10 Wrestlers Who Knew They Were On The Way Out
Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose and others that couldn't hide when the end was in sight.
Remember when absolutely nobody had need or reason to leave WWE?
Everything that ever happened pre-2020 already feels like a different world, (or at very least like it'll now have to come with a pre-pandemic disclaimer for younger folk), but that version of the industry's biggest organisation in particular seems like a relic in the confusing new dawn of 2021.
It was during the early-2010s that WWE seemingly felt comfortable enough to start literally warehousing talent in their Performance Center thanks to the success of NXT as both a developmental brand and critical hit. Triple H thought he'd figured out a system, most of the fanbase broadly agreed, and a certain job/contract security was at long last a possibility in Stamford.
But the game, several times over, has since changed. Literally in the case of Hunter - the prodigal son-in-law has become nnnnDaddd's punching bag since All Elite Wrestling comfortably crushed the black-and-gold brand on Wednesday nights, and new talent and corporate leadership in the form of John Laurinaitis and Nick Khan respectively has resulted in the mediocre cream of the prior generation rising to the top on-screen and half the roster being axed off it.
All of this has combined quite nicely with AEW's growth and an open landscape outside of WWE, which should hopefully give talent back their agency, optimism, and power. The following lot were stripped of all three, and couldn't hide it even when the cameras rolled...
10. Dean Ambrose (WWE Monday Night Raw, 2019)
There was noting Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns could do to change Dean Ambrose's mind when he elected to leave WWE in early 2019, but Vince McMahon's ostensible attempts to crush his character on the way out inadvertently teased out some of the comedy we'd come to expect from polymath Jon Moxley later in the year.
Having almost done the job for Nia Jax and gone 50/50 with EC3, Ambrose was sliding down the card before the company saw money and magic in bringing The Shield back together one last time. To do this, they needed to reunite 'The Lunatic Fringe' and 'The Architect' following their failed bitter split the prior winter. To do that, they scripted a bumbling Ambrose to no-sell the entire feud.
To the shock of those within WWE and absolutely nobody outside of it, he nailed it. Ambrose wasn't a prop comic, he was just sharp, quick-witted and knew what made people laugh. Too little too late in WWE, but his final days were a total blast ahead of an era-defining debut in AEW.