By Chris Walters on June 25, 2004 at 10:24 PM EST

Morale backstage continues to drop due to the company's direction and lack of payouts. Not only is wrestler morale low, the morale among others involved in production and such is also very low. Many employees in WWE's production staff and other capacities have left the company recently or plan to leave soon. They simply have decided to take their services elsewhere. The names we are aware of as of just recently are creative team Dominick Pagliaro, who's last day was at Tuesday's SmackDown! taping. WWE diva Rue DeBona, who hosted Afterburn and was seen numerous times on Heat with Josh Mathews, also asked for her release after her contract expired. From what we have been told, she was thrilled that they let her go because she had no intensions of re-signing with the company if she was asked. Two of Kevin Dunn's production guys have also left as well. That's not all though, as a high level employee who handled travel for WWE also left the company just recently. We have also heard rumors that Jacqueline was also released from her contract. These are just some of the names behind the scenes that are leaving WWE to pursue other options.

WWE demands heavy work weeks from their employees but right now, they are not paying out well. The fact that WWE releases financial statements each quarter touting the huge amounts of money the McMahon's take home only makes matters worse. Wrestlers are also upset about how low house show and PPV payoffs have gotten. Many feel trapped though, since WWE is really the only "big game" in town if you can only work in the wrestling industry.

We'll keep you posted, but it's safe to say that many backstage in WWE are hoping things work out for TNA as it can be considered a second option.

Three More Names Leave WWE; Don't Believe Us? Click HERE!

Credit: PWInsider.com