Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods’ departures from WWE signals a few of the worst fears about TKO being further realized.
There is a lack of commitment to tag team wrestling, because tag teams have long been looked at differently by promoters, as they are more expensive since you have to pay two members of around 10 teams to make a worthwhile functional division. WWE has seen DIY break up and released the Motor City Machine Guns and The Wyatt Sicks. The once-promising SmackDown tag team division has been raided.
Brand loyalty doesn’t seem to hold much weight with WWE’s parent company, or else why are they asking some of their most loyal and creative employees to, as has been reported, restructure their rather new contracts when the company is making money? This is the same company that released Nic Nemeth and told R-Truth it was initially not going to renew his deal.
Older, established wrestlers usually make the most money, so they logically become the first targets for cuts, which is no different than many businesses. When you are running a business on profit margins, it makes more sense to fill the roster with talent from NXT than it is to keep some veterans. But you need people to work with them, mold them and help them get over, something New Day is very capable of doing. But the lack of house shows means WWE can work on a much thinner roster than years past and moving older talent to NXT or AAA would likely come with some sort of pay cut anyway.