wrestling / Columns
Top 7 Most Surprising WWE Releases
Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
Nothing generates discussion amongst wrestling fans quite like WWE releases. We’ve seen this phenomenon surface again recently, specifically with the releases of R-Truth, Carlito, and presumably more to come. UFC fans can tell you that it’s what TKO ownership does, they don’t care to pay people based off their past returns instead of their potential for the future. It’s a cold way to look at it, but it’s the way most successful & unsuccessful businesses seem to operate.
Fans & WWE Superstars seem especially dismayed by the release of R-Truth, who has been with WWE since 2008 and was always a reliable source for comic relief. Most WWE fans always reacted positively to R-Truth’s segments on TV, and live audiences were always happy to see him. He was also vastly popular in the locker room, as seen by his former co-workers’ response to his release on social media. We always see it to a certain extent, but the reaction to R-Truth leaving is beyond anything I’ve seen in recent years. Sure, R-Truth is a little up there in age & closer to the end of his career than the beginning…but it’s R-Truth!
It’s fair to say that R-Truth’s release was surprising, which gives me an excuse to do a list that is nearly impossible to narrow down. So many people have come & gone from WWE over the years, most on multiple occasions. Which releases were the most surprising? I’m going to list my seven most surprising WWE releases with the full knowledge that yours will be different. That’s the nice thing about the Internet, we’re allowed to agree & disagree peacefully and no one ever gets mad about it.
7. Daniel Bryan (2010)
Many of us had a great deal of interest in how Bryan’s WWE career would play out, as he had gained a hardcore fanbase during his time in Ring of Honor and other promotions across the world due to his status as the “best wrestler in the world”. Bryan went through the NXT losing streak gimmick, but it still seemed like WWE had plans for him given the TV time he got on that show and his interactions with folks like the Miz & Michael Cole. He re-emerged along with his fellow NXT wrestlers as part of the Nexus and was part of a savage beating of John Cena & destruction of the ringside area at the end of an episode of Raw. It got over pretty well and people had high hopes for the Nexus…until Bryan got fired a couple of days later.
Bryan had gone a little over the edge during the segment, including choking ring announcer Justin Roberts with a tie. Some of WWE’s sponsors really didn’t like it, so WWE temporarily appeased them by firing Bryan. We were all shocked & appalled. This had the side effect of releasing him to work with independent wrestling organizations again pretty much on the spot. The intention was always to bring Bryan back, and fortunately there was enough interest generated by Bryan’s dismissal to explain things away to the sponsors. The only real downside was it hurt the Nexus’s potential as a top heel group. Bryan would have been the one doing most of the work in their matches, which would have been helpful for a group largely consisting of green wrestlers that needed more experience & leadership. It still worked for a period, but I feel that Bryan’s inclusion would have given the Nexus more longevity.
6. Bobby Lashley (2008)
Speaking of guys that did look like the prototypical top star, Lashley checked most of the boxes there. His promo ability never really got there, but he always looked and carried himself like a champion. It wasn’t tough to see what WWE saw in him, and they featured him in some major events early in his career. Lashley was even selected by future President Donald Trump to take part in the Battle of the Billionaires match against Vince McMahon’s representative, Umaga. The match was a major part of the success of WrestleMania 23, and in retrospect an early indicator that Trump could connect with a larger demographic than some believed. This led to a feud between Lashley & Vince on the ECW TV show that at least got Lashley some attention and a chance to get over on the boss. It seemed like Lashley was in store for bigger things, but after getting injured shortly after being moved to Raw he was released in early 2008.
As it turned out, Lashley was more interested in moving to the MMA world at that time, and did that for awhile before stints in TNA & an eventual return to WWE in 2018. TNA was more open to Lashley being a part-timer while pursuing his MMA goals. It still came as a pretty big surprise because it seemed like WWE was grooming Lashley to be a top star with them for years to come. Fortunately, John Cena was still around then and no other top stars were needed.
5. Braun Strowman (2021)
Given how the past few years have gone for the Monster Among Men, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that Braun Strowman defeated Bill Freaking Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36. It was right at the beginning stage of the pandemic, there weren’t any fans or even fans on screens in a ThunderDome to it. It still happened, and Braun went on to feud with his old friend Bray Wyatt afterward. Braun was kind of the prototype of what the old WWE regime saw in a top star, being the kind of guy that stood out in an airport due to his utter massiveness. He had a good connection with the crowd too, who bought him as a threat to pretty much anybody. In his final days of his first run with WWE, Braun was even feuding with Shane McMahon, another one of those guys we used to see as untouchable.
What happened was that Braun was making too much money. The WWE brass didn’t see enough of a return to justify it, and Braun was among several people who were cut so the company could increase their profit margin & impress the shareholders. Bray Wyatt was also part of this group and his release also came as a surprise, but somewhat less so as it was clear that the writing team had no idea what to do with Bray at that point. Braun would return about a year & a half later, but injuries curtailed much of his second stint and his current contract won’t be extended.
4. Matt Hardy (2006)
Matt Hardy makes his first appearance in Ring of Honor after his WWE release at ROH Fate of An Angel (2005) @MATTHARDYBRAND pic.twitter.com/kl7q0RhHcs
— jacob (@LeanyMcMeany) April 6, 2025
I often feel old while writing these things, and the fact that this drama happened almost two decades ago makes me feel ancient. I was a youngish whippersnapper writing news columns on this very website when the news broke that Matt Hardy got fired by WWE for one of the strangest reasons I could recall. Matt got mad on the Internet after his girlfriend Lita cheated on him with his friend Edge and typed a lot of things that he probably shouldn’t have typed. Fans were sympathetic to Matt since he was the wronged party, and they grew outraged when Matt was fired over the matter while Edge & Lita continued to work and get pushed. I can see why WWE would be more concerned about tea being spilled in public than whatever their workers do in their hotel rooms, but it was still an odd reaction by WWE that didn’t go over well with most of the fanbase.
