Ikemen Jiro released by WWE

  • Ian Carey
  • By 

Another WWE wrestler has been released. 

Ikemen Jiro is now gone from the promotion, as first reported by PWInsider. Jiro had been with the company since December 2020 but hadn’t appeared on NXT since late 2022. Jiro primarily wrestled on episodes of Level Up and at NXT house shows. 

Jiro joins the following names who were also released on Thursday:

  • Dolph Ziggler
  • Mustafa Ali
  • Shelton Benjamin
  • Dana Brooke
  • Mace
  • Mansoor
  • Emma
  • Riddick Moss
  • Top Dolla
  • Rick Boogz
  • Elias
  • Aliyah
  • Dabba Kato
  • Shanky
  • Quincy Elliot
  • Yulisa Leon
  • Kevin Ventura-Cortez
  • Alexis Gray
  • Brooklyn Barrow

Jiro briefly formed a team with KUSHIDA in NXT known as Jacket Time before KUSHIDA departed the promotion in April 2022. The team went 2-6 on WWE programming. 

Before signing with WWE in 2020, Jiro got his start wrestling for Yoshihiro Tajiri’s Wrestle-1 promotion in Japan, having debuted for the promotion in 2014. 

Our own Dave Meltzer addressed WWE’s decision-making process regarding talent cuts in today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

Meltzer wrote:

The key to the releases were talent making main roster money but not being used on the main roster and with the idea that they were not going to be used in the future.

“It’s time in vs. how much money you are paid vs. return on investment,” said one WWE official regarding the talent cuts.