10 Most Shocking WWE Releases Ever
6. Kurt Angle
A rare example of WWE doing right by the unravelling mental and physical health of a talent, Kurt Angle's story speaks as much to its timeframe as it does any kind of magnanimous gesture from Vince McMahon or whomever had the final say on the Olympian's departure.
By 2006, the company were attempting to establish a new reputation empowered by a Wellness Policy enforced after the death of Eddie Guerrero. Though later shamed by the findings from the Benoit family tragedy a year later, it was with this mindset that the company attempted to heal some of Kurt's wounds before opening them up wider.
Angle has since admitted he made no secret of just how much he was hurting at the time and requested his release, but he's noted how the rehab WWE suggested simply wasn't an option. The broken bones and torn muscles were the problem, not, in his mind, a spiralling a painkiller addiction.
Spun by WWE as an attempt to save Angle from himself, the release came with the assumption that the former multi-time Champion would be back when he felt good to go. Having bullheadedly protested that he was, Angle raced into the waiting arms of TNA, debuting just two months on from his departure.