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I want to thank everyone who sent emails. As I noted on social media, I ended up catching COVID visiting with family on Christmas Eve and have been out cold pretty much since 12/28. It's been a rough few days, so thanks for your kindness. I am way behind on emails so please don't think I'm ignoring you.
For those who have asked, Kevin Dunn is retiring. He was not asked to leave and was not fired. He told the company over Christmas week he was done. There was a push to have him stay through The Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania and he preferred a clean cut and is done effective immediately. I can not overstate the importance of his exit and anyone who is downplaying it or acting like it's not a massive deal, whether Dunn was liked or not, is being completely oblivious and honestly, pretty stupid.
Last night's WWE live event at the KIA Forum was structured to get talents done and out so they could head to LAX for red-eye flights home, something like that likely may not have ever been done regularly for anyone but main eventers under the Vince McMahon regime. That's why the steel cage match and World Heavyweight title matches were on so early and the card was so haphazard as opposed to a more traditional WWE build up over the night. It was all designed to thank the talents for a week of hard work by getting them back ASAP. Talents really appreciated it and one joked it was a "Home Alone 2" experience as one by one they were all racing for and through the airport to get to their flights.
The CM Punk vs. Dominik Mysterio bout in LA was said to have been "much better" than the NYC match. Rancid's Lars Frederikson, a longtime Punk friend, was ringside in LA. Our own Mike Epsenhart was in LA and praised the bout and anyone who knows him knows you don't get praised easily.
There's an expectation internally that Andrade will be back with WWE as soon as Monday. He was advertised for at least one GCW event for 2024 and no longer is.
Charlotte Flair's knee surgery is scheduled for around the week of 1/3-1/5 in (I'd expect) Birmingham, Alabama.
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