bryson Montana (NXT)
• Dabba-Kato
• Shanky
• Yulisa León
• Daniel McArthur
• Bryson Montana
• Kevin Ventura-Cortez

A number of WWE superstars have taken up their social media to react to the mass layoffs. Australian star Emma who had been looking forward to competing at the Elimination Chamber event in Perth that was announced earlier today reacted to it while replying to one of her older posts:

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Riddick Moss addressed fans who believed that his career took a dive after Triple H became head of creative. He claimed that his match fee actually went up after The Game took over:

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Elias reflected on his crazy WWE career in his first tweet since WWE release. He mentioned some of the highlights of his career in the company including his WrestleMania moment with John Cena and Undertaker, and said that it's been a blast:Th

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'The Gold Standard' Shelton Benjamin thanked the WWE staff, talents, and fans. He said that he is looking forward to the next chapter of his life:

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Shawn Spears had high praise for Dolph Ziggler and called him out for a match.

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WWE Hall of Famer and former World Champion, Kurt Angle, praised Shelton Benjamin and nodded to their time together as Team Angle in the early days of Benjamin's main roster run in WWE.

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Current Impact Knockouts Champion, Trinity, simply used a hashtag and an emoji to heap praise on Dolph Ziggler.

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John Cena chimed in on the release of Dolph Ziggler as well and commented on Ziggler having over 1,400 matches in WWE.

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[TKO]

Kind of shocking in a way, but not really I guess I guess Dolph is the most fucking shocking though

[TKO]

Top Dollar fired

NXT cuts coming at 5 et

[TKO]

Quincy Elliott
Dana Brooke
Mansoor
Mace
Bryson Montana

Not majorly shocking, I guess maybe man

[TKO]

Shanky and Yuliya Leon also

[mrluck_07]

Kind of shocking in a way, but not really I guess I guess Dolph is the most fucking shocking though

Yeah, I was shocked by the Dolph one. He was the WWE Ironman. BTW could you weigh in on my most charismatic undercard and mid-card WWE wrestlers thread?