WWE Rumors on Roster Pay Cuts, New Day, Shane McMahon Backstage and Danhausen's Clone's Identity

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Latest Updates on Roster Pay Cuts

In the wake of WWE's annual post-WrestleMania roster cuts, much has been made about talent asked to take a pay cut to avoid being released.

Per Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Cain A. Knight of Cageside Seats), the total number of wrestlers who were asked to take a cut in pay was "less than half a dozen" and none of them were viewed as high-end superstars.

"They were not the high end players and were people that creative had tabbed little interest in going forward and thus the idea is they could remain under contract while their in-ring aspect of their career would be phased down," Meltzer wrote.

There were 23 names on the initial wave of roster cuts announced on April 24. A few days later, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods released statements confirming they were released.

It was subsequently reported that the New Day duo were part of a group asked to take a 50 percent cut in pay, but declined to do so, leading to their departure from the promotion.

None of the additional names asked to take a pay cut have been revealed, though that would seem to indicate they accepted the offer because they didn't get released.

The releases are presumably over now that things have been reset following WrestleMania, with new stars like Oba Femi, Ricky Saints, Fatal Influence, Sol Ruca, Ethan Page and Blake Monroe getting promoted to the main roster from NXT.

Shane McMahon's WWE Status

Shane McMahon is reportedly not part of WWE's active roster despite a recent change to the WWE.com superstar page.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), McMahon's status remains the same as it has been and there is no expectation things are going to change.

The topic came about after fans recently noticed McMahon's picture and profile were listed under the active roster page on the official WWE website.

WWE has made recent adjustments to its talent page, with superstars like Oba Femi, Brie Bella, Paige, AJ Lee and Danhausen listed as free agents.

McMahon has not been actively involved with WWE since 2022 after being let go in the wake of controversy about his role in booking the men's Royal Rumble, particularly putting himself in the match, eliminating Kevin Owens and being one of the final three participants with Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntyre.

Minihausen's Identity Revealed

The mystery of Danhausen's tag team partner at Backlash was revealed on Saturday, with Minihausen emerging from a cloning machine box.

Per Mike Johnson of PW Insider (h/t Carrier), the Danhausen clone was played by Mascarita Sagrada in his return to WWE.

Mascarita Sagrada previously worked for WWE from 2014 to '16 when he was known as El Torito as part of the Los Matadores stable.

Saturday marks the second appearance for Sagrada on a WWE-produced show in the past eight months. He was in the Lucha Showcase eight-man tag match at the Worlds Collide event co-produced by WWE and AAA on Sept. 12.

Sagrada, La Parka and the Aztec Warriors defeated the LWO, Lince Dorado and Mini Abismo Negro.

Saturday was Sagrada's first appearance on a WWE premium live event since WrestleMania 31 in March 2015. He and Danhausen scored a win over The Miz and Kit Wilson at Backlash.