According to PWInsider, WWE chose to release Bray Wyatt due budget-related reasons, similar to other big cuts, as with Braun Strowman, and not Wyatt asking for his release.
It is being said that as we previously reported that Wyatt was called by John Laurinaitis and informed it was simply a budgetary decision and not something Wyatt had done.
The report notes that the reaction within WWE was stunned would be a massive understatement as he Wyatt and The Fiend character has been a massive hit for merchandise.
There is said to be one source within the company saying that WWE President Nick Khan and CFO Kristina Salen are so “obsessed” with WWE not being being in the red at all with any of the financial ledgers, that even after the most recent financial quarter, there was a big push o cut costs where with previous Executives would have been more lenient.
Others within WWE are said to have noted that Wyatt and Vince McMahon’s relationship behind the scenes ran very hot and cold, and that McMahon has given Khan the ability to run things far more differently than anyone else has historically, with less likely push-back over the idea of cutting a big money contract .
Other sources stated that Wyatt is under a 90 non-compete clause which would end the week before AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view, and how Vince McMahon may have been very “prophetic” about handing AEW other WWE assets as he stated on the Quarter 2 Financial Call.