Every WWE Superstar Released In 2021 (& Where They Are Now)

In 2020, shortly after the pandemic had taken hold, WWE released more than 40 Superstars and employees. Rather than let go of that many people all in one go, this year WWE has been spreading its roster cuts out a little more. Citing budget cuts as the need to let them go, WWE has wished 41 Superstars well in their future endeavors so far, welcoming one of them back and also sending 16 non-wrestling employees packing too.

2021's cuts started all the way back in January. That's when news that Lars Sullivan was no longer a WWE Superstar broke, and it's also when Big Show's more than 20-year stay with the company came to an end. WWE then focused on building to WrestleMania after that, only releasing Andrade in the meantime, and that's only because he asked to be let go.

Updated on October 19, 2021, by Shawn S. Lealos: WWE continued its roster cuts as the year wore on and let some more big names go, some of them quite surprising. While the company often let people go who they felt were no longer marketable, they released two of their biggest stars for different reasons in Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt, and then released one of the most successful NXT Champions in history. When WWE rebranded NXT, it brought further releases of several talents that fans thought had bright futures and WWE kept changing as the year wore on. There haven’t been many years in WWE history where the company changed as drastically as it did in 2021.

Updated on November 8, 2021, by Josh Coulson: The cuts just keep on coming in WWE. A list that was more than 40 wrestlers long increased to more than 50, and now includes 71 different people. 18 more now-former WWE Superstars were wished well in their future endeavors at the tail end of last week. Apparently, the majority of them were told they were losing their jobs due to budget cuts. Meanwhile, WWE announced $256 million in revenue for its most recent quarter. The most surprising names on the latest list of 18 were Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, and Nia Jax. The full list of everyone who has been released so far by WWE in 2021 can be found below.

Updated on November 19, 2021, by Josh Coulson: The releases just keep on coming. WWE took its grand total for the year up to 79 on Thursday, November 18 when it released eight more Superstars. The details regarding who was released, along with everyone else future endeavored by the company so far this year, can be found below.

Updated February 15th, 2022 by Danny Djeljosevic: After several rounds of cuts and a shocking number of wrestlers released from their contracts with WWE, the dust has settled for now. Two months into 2022, many of those cut from the roster have waited out their 90-day noncompete clauses, and are beginning to resurface in other promotions if they haven’t already. Since it’s temporally impossible for WWE to release more talent in that year, it just might be time to talk about where some of these 2021 releases are finding new homes, with special attention paid to the other major North American promotions: All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling.

The First Big Batch

The first big batch of releases didn't take place until April 15, 2021. Ten Superstars were let go including Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Samoa Joe, who has since been hired back by NXT. If you're struggling to recall which releases happened when - this batch is the one where Mickie James revealed she was sent the belongings she left behind at WWE in a garbage bag.

It was more than a month until the next batch of releases, this time courtesy of NXT. However, between those two dates, Daniel Bryan left the company. Velveteen Dream and Alexander Wolfe were among the May 19 releases. Kavita Devi was also listed but has since confirmed she wasn't let go and her role within the company has just changed.

Braun Strowman And Aleister Black

Two weeks later, WWE announced the smallest but perhaps the most shocking group of released Superstars so far in 2021. While only six people were cut on June 2, it could be argued that all of them seemingly had potentially bright futures in WWE. The most shocking names that were shown the door were Braun Strowman and Aleister Black. Strowman had been in a WWE Title match on a PPV just a few weeks prior, and Black had been repackaged and re-debuted on SmackDown.

That brought us all the way up until June 25. Rumblings on Twitter that more releases were coming started early in the day, and eventually those rumblings were confirmed to be true. Most of the names to make the list in this latest round of cuts were from NXT. The likes of Tyler Breeze and Marina Shafir. However, 205 Live was also dealt a heavy blow. The purple brand's roster is almost empty right now, but apparently, WWE will continue on with the show.

Bray Wyatt

One of the more shocking releases came on July 31, when WWE released Bray Wyatt from his contract. Wyatt was one of WWE's biggest stars, a wrestler who put a lot of creativity into his roles, and someone who was a true attraction. However, WWE chose to cut the wrestler and replaced him in storylines with Alexa Bliss, who was a side character in his journey before. This was also right before WWE cut ties with Nature Boy Ric Flair.

NXT 2.0 Prompted A Ton Of Releases

Up next was the gutting of NXT. After shedding a lot of talent in NXT in June, it was time for WWE to finally break down and rebrand NXT into something completely different. This was when WWE chose to rebrand it as NXT 2.0, where they got rid of a lot of the indie star talent on the roster and replaced them with young up-and-comers and hopefuls, making NXT a developmental brand again.

While they kept a few stars like Tommaso Ciampa, Roderick Strong, and Johnny Gargano, they got rid of a lot of good wrestlers. This included the departure of former tag team champion Bobby Fish, former NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed, Diamond Mine member Tyler Rust, women's superstar Mercedes Martinez, and more. Also leaving the company when his contract expired was Adam Cole, a two-time NXT Champion.

