7 Implications Of Stars Quitting WWE Early

Why are so many wrestlers choosing to leave WWE?

Cody Rhodes Cage
WWE.com

In a move that surprised many members of the WWE Universe, Cody Rhodes requested his release from World Wrestling Entertainment over the weekend. 

After 10 years of hard work and good service the son of a son of a plumber has handed in his notice, and cleared up any confusion there may have been regarding his departure with a transparent explanation as to why he was done.

Whilst Cody's departure is surprising to some, he isn't the first World Wrestling Entertainment employee to pack up their bags and walk on home by choice. The most high-profile example in recent times was CM Punk, who decided back in 2014 that the game simply wasn't worth playing anymore. 

2016 has seen a few more popular performers rumble their way to pastures new. Wade Barrett was released earlier this month, and it was fairly well-known that this came by his own choosing as opposed to the company deciding to get rid. Barrett asking for his release also coincided with Ryback being sent home from TV, which he followed up with a statement regarding his status and his frustrations with the company.

Why are these superstars in prominent positions upping sticks and leaving the wayward ship? What are the conclusions we can draw from their departures? 

Here are 7 implications we can take from superstars quitting WWE early.

7. The Wrestling Business Is In Good Health

Cody Rhodes Cage
lucha underground

In 2001, Vince McMahon purchased World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, and all of a sudden the wrestling industry went from booming to almost bust. Sure, independent promotions existed, but WWF and WCW (and to a much lesser extent ECW) had held such sway in the industry that the smaller companies existed on a different planet to a degree.

This meant that if an individual was released by one of the big two companies, the drop off in pay and exposure was going to be huge. It would be easy to assume that the companies duelling it out in the Monday Night Wars (plus their extreme little cousin) were the only options.

Fast forward to 2016, and this clearly isn't the case. The internet has opened up pro wrestling fans to the wider graps world, and a whole hot of promotions now exist with greater profiles than ever before. Sure, the difference in pay and exposure may still be there, but it is no longer a drop from 'doing okay' to 'non-existent'. If Cody Rhodes continues to wrestle, wrestling fans will be fully aware of this fact.

In this post: 
Cody Rhodes
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.