10 WWE Superstars Who Have Been Released The Most
Golden Handshake Dust.
WWE made enemies of themselves for the umpteenth time this past week, brutally releasing a raft of talent amidst an economic climate that precludes pretty much all of them from finding work for the foreseeable.
For most, this is a simply horrific situation with no apparent light at the end of the tunnel. That sense of hopelessness is completely understandable. However, a handful of the names callously let go have been through this experience once before - albeit in drastically different circumstances. Luke Gallows, Curt Hawkins and Maria Kanellis have all previously received the dreaded 'future endeavours' text. It doesn't make this week's news any easier, but at the very least they may be hardened to the blow - and can offer support to their colleagues.
Obviously, this set of dismissals is in no way congruous with WWE's historic sprucing - except for the degree of spite on display. Vince McMahon has never let sentiment get in the way of his business savagery. However, the fact these individuals were fired twice means that, at some point, they were re-hired.
Hard as it is to remember given WWE's current well-earned enmity, they've also traditionally offered second chances. Sometimes even third chances.
The examples of the following men offer at least a glimmer that, when all this is over, some of the departed may yet have a place to return.
10. The Godfather (3)
Maybe it's fitting that a man who was once WWE's chief voodoo practitioner was cursed with a patchy employment record with the company.
Charles Wright had many opportunities to make it in Stamford, largely thanks to his close friendship with office favourite The Undertaker. It took a long time for one of them to stick. His first real stab came as the loa Papa Shango, a witch doctor whose dark arts could send men with a constitution even as hearty as The Ultimate Warrior's into convulsions. Though the macabre character was clearly cool, it was that exact angle which had executive Pat Patterson lamenting the decay of the business. The gimmick was exorcised - and with it, Wright.
When he returned in 1995, it was with a significantly more realistic character - too realistic, in fact. Kama, The Supreme Fighting Machine, was a 'legitimate' shoot fighter who merely drew attention to his colleagues' phoniness - especially as he wasn't particularly threatening himself. Inevitably, his path crossed with 'Taker, but besides reforging the urn as a spangly gold chain, the programme didn't amount to much, and he was once more let go in 1996.
After a WCW offer gone south meant Wright did not, he once more reappeared in WWE in 1997. Though initially a bruiser for the Nation of Domination, under The Rock's leadership he gradually tuned into his most - and arguably, only - successful character: The Godfather. It'd sustain his WWE career, ironic PTC jibes notwithstanding, until his third and final release five years later.