10 WWE Releases That Actually HELPED A Wrestler

9. Athena

Athena ROH
ROH

Released in 2021, the former Ember Moon felt like a huge miss by WWE. They cut an insanely talented wrestler who hadn’t even hit her prime.

Returning to her old ring name Athena, she found her way to AEW/Ring Of Honor. Athena quickly established herself as the ace of the women’s division, winning the ROH Women’s World Championship and holding it for more than 3 years (and counting!).

However, ROH is a smaller brand than even NXT, which is why she ranks so low despite being a dominant champion in a brand with such name recognition. On the plus side, Athena has made numerous appearances on AEW television and managed to shine in every opportunity, thus leaving fans to speculate that she could get that de facto “call-up” at some point and become a prominent force on Dynamite and Collision.

Regardless, her stock is higher now than it was when she was being utilized as a challenger-of-the-month in NXT.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.