Between golf and rugby, 456 athletes are being added to the games (plus coaches and support staff); they were looking to cut something that is equally heavy on the head count. Wrestling had 330 participants in London and can't feasibly fund a comprehensive qualifying tournament to pair that down further with all the divisions and classes.

Personally, the better target was damn field hockey, especially men's field hockey (whatever that is). Something like 480 players for that one sport alone.