Exclusive: Two Recent Releases Viewed As “Head Scratchers” By Those Within NXT

Two of the recent group of releases have been viewed as “head scratchers” by those within NXT.

Yesterday, several WWE superstars were let go from their contract, with NXT being hit significantly in this round of cuts. For the most part, the NXT talent let go were regulars on NXT Level Up.

However, there were some NXT regulars, including Mustafa Ali and Ikemen Jiro. Ali was consistently on NXT programming as a free agent in the 2023 WWE Draft, with a Premium Live Event match coming up at No Mercy with North American Champion Dominik Mysterio.

Bodyslam.net spoke to multiple sources in NXT and the feeling going around is that in particular, Ali and Ikeman Jiro’s releases have left those who work on the brand scratching their heads in confusion at the decision to cut both names. One source told Bodyslam.net the following:

“That one (Mustafa Ali) and Jiro are huge head scratchers. Ali did everything he was told to do. My guess is his requests to be released finally caught up to him”

“Jiro was a guy who was really over with the NXT crowd. They’d clap to his entrance and cheer the funny stuff he’d do. The fans knew he was a good athlete, but were guaranteed a good time when he showed up.”

While Ali had been a consistent part of NXT television during his time there, Ikeman had not competed on NXT since December of last year. Jiro had however featured on several episodes of NXT Level Up in that time.

Earlier today we broke an exclusive on how WWE may alter NXT Level Up episodes to remove any released stars who may have appeared during recent tapings.

We also broke the news that WWE are stockpiling matches for NXT Level Up ahead of next months double header taping of NXT

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