From insane ticket prices to, well, quite bizarre, show-of-show swaps.

I am Gareth, you are watching What Culture Wrestling, and here are eight ways TKO has ruined

WWE.

Number eight, releases somehow get even worse.

The release process within WWE had gotten so brutal before

the TKO merger that one of the worst days in company history for it became part of a recent

grim law. Black Wednesday became shorthand for just how little the market leader cared for talent, calling back to April 15th, 2020.

The day hundreds of wrestlers and staffers were released or furloughed by a company simultaneously

declaring record profits. Lovely. I do remember that day. Wow.

The ills of the pandemic were at the heart of both these issues. The company had

saved a fortune on costs in light of how little they could do, but talent being let go had

hardly any options of where to go to work for the very same reasons. It showed a naked lack of

humanity from the top down, particularly as people the world over grappled with very

similar strains and stresses, and returning to pro wrestling and other hobbies like it for much

needed distractions? Half a decade later, and the release of Luke Ridge Holland, Menzies,

brought some brand new ugly conversations to the fore. Holland was injured while wrestling in TNA in September 2025 on behalf of WWE, and earning

NXT money, a sizable cut from what he generated on the main roster, then revealed the company

would not be renewing his contract when it expired in November.

This despite injury keeping him out of the game at least until early 2026.

Now, historically, WWE has added time to deals in order to, A, get every last cent from the talent,

and B, stop them going elsewhere.

But Holland's reveal of this information allegedly expedited his exit,

...