WWE Reportedly Cuts 10 From Developmental Pipeline: Champions, Prospects and Referee Out

WWE’s developmental pipeline just got hit with a serious round of cuts, and this one reaches way beyond a handful of rookies who never made television.

WWE reportedly parted ways with 10 people from its developmental system on September 4, with the departures stretching across NXT, Evolve, WWE LFG, WWE ID and the Performance Center. The reported names are Jasper Troy, Wendy Choo, Adriana Rizzo, PJ Vasa, Zena Sterling, Anya Rune, Braxton Cole, Marcus Brown, Ellen Akesson and referee Gary Wilson.

Fightful reported the full group as the names began surfacing Friday evening. PWInsider separately confirmed Troy’s departure, according to POST Wrestling. The reported cuts appear focused on developmental talent, with no corresponding main-roster releases reported as part of this round.

WWE has not issued a public statement covering the entire group. Several of the people involved, however, acknowledged their exits through social media or referenced the familiar 30-day waiting period before they can begin accepting outside wrestling bookings.

Wendy Choo is easily one of the most recognizable names here. She signed with WWE in 2019 and spent years proving she could handle whatever character shift developmental threw at her. Fans saw her work as Mei Ying, reinvent herself as the pajama-loving Wendy Choo and later take that character into a much darker direction.

Choo wasn’t just hanging around the system waiting for something to happen, either. She challenged for championships, captured the Evolve Women’s Championship in April 2026 and was reportedly being used as a player-coach on LFG. When somebody with that much time, versatility and responsibility inside developmental gets released, people are going to notice.

Then there’s Jasper Troy. The former college football player won the inaugural season of WWE LFG and went on to capture the WWE Speed Championship. On Friday, Troy posted “30 Days” alongside a black heart, immediately putting his status under the microscope before reports confirmed his departure.

That’s what makes this batch of releases different. Choo had years invested in WWE. Troy won a company-produced competition and held WWE gold. Neither accomplishment guaranteed another day in the building.

Adriana Rizzo’s departure is another rough one. NXT viewers knew “Big Rizz” as part of Tony D’Angelo’s on-screen family, but a serious knee injury stopped her momentum and forced her into a long recovery. She recently made it back to competition, only for that comeback to end before WWE gave it much room to develop.

PJ Vasa also confirmed her exit publicly, thanking WWE for bringing her into professional wrestling and including “#30Days” in her farewell. The former rugby player had been featured across multiple seasons of LFG before moving into Evolve.

Zena Sterling, Anya Rune and Braxton Cole were also connected to WWE’s growing developmental ecosystem. Marcus Brown and Ellen Akesson were especially new Performance Center recruits who had not yet made official in-ring debuts, according to Fightful.

The reported release of Gary Wilson shows this wasn’t limited to wrestlers. Wilson had worked as a referee in WWE’s developmental operation since 2022.

WWE has spent years widening the front door. College athletes, international prospects, reality-show contestants, WWE ID recruits and traditional wrestlers can now enter the system through more routes than ever. Evolve and LFG created additional places for prospects to train, perform and get evaluated.

But here’s the other side of that setup: more prospects means more competition for a limited number of spots. WWE can identify an athlete, bring them into the Performance Center, put them on a developmental program and decide to move on before a large portion of the audience even knows who they are.

For Choo, Troy and Rizzo, the lesson is even colder. Television time, championships, character investment and years in the system can help a talent move forward, but none of it guarantees the company will keep that talent in its plans.

No main-roster departures have been reported in connection with this round, but that doesn’t soften what happened at the developmental level. Ten people saw their WWE runs change course in one night, and now the next move belongs to them.

Some could resurface in TNA, AEW or on the independent scene. Others may take their careers in completely different directions. Until they announce those moves themselves, anything beyond that is speculation.

The WWE developmental system is built around opportunity, competition and constant evaluation. This week, ten people got the harshest reminder of what that last part really means.

Sources: Fightful and POST Wrestling/PWInsider reporting.