In a post on Reddit’s r/squaredcircle, user WaitingonNetwork crunched the numbers on WWE’s current main roster. Looking at the last two weeks of television and not counting existing injuries, WWE has 49 wrestlers under their employ who haven’t competed in that time period.
To be fair to WWE, the list can be whittled down even further by removing names such as The Big Show (semi-retired), Rhyno (on his way out), and Aiden English (shifted to 205 Live commentary). Even with that reduction, there are still quite a few wrestlers left on the sidelines. Names like Shelton Benjamin, Apollo Crews, and Curtis Axel have barely been factors on TV in months, but there are more notable entries on the list.
The current RAW Tag Team Champions (Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins) are a part of the list, as are the recently called up Viking Raiders. Kairi Sane, who formed a tag team with Asuka just a few weeks ago, is also now without TV time, even as the IIconics appear regularly with the new Women’s Tag Team Belts. Buddy Murphy, the former Cruiserweight Champion who lost his belt at WrestleMania, has been gone from TV since his defeat.
In the past, you’d usually say that WWE has some sort of plans for these seemingly idle talents, but today’s environment throws that into question. With the implementation of the Wild Card rule, both shows are seeing some of the same wrestlers appear over and over, a problem that the brand split is supposed to fix. With the rise of better competition making cutting talent an undesirable outcome as well, it will be interesting to see how WWE tries to correct this seemingly stacked roster.
