Backstage Reactions To WWE Releasing Dakota Kai & Malcolm Bivens

WWE

The backstage reactions to WWE releasing Dakota Kai and Malcolm Bivens have now been revealed.

Kai and Bivens were both let go by WWE in the most recent round of NXT/Performance Center cuts. The departures of these fan-favourites shocked the wrestling world, with many notable names sending messages of support to the released stars.

Per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bivens’ release was a major surprise to the NXT locker room. It was also noted that Kai’s release saw the company receive a lot of negative feedback from women in WWE.

Discussing the contract statuses of Kai and Bivens before they were cut, Meltzer wrote:

We’re told that obviously creative at NXT had no idea about this and were actually working on the continuation of the angle on the day they got the word he was cut. Bivens didn’t sign a recent contract offer from WWE, but his current deal also was said not to be up until 2023. He had been considered at one point for the main roster in the role of managing Omos, the role that went to MVP. But his departure was a major surprise.

“(Kai) also had been offered a new deal and hadn’t signed it, but still, this cut got a lot of private negative feedback by women in the company. It was not a shock as she had gotten tryouts months ago for the main roster and had been written out of NXT, but the decision from the top was not to bring her up.

It had previously been reported that this round of cuts had led to ‘frustration’ backstage.

20 performers have been let go by WWE so far this year. You can check out the full list of WWE releases in 2022 right here.

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