10 Misused WWE Wrestlers Who Got Released And STILL Struggled

There's a common narrative that once an underappreciated performer breaks free of the binding hold of WWE, they will flower on other, freer stages and become the stars that the fans wanted them to be. This is something that has come to fruition multiple times, with the likes of Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Jon Moxley completely reinventing their careers after leaving World Wrestling Entertainment.

Not every WWE castoff gets to be so fortunate.

While many of the following performers looked set to light the wrestling world on fire after they departed from the company, this sadly did not happen. Even outside of their mistreatment within World Wrestling Entertainment, they were still subject to poor gimmicks, disappointing booking, and lacklustre match quality.

The wrestling business is tough and hard-fought and not everyone can live the dream exactly as they would have wanted to. Let's hope that these former WWE stars manage to find more success in their future endeavours because as of right now, they are really struggling.

A precursor: these entries will be named according to the monikers they used under WWE, rather than what they go by today.

It was easy to point the finger at Ryback and call him a cheap Goldberg clone, and that's because it was somewhat accurate. The big man wasn't anything unique, as his powerhouse move-set had been seen plenty of times before, and his dominant monster gimmick was pretty bog-standard, but there was still a tonne of merit to him.

The former Skip Sheffield could put on some decent bouts and felt like a unique attraction, as his matches had great pacing and his booking made him look strong - that was, at least, up until it didn't. After some time with WWE and a failed main event push, Ryback became the Pre-Show Stopper as his position on the card was relegated, and eventually, he left the company.

This departure was full of bitterness and hostility, as Ryback seemed to burn every bridge with WWE on his way out. Unfortunately for him, he hasn't popped up in any notable promotions, and nowadays his only real mainstream notoriety comes from his outspoken and oft-criticised Twitter account.

Without social media, the former WWE Championship contender would have practically faded into obscurity.