WWE slammed for 'tone deaf' segment after releasing more than 20 superstars

WWE fans have called a segment from Monday Night Raw 'tone deaf' following on from the mass releases in the company.

Off the back of WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, more than 20 wrestlers have been axed by the WWE - with their contracts either not renewed or cancelled by the professional wrestling company.

The brutal move has become an annual tradition following on from WrestleMania, with stars from Raw, Smackdown and NXT all moving on to pastures new.

The releases came to light this past weekend, with the entire Wyatt Sicks faction - comprising of Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, Dexter Lumis, Nikki Cross and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy), the Motor City Machine Guns tag team, Kairi Sane, Zoey Stark, Apollo Crews, Santos Escobar, Zelina and Aleister Black just some of the high-profile departures.

Raw went ahead as planned at the Sames Auto Arena in Laredo, Texas on Monday and saw the official debut of Joe Hendry, who announced his arrival with a live, in-ring concert where he took aim at Logan Paul.

The Scot mentioned names of his fellow main roster talent before singing the lyric, "Can we fire Logan Paul?" and getting the whole crowd to join in.

The humour led to Paul and his tag team partner Austin Theory angrily making his way to the ring to go after Hendry, who was backed up by the Street Profits.

However, some viewers took issue with the signing off of a performer calling for another superstar to be fired given that a significant amount of wrestlers had just been given the boot.

One fan on X fumed: "Ah yes, segment about firing people, 2 days after releasing over 15 wrestlers. Most tone-deaf company in recent history."

A second commented: "Bad faith, if it was done at really another time it would have been fine."

A third added: "Making a joke about firing someone days after firing more than 20 wrestlers. Stay classy, WWE!"

A final user wrote: "A segment about firing people just three days after mass firings. Talk about tone deaf."

Full list of WWE stars released

• Kairi Sane
• Aleister Black
• Zelina
• Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas
• Nikki Cross
• Santos Escobar
• Motor City Machine Guns
• Dexter Lumis
• Apollo Crews
• Rowan
• Joe Gacy
• Andre Chase
• Zoey Stark
• Alba Fyre
• Tyra Mae Steele
• Sirena Linton
• Tyson
• Tyriek
• Chris Island
• Malik Blade
• Trill London
• Luca Crusifino
• Francois Prinsloo
• Carlee Bright

Normally, those released from the main roster are required to adhere to a 90-day no-compete clause, with those on NXT unable to work elsewhere for a 30-day period.

In the case of those with contracts expiring, they enter free agency as soon as their deal is done.

Many current WWE superstars expressed their sadness over the situation, which is said to have come about as a way to make room for further signings as per Fightful.

Chief content officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, president of WWE, Nick Khan, and WWE's talent relations team are said have been the key decision makers in the process.