7 Most Shocking WWE Superstar Releases Of 2017

Pretty much everyone on the WWE payroll not named Roman Reigns probably wakes up two or three times a night to check their phone for news that they've been made unemployed.

The company is seemingly ruthless when it comes to trimming its wage budget, so much so that it regularly announces batches of releases at the same time, in what is often depressingly referred in news reports to as a "clear-out".

You can't really blame Vince McMahon for trying to cut costs, to be fair, but part of the time it seems like he's shown the wrong employees the exit door; guys and girls that still appeared to have much to offer being kicked to the curb like yesterday's rubbish.

A common theme this year was performers who actually requested their own release in order to pursue new endeavours, a trend that was started in 2016 when Cody decided that his future was best served jet-setting around wrestling's growing independent circuit.

Whilst this development is probably a source of concern for management - particularly with Neville on the brink of departure - it must be a source of comfort for those who are given the chop. Contrary to popular belief, there is life after WWE.

It seems silly to say now, given how well Alexa Bliss eventually took to the role, but about 18 months ago many were predicting that Eva Marie could be tasked with spearheading the SmackDown women's ranks as the division's top heel.

This stemmed from a couple of factors, the first being that she seemed to be one of the few women drafted to SmackDown who looked capable of playing what you might refer to as a natural heel. She also appeared to command a lot of backstage support, her superiors seemingly convinced she possessed the raw tools to go all the way to the top.

But things turned sour incredibly quickly thereafter. Marie was suspended by WWE for a wellness policy violation in August, and culled from the upcoming SummerSlam card as a result. From that, she never really recovered, for reasons that aren't entirely clear.

Reading between the lines, it's possible that the 33-year-old simply decided of her own accord that wrestling was no longer for her. Instead, she appears set on pursuing a career on the silver screen, something that has gone well for a handful of her contemporaries.