10 Awesome Wrestlers Who Left WWE FAR Too Soon
Kairi Sane, Kaitlyn, Austin Aries - who else left WWE before their time?
The brightest stars often burn out the fastest.
World Wrestling Entertainment likes to think of itself as the be-all and end-all of the wrestling world. There was a time when this almost rang true, as the mark of being a successful wrestler was to have your name associated with the promotion.
Now, in 2021, WWE is not the only shop in town.
It often feels like the company's top brass looks at its stars and feels they should be grateful for having the opportunity to work in Stamford. Despite this, there are plenty of times when WWE performers have cut their time with the company short and decided to strike out their own. This is often great for them, as many have transformed their careers in the process, but it's a shame they weren't able to do this within the world's biggest promotion.
Whether it was by choice or not, the following wrestlers ended up leaving the company way before the audience had a chance to see them at their best. It's a real shame, but at least in most cases they went on to take control of their careers, and have seen greener pastures outside of WWE.
10. Colt Cabana (Scotty Goldman)
Sadly for the incredibly talented Colt Cabana, his time with WWE was cut short due to their clear lack of faith in him, and he was gone from the company before he was able to bring any of his signature charms.
Cabana signed with WWE in 2007 after working on the independent circuit for over five years. He floated around OVW and later FCW for some time before making his main roster debut for SmackDown, and instantly loosing to The Brian Kendrick. Sadly, this would become a quick identifier of the kind of career he would go on to have with WWE.
After losing a handful more matches, Colt he was released from the company, having only served under the WWE name for two years, with most of that time spent offscreen.
Anyone who knows of his great work in ROH and beyond is aware that Cabana is an incredibly unique wrestling presence. His focus on witty comedy wrestling could have had a great place in the land of sports entertainment, but it was cut short way before its time. At least fans have his podcast and AEW to get their Cabana fix.