Report: NXT Star Released Due To ‘Work Ethic’ Issues

Report: NXT Star Released Due To ‘Work Ethic’ Issues NXT

News has emerged on the reasoning behind WWE’s recent decision to release several NXT names, specifically Bodhi Hayward.

As previously reported, WWE released Bodhi Hayward, Sloane Jacobs, Erica Yan, Damaris Griffin and Ru Feng on November 1, 2022.

As per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the reasoning behind these releases has seemingly been attributed to a ‘lack of progression’, although there was more to the story in Hayward’s case.

Meltzer reported the following:

“All the people who were dropped, the main reason was lack of progression. They felt that they were not improving fast enough. That’s going to be the case. They’re gonna be cutting people at the six-month mark, at the one-year mark, and things like that, if they’re not progressing at a certain level. And anyone who doesn’t get to TV within two years will probably be cut. So we’re gonna get regular developmental cuts.

“But with Bodhi Hayward, he was the one where it was more than that. They didn’t like the work ethic, and they didn’t like that he was late for shows, and didn’t show up at shows or something.

“The primary reason for everyone was lack of progression, but for him it was a little bit more than that. It had to be enough to overcome the fact that he was actually in a storyline that was a long-term storyline, and that the crowd liked him, which is always a good sign. You wanna keep guys that have a good look and the crowd likes. But it was not enough in their minds for him.”

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Bodhi Hayward was the most prominent name to have been released. Hayward signed with WWE in 2021 and had featured as part of Chase University with Andre Chase and Thea Hail.

A storyline had been playing out over the past couple of weeks where Duke Hudson had joined Chase U as an ‘exchange student’ and he and Hayward had issues between them, but that element of the storyline had to be abruptly dropped due to Hayward’s release.

In a backstage segment on the November 1 edition of NXT following the news, Bodhi Hayward’s former faction members, Chase and Hail, made a reference to Hayward, saying it ‘seemed like something was missing’ from the group. Hudson then burst into the room and started waving the Chase U flag like Hayward used to do.

Andre Chase also referenced Hayward’s release and publicly thanked him for his dedication to their partnership, in a post on his social media.

Hayward also took to social media himself and said that he was “hurt” and “embarrassed” following his release.

The full list of WWE names released in 2022 so far can be viewed right here.

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1 year ago by Laura Cude

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