10 WWE Stars Released In 2019
10. TJP
Signed: May 2016.
Left: February 2019.
The future looked bright for TJ Perkins when he won WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament in late-2016 and thus became the new Cruiser Champ, but industry historians knew it was a limited role. WWE's revived interest in Cruiserweights was never guaranteed to last long, and it was only a matter of time before TJP lost the belt anyway.
By 2019, he was doing jobs aplenty to fresh talent like Humberto Carrillo, and rarely appeared on television outside the overlooked 205 Live show. After dwindling down the cards, Perkins was released less than three years on from his showcase run as CWC winner on 22 February.
He's since moved back to the indy scene, returned to Impact (where he once worked as Manik) and landed in New Japan.