Steve Cutler’s Release Reportedly Related to COVID-19; Vince McMahon Was “Livid”

Yesterday’s news of Steve Cutler’s release by WWE was reportedly at least partially due to him contracting COVID-19 after attending a New Year’s Eve party, which made Vince McMahon “livid,” according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo, who is dating Cutler, said that she and Cutler tested positive for COVID-19 in early January and they “had no symptoms but took all precautions necessary.”

.@SteveCutlerWWE & I had tested positive for COVID, the beginning of January. We had no symptoms but took all precautions necessary.

Thanks for the well wishes but we are healthy and in good spirits. When one door closes, another opens. ❤️

— The Virtuosa (@DeonnaPurrazzo) February 5, 2021

The Observer says that Cutler attending a New Year’s Eve party and contracting COVID made Vince McMahon “livid” when he heard about it and appeared to be the reason for his release. Cutler was around several wrestlers backstage, and McMahon had promised a few wrestlers like Roman Reigns that there would be a safe environment for them.

Cutler was at the “big man training class” at the Performance Center on the day he was fired, the Observer says.

Cutler and Wesley Blake returned in December as King Corbin’s “Knights of the Lone Wolf” but the angle was dropped after Cutler tested positive for COVID.