Timothy Thatcher recently made his AEW debut. The former NXT star battled it out with Bryan Danielson, which was a dream match for many fans of old-fashion technical wrestling.
The match featured excellent mat work and some exceptionally hard strikes. Thatcher looked strong in his debut but was quickly hit by the Running Knee and pinned for the three count.
Timothy Thatcher lost his AEW debut but the American star impressed many fans. A wide range of fans online were very pleased with his debut, with most fans being shocked that he is not British – both because of his wrestling style and his last name.
He was let go alongside Danny Burch, a British wrestler who spent years in WWE’s developmental. The releases were unexpected but not surprising.
WWE had been on a series of mass releases over the past two years. They let go big stars like Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt as well as a complete restructuring on NXT.
The release of Timothy Thatcher was one that disappointed fans but there was a very good reason for – although through no fault of Thatcher’s own.
Why Did WWE Fire Timothy Thatcher?
Timothy Thatcher was revealed to have been fired due to WWE’s changing philosophy regarding talent, Dave Meltzer revealed.
He revealed that while he did great in WWE as the submission-style partner of Tommaso Ciampa, Vince McMahon had no intention of utilising his talent on the main roster.
Thatcher was seen more as a legitimate wrestler and less of a “sports-entertainment” style of performer that McMahon likes. He had no future on the main roster and since the defeat to AEW in the ratings way, Vince no longer had the patience to prop up the “Super-Indie” version of NXT.
“Thatcher and Burch’s days were known to be numbered because of the company’s change in philosophy on talent. Both were good wrestlers, and Thatcher was very unique in his role as Toothless Timmy, the buddy of Ciampa doing a shooter/hooker/submission expert gimmick.
But neither were people the company was interested in for the main roster and when the emphasis of NXT changed from being a third brand built on good matches, more serious storylines and more of a sports feel and developmental, to pure developmental, good wrestlers who weren’t thought to have main roster charisma weren’t going to be kept around.”
Dave Meltzer on why Timothy Thatcher was fired by WWE
NXT was moving away from it’s plan of hoarding the best talents on the indies and instead focusing more on homegrown talent.
The company previously found great heights on the backs of stars like Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Adam Cole. They had some of the best wrestlers in the world, with WWE fans tuning in to see some of the top stars from across the globe.
However, after the “Wednesday Night Wars” against AEW ended in embarrassment, Vince McMahon gutted NXT and started the new NXT 2.0. This involved focusing on original talent who had not wrestled outside the company and building them up in the WWE image.
Timothy Thatcher was one of the victims of these cuts. Other big releases by WWE at the time included Danny Burch, Road Dogg, Scott Armstrong and William Regal – Regal has since returned to the WWE when Triple H took over as the head of creative in WWE.