Following his release by WWE, a new report has claimed that Malcolm Bivens had been pitched as a potential manager for a Monday Night Raw star.
On April 29th, Malcolm Bivens was released by WWE alongside Dakota Kai, Dexter Lumis and seven other NXT Superstars.
While it was reported that the releases were due to budget cuts, it was also noted that Bivens, previously known as Stokely Hathaway, had no plans to re-sign with the company when his contract expired.
A new report has now offered some more details on potential main roster plans for Bivens as well as the lead up to Dakota Kai’s release.
The report from Fightful Select claims that at one stage Bivens was pitched as a potential manager for Omos before the decision was made to go with MVP. Fellow NXT star LA Knight was also reportedly considered for the role.
With regard to his contract, the report adds that Bivens passed on a “new, restructured contract” after re-signing last year. His deal had been due to expire around the start of 2023.
Meanwhile, Dakota Kai appeared in numerous main roster dark matches before her release but never got the call-up to Raw or SmackDown. According to Fightful, at the time of the Draft in October there was “no solid direction, plan, or firm ideas” for the star on the main roster, and it was unclear whether she would ever get called-up.
Kai’s contract had been due to expire in April 2023, and she had also made it clear that she would not be re-signing.
Another Superstar to be released was Parker Boudreaux, who had been performing as Harland. His departure came as a surprise to many as his signing was greeted with much fanfare back in February 2021.
Harland’s release was said to be due to coaches and officials telling Fightful they felt like he’d not progressed in the ring quite enough for their liking.