10 Wrestlers Who Were Released For Breaking Kayfabe

4. Paul London

Matt Hardy Fired
WWE

Vince McMahon came away with one of the most unintentionally-hilarious lines ever when he told Bruce Prichard, "I can't be on TV if I'm dead". That conversation took place right before WWE shot the infamous limo explosion angle on the 11 June 2007 edition of Raw.

That episode is notable for something else: Paul London's WWE career effectively coming to an end.

The high-flyer smiled broadly as a stoic McMahon passed him in the hallway backstage. Others wore blank expressions, but not Paul - he decided to rip the living sh*te out of a serious angle that was supposed to end the boss man's on-screen presence forever. London would eventually pay for that.

His push halted pronto, and WWE decided to split Paul's popular tag-team with Brian Kendrick later in the year. Then, London was mocked on TV as an example of what can go wrong if wrestlers mimic Shawn Michaels too closely (?!) and finally released in late-2008.

It took them a while, but WWE got there in the end.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.