Every WWE Release Of 2021 - Where Are They Now? (Five Years Later)

8. Shane Thorne

Then: It was all over for Shane Thorne as soon as WWE put the Slapjack moniker and mask on him as part of the previously-ridiculed Retribution package in 2020. He'd been a mid-tier tag wrestler in NXT, so this was his main roster big break, and it was a disaster. Fans were told that Slapjack was a dangerous, out of control live wire.

Not quite.

Before he was pushed out in November 2021, Thorne saw himself repackaged as a Crocodile Dundee-ish gimmick. According to the man himself, that was his idea - he'd watched Nikki A.S.H become Raw Women's Champion with her superhero character, and thought he could force his way into plans on Raw or SmackDown too.

Now: Shane has been all over the map since leaving WWE. He's been wrestling pretty steady with New Japan, and became one half of the IWGP Tag-Team Champs with Mikey Nicholls. They'd worked as TM-61 in NXT too, but it was as TMDK that both cut their teeth.

Thorne has also worked a couple of matches under the AEW umbrella. He, Nicholls and Bad Dude Tito lost out to The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn at WrestleDream 2023, then he had 2 matches on Collision in June 2024. In 2026, Shane has been showing up here or there on ROH, but the bulk of his work right up until 2025 came over in Japan.

Things didn't go as planned for Thorne when he was playing Slapjack. He's looked back on that time period with frustration. The fact he tanked on the main roster wasn't down to a lack of effort, that's for sure.