Eventually somebody came to their senses and realized that they could probably make some money off the situation by having Matt feud with them on TV. Matt was only out of WWE for three months and ended up getting some independent bookings out of the deal. Meanwhile, Edge & Lita’s act as heels ended up taking Edge to the next level and made him one of the company’s biggest stars for the next several years. It was a rough time for everyone involved, but I’d say they all ended up in better places once it was over. Matt certainly had the bumpiest road of the three, but it doesn’t seem like he has many complaints today and he definitely causes less trouble.
3. Kurt Angle (2006)
From the moment Kurt Angle debuted on WWF television at the 1999 Survivor Series, he was presented as one of the company’s top guys. Not only was he a top in-ring worker that had some of the most critically acclaimed matches in WWF/E history, but he was one of the most entertaining personalities on Raw & SmackDown and could play any role that was needed. He won every male singles championship within his first year on television. Angle did a lot of different things during his time in WWE, and with a couple of exceptions pretty much everything got over. Anything Angle touched could turn to gold.
Angle was a hard worker, and his style led to a lot of injuries. As we know, Kurt won an Olympic gold medal in 1996 with a broken freaking neck, so it’s not like professional wrestling brought this upon him. He was used to powering through the pain in his amateur days and continued doing so after turning professional, until he couldn’t do it without a lot of pharmaceutical help. Angle concluded that he couldn’t continue the grueling schedule WWE had at the time and asked for his release. Shortly afterward Angle signed with TNA Wrestling, which had a lighter schedule.
Angle leaving WWE was shocking enough. Given what was reported about his departure, his move to TNA made it even more so.
2. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan & The Iron Sheik (1987)
Ol’ Hacksaw became one of the most popular wrestlers in the country during his time with Mid-South Wrestling. That’s where Duggan developed most of the characteristics that he would keep for the lion’s share of his career, including carrying an American flag and/or 2×4 wherever he went. After a few years in the Mid-South, Duggan made his way to the WWF and immediately became a favorite of the fans there. Duggan started feuding with Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik, as all good patriotic wrestlers of the time did. It seemed like big things were in store for Jim Duggan in 1987, but things took a bit of a turn.
On May 26, Duggan was pulled over on his way to a WWF event, as a police officer suspected that he was driving under the influence. As it turned out, Duggan was influenced by alcohol & marijuana at the time. Not that I’m excusing such a thing, but Duggan probably wasn’t the only wrestler driving to that WWF event under the influence of alcohol & marijuana. What got Duggan in real trouble with the office was his being caught, along with who was the passenger in his car…the Iron Sheik. Sheiky happened to be under the influence of cocaine during this trip, which was a normal thing for him at that point. The fact that they were caught driving together while feuding on television was the bigger issue with their bosses, and both were dismissed from the WWF. Duggan would return a few months later while Sheik was off to wrestle elsewhere until 1991.
Considering the upward trajectory that Duggan seemed to be on and the shock that WWF fans had to feel when they heard that Duggan & Sheik were travelling together, this still rates as one of the more surprising events in wrestling history. Of course, here in 2025 and even a few years after 1987, nobody would have cared about the second part.
1. Bret Hart (1997)
I got mad at myself while realizing that yet another #1 entry on a list I made would have something to do with Montreal. As much as your humble correspondent is tired of everybody talking about the Screwjob, I can’t quit doing it myself. I should probably be seeing a therapist about this, but instead I’ll remind everybody else of the situation heading into Bret Hart’s release from the WWF.
1997’s WWF programming was largely centered around the Hitman and his relationships with other Superstars, which led to varying responses amongst the fans. If Bret wasn’t holding the WWF Championship, he was among the top contenders and usually got more television time than the Champion did. Bret was a little too convinced that whatever he did was right, and that his opponents were wrong and the company was stacking the deck against him. Bret also grew annoyed by his American fans accepting Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and others that he saw as less-appropriate role models than him as heroes. The rest of the world where WWF ran live events & aired their TV shows still seemed to be on Bret’s side, especially his home country of Canada. Bret mended fences with his family and the new Hart Foundation became the WWF’s most popular heroes in Canada and their most despised villains in the United States. Things were running…well, I can’t say “smoothly” because there was plenty of backstage drama with Bret, Shawn and people choosing sides between them, but the WWF seemed to be on the right track to mount a stiff challenge to WCW’s spot on top of the wrestling business rankings. There was only one problem: WWF was still in a tough spot financially, and Vince McMahon felt that he wasn’t going to be able to afford the long-term contract that Bret had signed in 1996. To settle this issue, he agreed to release Bret from the contract and allow him to sign a lucrative deal with WCW that would at least be better for Bret in the short term.
Putting aside all the backstage issues and the events that unfolded after the deals were made, it was still shocking to wrestling fans at the time to see Bret Hart get released by the WWF barely a year after signing a contract that would tie Bret & the WWF together for twenty years. Not to mention the fact that Bret had been heavily featured on television since re-signing and there were no real signs of him going anywhere. It just went to show that there were no such things as “untouchables” in the world of wrestling. As it turns out, there still aren’t.
Thanks for reading! Hit me up at [email protected] or on the social media with thoughts, comments or suggestions. Feel free to hit the comment section and tell us about WWE releases that surprised you more. Until next time, true believers!
