The season of the turk comes to WWE

 It's been a week since Wrestlemania, and all the attendant drama in and out of the ring. On Friday, WWE had its annual spring cleaning, and a lot of fans are displeased over some of the cuts:

Nikki Cross=3 time tag team champion, former women's champion.

Zoey Stark=had recently been activated from the disabled list, but instead of going back to NXT to prep for a return to the main roster, she gets cut. Not a good look, but WWE has cut wrestlers while injured before.

Alba Fyre=With tag partner Piper Niven on the DL (neck), Kay Lee Ray, the former NXT UK women's champ, was left as a bodyguard for Chelsea Green, wasting her talent.

Joe Gacy=Being part of the Wyatt Sicks saved his career, and he won a tag title, something he couldn't do in NXT.

Bo Dallas=The Wyatt Sicks was his way of honoring his late brother, Bray Wyatt, but getting injured hurt even more than he knew. Also, the Wyatt Sicks' feud with the MFT's was sabotaged politically.

Andre Chase=I believe he'd also been a coach at NXT, especially after Chase U was dissolved for the final time. Mostly a JTTS without the faction. Won a tag title in NXT.

Erick Rowan=Former tag team champion (with the late Luke Harper) was brought back, only to be cut a 2nd time.

Dexter Lumis=Won a tag title as a member of the Wyatt Sicks, but if WWE needs a graphic artist, maybe they'll bring him back.

Dante Chen=Got a modest push in NXT, only to have that stopped, and had last been in Evolve.

Kairi Sane=This hurts the fans more than anything. 2-time tag team champ as 1/2 of the Kabuki Warriors (w/Asuka), and was in the middle of a story arc that would break up the team if allowed to continue. Judging from reddit, Kairi has a lot of fans, and why not? 2nd time in 5 years she's been cut.

Aleister Black & Zelina=A year ago, Black returned from AEW to reunite with his wife, but instead of being pointed toward the US or Undisputed titles, where he would've had some stellar matches, uncreative kept ignoring him after losing a feud with Damian Priest.

Motor City Machine Guns=Former tag team champs with WWE & TNA, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin will resurface soon, either in TNA, AEW, or Major League Wrestling.

Apollo Crews=One of the longest tenured of the talents cut, former US champion, mostly used as jobber fodder of late.

Santos Escobar=Former cruiserweight champ in NXT, had just returned, but sidelined again (biceps) while with AAA.

Luca Crusifino=The breakup of NXT's D'Angelo Family faction saw Crusifino move to Evolve. Never fully resolved his issue with current NXT champ Tony D'Angelo.

Malik Blade=Had moved to Evolve after tag partner Edris Enofe left a while back. Largely treading water.

Trill London

Sirena Linton

Tyra Mae Steele=Was the 1st season women's champ on LFG, had a couple of matches in NXT, then moved to Evolve, and disappeared.

Chris Island

Tyriek Igwe

Tyson Dupont=The High Ryze (Dupont & Igwe) seemed to disappear after Wes Lee (Dezmond Xavier) left for TNA, then AEW.

Trill London, Sirena Linton, & Chris Island were all WWE ID signees in the Peformance Center, and never got TV time on NXT.

Chief Creative Officer Paul Levesque (Triple H) has to share the blame with his corporate overlords at TKO Holdings, as some of the above were in active storylines or regularly featured. After New Japan star EVIL (Takako Watanabe) signed earlier this week, the cuts were made to move some money around. Many of the above talent will resurface in due course, but this wave of cuts gave fans more reason to hate on WWE/TKO, as if they didn't already have enough reason.

Meanwhile, Smackdown is reloading after taking some of the hits. The Fatal Influence faction arrived last night, with Blake Monroe (FKA Mariah May in AEW) and Ricky Saints (Starks) due soon. Rumors have Watanabe heading to either NXT or the main roster.

And after several wrestlers talked about being hassled by overzealous fans last weekend, well, the ones cut won't have to worry about that for a while. Maybe.