WWE Black Wednesday 2021 Releases - Where Are They Now?
Mickie James kicks down Forbidden Doors, Tucker's out the window and Joe's still gonna kill you.
WWE released a lot of wrestlers in 2021.
Bringing back the post-WrestleMania cuts in an era where wrestler job security should be the most assured, the market leader has spent an awful lot of time thinning the herd after spitefully warehousing talent during a 2017-2019 signing spree. It’s not on - modern day WWE ruthlessly scythes through a roster they’ve failed to monetise, before boasting about record revenues on investor calls.
It’s normalised corporate cruelty, and it reeks. April 15th 2020 remains one of the more infamous days in WWE history, and think of the gross and grisly ground that covers.
As the world still attempted to adjust to a life gripped by an ongoing global pandemic, the worldwide leader in Sports Entertainment made countless people redundant on the same week they announced record profits with more to come.
It was another move by Vince McMahon to embrace a Mr Burns level of cartoon villainy, as was the move to kick off 2021’s release season exactly one year to the day.
This time, the roster slashes were staggered, but what happened to those fateful few that got the bad news one year after some of their friends had faced the exact same fate?
10. Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe's April 2021 release was undone via returning exclusively as an NXT talent in the summer. A unique situation to say the least, this appeared to denote a divide like never before between the wrestlers under Vince McMahon and Triple H’s purviews.
That too was ultimately short-lived - the 'Samoan Submission Machine' vacated a newly-won NXT Championship ahead of the programme's move to the 2.0 format and he was released again in January 2022.
With his 90-day release served, Joe returned to Ring Of Honor at Supercard Of Honor XV - Tony Khan's first show for the company - then appeared on Dynamite for AEW the following Wednesday.