10 WWE Releases That Actually HELPED A Wrestler

5. Jon Moxley

Dean Ambrose Jon Moxley
WWE/NJPW

Dean Ambrose was a former World, Intercontinental, United States and Tag-Team champion, a Money in the Bank winner and one-third of one of the company’s biggest acts of the 2010s: The Shield at the time of his departure from WWE.

However, Ambrose also had become a punchline in his waning days when WWE milked one last Shield reunion before his 2019 exit.

Upon joining All Elite Wrestling, Moxley immediately became one of the company’s biggest stars, a run that still continues today. Since 2022, he has been in a stable of grapple-heavy wrestlers. Firstly, he was in the Blackpool Combat Club alongside manager William Regal, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson and Wheeler Yuta, and now he leads the Death Riders with Claudio, Wheeler, Pac, Marina Shafir and Daniel Garcia.

Moxley has been a central figure in AEW throughout this tenure, racking up 4 World Title reigns and the International and Continental belts as well. To call him a vital part of AEW would somehow still be underselling his impact. It really shouldn’t be surprising considering the excitement that accompanied his All Elite debut.

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.