In recent years, seeing the words “WWE has released ___“ on one’s newsfeed has always been a cause for concern.
“Who got kicked out this time?” “Is this going to be the next big wave of releases?” “Who will even be left?” are all understandable questions to be asked. However, when Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer first announced that Troy ‘Two Dimes’ Donovan, also known as Cole Karter, has been released, it would appear that it was a one-off and that it was due to a “policy issue” rather than the standard budget cuts reasoning.
Donovan, after spending a brief period of time on the indies and even a few primarily Daily’s Place-era AEW tapings, joined WWE in early 2022 after trying out in December 2021 at only 21 years old. After a month of NXT Level Up matches, he joined NXT 2.0 in May, working only two tag matches with Channing Lorenzo and a third with Lorenzo and Tony D’Angelo at In Your House 2022.
Between this release and the conflicting reports of D’Angelo’s potential injury on Saturday, the Soprano’s-inspired stable may have effectively been whacked, at least for the time being.
While it is unknown as to what the ‘policy issue’ in question was, it bears reminding that Donovan is only 22 years old and just started his wrestling career. Being released is a crushing blow for sure, but it is always possible that Donovan, or perhaps Karter again, to get more work and experience with other promotions. Meltzer himself seems to believe that Donovan “may be brought back in a year,” which seems to indicate that the issue is not serious enough to completely burn the bridge between him and WWE.
Though one has to wonder: What will WWE and NXT be like when he is able to return, and how will he fit in? It is at least safe to assume that he won’t be back in mafia attire.
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