WWE: Mike Kanellis sends an awesome warning to Vince McMahon

WWE releasing Zelina Vega has sent shockwaves across the wrestling world, and a recently-released wrestler has chimed in with an important warning.

Earlier this year, WWE heartlessly released several wrestlers and backstage employees at the beginning of the pandemic. Former Ring of Honor wrestler Mike Kanellis was one of them.

Kanellis has spoken about his release and his feelings after the way he was released, but, now, he is making headlines for an important tweet in the aftermath of another wrestler’s release.

Zelina Vega was let go by WWE earlier on Friday, with the official announcement coming just minutes after she tweeted that she supports wrestlers unionizing. That tweet led to many fans assuming she requested her release after WWE banned wrestlers from making money using their wrestling names on third parties, such as Twitch. And Zelina is very popular on Twitch.

Kanellis tweeted this about Zelina’s release:

"“This generation of wrestlers won’t stand for the bullshit. One man will not make a fortune off our broken backs anymore.What’s wrong @VinceMcMahon, you feeling the heat from that Biden win? Tick Tock.”"

There’s a very specific reason for Mike Kanellis bringing up the results of the latest election and how they might impact WWE, beyond Vince’s wife Linda McMahon having been the head of a super-PAC to reelect Vince’s good friend Donald Trump.

Andrew Yang promised to sue WWE for classifying pro wrestlers as independent contractors if Joe Biden is elected president, as Yang could get a position where he would be able to pursue such legal action and hold WWE to account.

WWE has long classified wrestlers as independent contractors despite the wrestlers actually qualifying as employees. For example, independent contractors should be able to pursue work wherever they want, but WWE wrestlers are restricted to only working for the company. They cannot work anywhere else.

And now, this ban on generating revenue from third-party sources should be a violation of their status as independent contractors.

Beyond that, wrestlers must pay for their own health insurance for injuries outside the ring and travel. It’s been a long time coming for wrestlers to get their due and be treated with dignity, and maybe Zelina’s release is the latest domino to fall.

So Kanellis’ warning is not without merit, nor is it without cause. He has been one of many wrestlers mistreated by the company. And hopefully, the mistreatment ends soon.