10 Controversial WWE Releases
5. CM Punk, 2014
CM Punk’s departure from WWE made for one of the most high-profile exits of recent years. And though he wrestled his last match in January 2014, his actual release from the company’s books didn’t come until later that summer on a day that just so happened to be his wedding day.
In his tell-all podcast appearance on the Art of Wrestling, Punk revealed that “the day of my wedding, I got a FedEx in the mail. It was my termination papers. I was fired.”
Oh, and the person he was getting married to that day? AJ Lee, who also just happened to be a fellow WWE employee at the time. You stay classy, WWE.
Of course, there was controversy here on both sides of the equation. After all, it was Punk who’d initially walked out on his employers after growing disillusioned with his career in WWE. But even so, for the company to then wait a number of months before informing him of their decision to let him go seemed like questionable timing to say the least.
Naturally, Vince McMahon labeled it a mere “coincidence” while Punk disagreed and called the move “very deliberate.” Even with Punk out of the door, the pair continued to disagree...