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Dutch Mantell Claims WWE Is on the Verge of Being Sold

Posted: May 1st 2020 By: Connor Casey - ComicBook.com

"Dirty" Dutch Mantell worked in the pro wrestling business both as a wrestler and a booker for decades. So when the man formerly known as Zeb Colter says something, people tend to listen. However wrestling fans were left scratching their heads this week when Mantell made the bold claim on Twitter that he had heard via unnamed sources that Vince McMahon was on the verge of selling the entire WWE, not just the WWE Network or its pay-per-view streaming rights as had been previously confirmed by McMahon, to either ESPN or FOX in the coming months.

HUGE NEWS: Any truth to this. Overheard directly out of @WWE Stamford is that a deal is being negotiated to sell WWE & the network to @ESPN and @FOX by as early as Mid May," Mantell wrote.

While Mantell certainly has the connections in the business to hear about something as massive as that, he doesn't have a history of trying to break insider news. And since nobody else of note is making that claim, it has to be taken with a grain of salt for now.

To compensate for the money lost during the coronavirus pandemic, WWE began a series of cost-cutting measures back on April 15 that resulted in more than 30 active wrestlers getting released, while numerous office employees, backstage producers, announcers, referees, coaches and on-air talent were either fired or furloughed.

Here's a full list of every wrestler who has been released:

Rusev
Drake Maverick
Karl Anderson
Luke Gallows
EC3
Curt Hawkins
Heath Slater
Eric Young
Lio Rush
Aiden English
Sarah Logan
Erick Rowan
Primo
Epico
Mike Kanellis
Maria Kanellis
Zack Ryder
No Way Jose
Deonna Purrazzo
Aleksandar Jaksic
MJ Jenkins
Dan Matha
Alyssa Marino
Taynara Conti
Nick Comoroto
Cezar Bononi
Tino Sabbatelli
Kassius Ohno (Reportedly)
Mohamed Fahim
Marcos Gomes
Faisal Kurdi
Hussain Aldagal
Yifeng (Rocky)
Cain Velasquez

And here's the full list of every backstage producer/referee/writer who have either been released or furloughed:

Kurt Angle
Shane Helms
Lance Storm
Billy Kidman
Mike Rotunda
Dave (Fit) Finlay
Pat Buck
Sarah Stock
Shawn Daivari
Scott Armstrong
Mike Chioda (Referee)
Andrea Listenberger (Writer)
Chris Guy (Performance Center Trainer)
Serena Deeb (Performance Center Trainer)
Kendo Kashin (Performance Center Trainer)
Jerry Soto (Spanish Announcer)
Josiah Williamson (Interviewer)
Jon Quasto (Announcer)
Gerald Brisco