WWE Releases Curtis Axel
Is this a sign that more WWE releases are to be announced?
Ever since WWE made a huge number of cuts on April 15 – a day that is already being referred to as Black Wednesday amongst wrestling circles – there have been constant rumblings that there are still more WWE releases yet to be announced. And now, the company has announced that Curtis Axel has left WWE.
Having trained under the tutelage of Harley Race and Brad Rheingans, Joe Hennig – the son of the legendary ‘Mr Perfect’ Curt Hennig and the grandson of the likewise legendary Larry ‘The Axe’ Hennig – joined WWE in 2007 as a 26-year-old work-in-progress.
After spending three years in the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental system, Hennig got his big break on main WWE television at the 2010 Hell in a Cell PPV when he and Husky Harris joined The Nexus.
The highlight of this third generation star’s time with WWE was likely his five-month reign as the Intercontinental Champion in 2013. It was during this period that Joe Hennig dumped the awful Michael McGillicutty name, became a Paul Heyman guy, and took on the Curtis Axel moniker as a way to pay homage to his heritage.
In the years since that IC Title run, audiences have seen AxelMania running wild, have been treated to the delights of The Social Outcasts, saw The Miz get his Miztourage, and then saw Axel and Bo Dallas’ B-Team act bring the Minnesota native a second stint as a WWE Tag Team Champion.
The last time that we saw Curtis Axel on WWE programming was on the February 28 edition of SmackDown. There, he lost to Daniel Bryan as part of the burgeoning rivalry-turned-friendship between Bryan and Drew Gulak.