REVEALED: Reason For Post-WrestleMania 42 WWE Releases

In what has become somewhat of an annual occurrence, WWE carried out releases in the aftermath of WrestleMania 42, with 25 confirmed wrestlers being let go by the company on Friday, April 24.

The releases don't appear to have been a shock to the roster as the cuts were heavily speculated amongst talent all week, especially on Friday prior to the releases beginning at 5 pm ET, Fightful Select has reported.

While there has been speculation about TKO making the calls for the releases, Fightful noted that WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE President Nick Khan, and WWE talent relations were the primary decision-makers.

It was noted by WWE sources to Fightful that the majority of the releases were to "make way for new talent", while the possibility of SmackDown reducing to two hours in the near future was another factor. It has been reported by Bodyslam that SmackDown will be switching back to two hours in the next few weeks.

Releases within WWE NXT were carried out as new signings at the WWE Performance Center are expected to be announced soon.

On the main roster, the whole of the Wyatt Sicks, Alba Fyre, Zoey Stark, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Apollo Crews, the Motor City Machine Guns, Kairi Sane and Santos Escobar were released.

Wrestlers let go from NXT were Dante Chen, Tyson Dupont, Tyriek Igwe, Andre Chase, Chris Island, Tyra Mae Steele, Sirena Linton, Trill London, Malik Blade, Luca Crusifino and Carlee Bright.