WWE will save almost $4 million monthly after the sports-entertainment company announced employee furloughs Wednesday.
Blaming "COVID-19 and current government mandated impacts on WWE and the media business generally," WWE President Vince McMahon announced "headcount reductions" due to a decision "to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately," according to a company press release.
WWE said the furloughs will be temporary, but provided no details.
Asked for details on how many employees are being furloughed, a spokesman for WWE directed the Daily News to the press release, which did not include that information.
Kurt Angle, the former Olympic gold medalist and legendary wrestler who first signed with the company in 1998, was released Wednesday. Angle has been working as a backstage producer since retiring at last year's WrestleMania.
Other wrestlers let go are Drake Maverick (James Curtin), Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers), Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra), Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson), Heath Slater (Heath Miller), Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz), EC3 (Michael Hutter) and Lio Rush (Lionel Green), according to WWE.
Anderson and Gallows both recently appeared in a special Boneyard Match during WrestleMania.
"I'm very fortunate that WWE is still allowing me to compete in the NXT interim cruiserweight title tournament but it's very likely that those will be the last matches I ever have," Maverick said through tears in a video on Twitter. "There's a lot of people I'm not going to get a chance to say goodbye to that I really loved and I really cared about. They made me a better person.
The company will also be reducing "executive and board member compensation," cutting expenses and consulting fees and putting off construction on its new headquarters for at least six months.
Details on salary reductions for executives are also unclear.
WWE estimated that the cost-cutting measures will save about $4 million monthly.
"Management continues to believe the fundamentals of the company's business remain strong and that WWE is well positioned to take full advantage of the changing media landscape and increasing value of live sports rights over the longer term," the press release read.
Despite global coronavirus lockdowns that have shuttered sports and entertainment, WWE live shows returned this week out of the company's performance center in Orlando, Fla., where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has deemed wrestling an essential service.