Keith Lee And Karrion Kross Join The Cuts

Most fans would have hoped the releases from NXT back in August would have been the last batch of the year. That was sadly not the case. Rumblings that more releases were coming started to circulate on Twitter on November 4, something that has become all too familiar this year. Later that day news started to filter through of the names who had made the latest list. Mia Yim, Karrion Kross, Eva Marie, and Lince Dorado were all on there. 18 more Superstars in total who will now be looking for work elsewhere. Or at least they will be once their non-compete clauses have come to an end. The names have been added to the list below which is now 71 wrestlers long.

Just two weeks after the 18 Superstars above were let go, WWE swung the release axe again. Eight more wrestlers were shown the door including Tegan Nox, John Morrison, and the remaining three members of Hit Row. All eight names have been added to what is now a very long list below.

It's Finally Over

By the time you read this, 2021 will have come to an end. Before the curtain came down on the year, WWE added more names to its long list of released Superstars. Jeff Hardy, whose departure remains shrouded in mystery, and Toni Storm. While Hardy was definitely released, initial reports suggest Storm quit WWE, and less than a week after she competed for the SmackDown Women's Title.

*AEW Making Full Use of Undervalued Stars

Every set of releases comes with a good helping of fan speculation on who Tony Khan will scoop up and sign to AEW. Over the course of 2021, AEW signed Andrade El Idolo, Malakai Black (a.k.a. Aleister Black), Ruby Soho (a.k.a. Ruby Riott), 2point0 (a.k.a. Ever-Rise), Jake Atlas, Tony Nese, and Bobby Fish. Most recently, Keith Lee debuted on AEW Dynamite as a new signee following a controversial main roster run that involved WWE changing Lee’s already-popular theme music repackaging the former NXT Champion as Keith “Bearcat” Lee. Tapings for YouTube shows AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Elevation have also seen appearances from other released stars including Marina Shafir and Ariya Daivari.

* Impact Wrestling Finds A New Voice, New Talent

JONAH (a.k.a. Bronson Reed) in Impact Wrestling

While the past several years pre-2020 saw WWE snap up myriad performers from Impact Wrestling, the huge number of releases that followed have allowed Impact to build up an incredibly strong roster. Released in early in 2021, Steve Cutler debuted for Impact in the middle of the year as Steve Maclin and appears to be a rising force in the company. Already holding gold in the company are Knockouts Champion Mickie James and Knockouts Tag Team Champions The IInspiration (formerly known as The IIconics). One of the more surprising releases in 2021 was former NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed, who’s already made a splash in Impact as JONAH. But on top of all that, Impact gained released commentator Tom Phillips, who’s now lending his play-by-play duties to the show under his real name of Tom Hannifan.

* Some Talent Is Still MIA

Currently, there’s still a question as to where some major names will end up. One of the most shocking releases was, of course, Bray Wyatt, and there’s no word yet on where he’ll show up, while other notables like Braun Strowman, Karrion Kross, Ember Moon, and Isiah “Swerve” Scott have been starting to work indie dates. For many of those names, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before they enter the Impact Zone or are announced as All Elite.

A full list of every Superstar and member of staff released so far in 2021 can be found below:

WWE Superstars Released In 2021

Lars Sullivan
Big Show
Steve Cutler
Andrade
Mojo Rawley
Wesley Blake
Bo Dallas
Kalisto
Tucker
Chelsea Green
Mickie James
Peyton Royce
Billie Kay
Samoa Joe
Daniel Bryan
Alexander Wolfe
Ezra Judge
Skyler Story
Vanessa Borne
Jessamyn Duke
Velveteen Dream
Santana Garrett
Buddy Murphy
Lana
Braun Strowman
Aleister Black
Ruby Riott
Matt Martel
Chase Parker
August Grey
Tony Nese
Ariya Daivari
Marina Shafir
Arturo Ruas
Tyler Breeze
Fandango
Curt Stallion
Samir Singh
Sunil Singh
Tino Sabbatelli
Killian Dain
Bray Wyatt
Ric Flair
Leon Ruff
Stephon Smith
Jake Atlas
Ari Sterling
Desmond Troy
Zechariah Smith
Asher Hale
Giant Zanjeer
Kona Reeves
Tyler Rust
Mercedes Martinez
Bronson Reed
Bobby Fish
Keith Lee
Mia Yim
Nia Jax
Karrion Kross
Scarlet Bordeaux
Oney Lorcan
Ember Moon
Franky Monet
B-Fab
Jessi Kamea
Gran Metalik
Lince Dorado
Trey Baxter
Zayder Ramier
Jeet Rama
Katrina Cortez
Harry Smith
Eva Marie
John Morrison
Tegan Nox
Isaiah Scott
Ashante Adonis
Top Dolla
Shane Thorne
Jaxson Ryker
Drake Maverick
Jeff Hardy
Toni Storm

Announcers, Writers, And Other Employees Released In 2021

Joe Villa
Mead Rust
Nicole Zeoli
Mark Carrano
Jake Clemons
Drake Wuertz
Jaylar Donlan
Adnan Virk
James Wortman
Makham Nolan
Jay Rosenstock
Brian Pellagatto
Dan Humphreys
Susan Levison
Tom Phillips
Kenice Mobley