Yesterday, WWE announced that Bray Wyatt has been released after not appearing on WWE TV since the post-WrestleMania edition of RAW. There's been a lot of speculation about why he's been M.I.A. for such a long time, but we now have more details on what happened.
Apparently, Wyatt was told by John Laurinaitis that his release was a result of budget cuts (seriously), the same reason given to every Superstar released these past few months by WWE.
According to F4WOnline, Wyatt was planning for an in-ring return later this month and had been booked for a number of upcoming shows. PWInsider adds that Bray was told his release wasn't a result of anything he'd done, and the reaction from those within the company has been described as "stunned," especially as he was a major merchandise seller for WWE.
It sounds like WWE President Nick Khan might have made the decision based on his attempts to keep WWE out of the red, and there were more pushes to cut costs after last week's Q2 financial reports were released. It doesn't sound like Vince McMahon objected, and it's said he and Wyatt have had a "very hot and cold" relationship.
Something tells us Vince has likely blamed Bray for when things have gone wrong with his personas despite the fact the former Universal Champion has always done his best to overcome terrible booking.
We'll keep you updated as we learn more.