10 Wrestlers Who Left Promotions With Nuclear Heat

On 14 April 2021, Ivelisse took to Twitter to reveal she had been “let go” by AEW. She notably hadn’t worked a match since 2 March and her former partner Diamante has been competing as a singles competitor, yet Ivelisse was a familiar face and, of course, a former tournament winner.

Fightful reported that AEW talent did not expect Ivelisse to continue with the company due to prominent disagreements with backstage coaches. Ivelisse issued the following statement to the outlet:-

"I spoke up about mistreatment from a Coach, even to other women too, there were witnesses and I was the one suspended and left in limbo and just now let go, and nothing has been done at all the entire time about [Thunder Rosa] slandering my name the entire time in AEW and doing everything to sabotage my position there, I kept quiet, [Rosa] also has a history of getting involved with officials in order to get ahead […]”

AEW and Rosa have stuck together in silence, while Ivelisse took flak from wrestling Twitter, including accusations that she had been fired from Tough Enough, FCW, NXT, Shine Wrestling, TNA, Lucha Underground, and AEW.

While we tend to focus on careers that end with acclaim, ceremony, and gushing colleagues, for many wrestlers their departure is propelled by nuclear heat. Ivelisse is the latest in a long line...

Scott Steiner’s heat seems to coincide with him branching out as a singles star in WCW – likely brother Rick kept him toeing the line.

Scott became ‘Big Poppa Pump’. Despite his vast (and somewhat suspicious) muscle growth, his mouth was larger than even the biceps that threatened to burst free from his skin, and Steiner was known to careen off-script, going into business for himself at the expense of his colleagues.

After appearing at Survivor Series 2002, Steiner was fast-tracked into Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship race. After skirting around Steiner’s limited in-ring ability, he finally had a match with then-champion Triple H – an encounter that didn’t bear repeating. However, WWE did repeat it, with ‘The Game’ holding onto his championship and Steiner slipping down the card. 'Big Poppa Pump' soon left WWE, blaming Triple H for holding him back. He stated:

“It’s the worst place ever to work. Every time I worked there, I wanted to quit.”

Steiner’s least graceful exit was reserved for his time in TNA, where he was a vocal critic of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s role in the company. Steiner verbally threatened both men and took his fury out on them, and the company, via social media resulting in a lawsuit.