F4WOnline has confirmed that Joey Styles was released by WWE last week.
Prior to being released, Styles served as WWE’s Vice President of Digital Media content. He transitioned to a behind the scenes role for WWE.com in 2008 after a lengthy career on commentary for both ECW and WWE.
The release comes at an interesting time after Styles took part in a noteworthy Facebook Live Q&A with WWE broadcast correspondent Cathy Kelley in late July.
Styles was outspoken in the session, and even jokingly speculated that it would be the reason he would be fired. During the Q&A, Styles spoke candidly about why WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has felt the need to push Roman Reigns as a babyface, not liking the name of the WWE Universal Championship, and other topics. Video of the Q&A was later taken down.
Styles is most famous for anchoring ECW broadcasts during the company’s heyday, and he later served as a member of the commentary team for both Monday Night Raw and WWE’s ill-fated ECW revival.
In an interesting note, Chris Harrington discovered that Styles registered his wrestling name as a trademark in 2013.
News that Styles had been released was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet.