WWE Firing Talent During Pandemic Voted Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic At WON Awards - TheSportster

At the 41st annual Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, AEW came out on top. WWE, on the other hand, won several ‘worst awards,’ including Worst Major Wrestling Show for WWE Super ShowDown on February 27 from Saudi Arabia, Worst TV Show for Raw and Worst Promotion.

The most damning award, however, was for Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, which won WWE won “firing people during a pandemic during a year where they were setting profit records.” Although the promotion claims that it was unable to stage shows during the pandemic, the firings date back to mid-April when the pandemic was still in its infancy.

By April 16, WWE had fired 22 wrestlers, 10 producers, three coaches, two announcers, a referee, a member of the creative team and two on-air talents, all reportedly “necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic." Among those fired were Karl Anderson, Kurt Angle, Aiden English, EC3, Epico, Luke Gallows, Curt Hawkins, No Way Jose, Sarah Logan, Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, Primo, Erick Rowan, Rusev, Lio Rush, Zack Ryder, Heath Slater, and Eric Young.

However, as the pandemic was spreading, WWE reassured its investors of its “substantial financial resources, both available cash and debt capacity, which currently total more than $0.5 billion, to manage the challenges ahead.” In fact, according to a study by Brandon Thurston of @WrestleNomics, if WWE hadn’t run another live event in 2020, it “would still report record-setting profits in 2020, with an operating income of $121 million and total revenue of $927 million—largely supported by continued TV rights fees.”

Needless to say, fans have not been happy with WWE’s response to pandemic, something that is evident given the promotion’s drop in viewership in recent months. In 2020, WWE’s flagship show Raw lost around two million viewers compared to 2015. When asked, Vince McMahon claimed the drop was due to storylines, apparently ignoring the fact that he is the chairman of the company.

Most fan responses to WWE’s firings took aim directly at McMahon, with @KyleNotGuile tweeting, “Vince McMahon is worth 1.7 billion dollars. Most of that worth is tied into WWE's stock value. WWE is still making most of their income. Everyone getting fired is to prevent future losses on the stock value. Despite them being able to afford them currently. F*ck Vince.”

The WON Awards, which cover performances from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020, are voted on by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which includes fans and pro wrestling professionals.

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Mark Lugris (254 Articles Published)

Mark Lugris is a Contributing Writer at TheSportster. After graduating from the University of Connecticut, he's worked as a lifestyle and technology writer and editor for the past twenty years in Boston, Madrid and Zurich. Now, he's chosen the less stressful life of freelance writing at home with his dog, where he can focus on his pop culture passions like film, television, games and sports.