12 Wrestlers Who Benefited From Their WWE Release

7. Harry Smith & Vance Archer

Drax Batista 2
NJPW

Smith and Archer came together under the “Killer Elite Squad” banner in NJPW halfway through 2012 and have since established themselves as the premier monster tag team in Japanese wrestling today.

Things weren’t always quite so rosy, though. Archer had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run through ECW and Smackdown from 2009-10, and while Smith was initially heavily-featured with The Harty Dynasty, his own WWE career fell-off in 2011.

Japan has given Smith and Archer the freedom they needed to unlock their full potential and become so much more than they were in Stamford. Both have their limitations, but as a tag team, they’re brutally effective, they rarely have a bad match and, most importantly, they seem to be having fun.

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Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.