10 WWE Superstars Who Were Lucky Not To Be Released Today

How did Justin Gabriel and David Otunga avoid the bullet this week?

The wrestling business is a very tough industry to make a good living from. On Thursday we found out via WWE.com that they had released at least superstars, one diva and a referee. It wasn't expected, but none of the names were that surprising either. Guys like Drew McIntyre, Evan Bourne and Curt Hawks are all talented wrestlers, but the reality is if you're not in a featured role on television then you're expendable. If you work for WWE you're doing well financially, but there is no second game in town. While companies like TNA Wrestling and Ring of Honor are surviving, a lot of their talent are also working indy shows as ways to make money. TNA had house shows this past weekend with 200 people attending the events. There are many indy shows every weekend that do better than that. They may survive the year, but it's not like they are thriving no matter what they say. What about the ones that survived this latest purge? What makes them any better than the people released today? It's hard to say. That's only something WWE knows. They employ well over 100 wrestlers. They can't push them all or keep them. Releasing them is part of the business. Names on a list like this won't involve those that are a part of Total Divas because that's a show that is very valuable to WWE. There are women on that show and men that they are married to or dating that are going to be safe from any firing binge by WWE simply because they are a part of that show. It's an asset for WWE. There are also guys like Tensai (now known as Jason Alberts) and Alex Riley, who were both wrestling in WWE for years, but are now a part of the broadcast team. They're safe from something like this. Here is a look at ten names that could be released from WWE at any time and could be considered lucky that they were not released by WWE this week. It should be noted that #1 on this list was JTG, but as this was being written he was released by WWE. Poor guy.
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John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.