Every WWE Release Of 2021 - Where Are They Now? (Five Years Later)

Triple H worked hard to restore 'the feeling' surrounding WWE once Vince McMahon's tenure (pretty much) ended and Hunter took the reins in 2022. One of his earliest strategies to get fans back onside and fend off an AEW counterpoint that started in 2019 was to rehire select workers McMahon had ditched.

It was smart, but 'The Game' couldn't bring everyone back. Some wouldn't have been too interested anyway, because they were either working elsewhere or needed a breather from the wrestling biz whilst figuring out what they fancied doing with their lives. After all, the world was still healing from a traumatic 2020 when the global pandemic sent fear firing through every aspect of daily life - it was a hard time for many.

Regardless of that tumultuous landscape, WWE released no less than 91 pros across Raw, SmackDown, NXT and the in-house Performance Center between January-December '21. "Budget cuts" were often cited as the reason (just as they had been the prior year), but nobody was buying that when the outfit raked in oodles of cash and continued brokering deals with international money men.

So, what happened to those who were casually and sometimes cruelly cast aside? There are various reasons for their exits, and it wasn't always strictly WWE's fault. That's important to say for fairness. Not everyone was launched into no man's land as corporate bigwigs laughed into their fancy steak dinners.

It's fascinating to revisit this roster purge 5 years on and see what came next for a mixed bag of legends, full-timers and rookies.

Then: Walking man mountain Lars Sullivan was banking on a second chance to make a first impression when he returned to screens in October 2020, but it wasn't long before the ex-NXT man was asking for his release. Citing anxiety, Sullivan told fans he was finished with the pro wrestling business. He was true to that word - Lars hasn't worked a match since.

In truth, Lars had a definite-but-limited upside. Some fans compared him to Vladimir Kozlov in the respect that he could run through guys in squash matches perfectly fine, but couldn't match up against bigger WWE stars in lengthier matches. Those who enjoyed some of his work on NXT may dispute that, in fairness.

Lars was officially let go in January 2021.

Now: Sullivan has kept a very low profile since leaving WWE. As aforementioned, he hasn't even tried to re-enter the industry elsewhere (that #AllElite graphic will have to wait...), and the dude hasn't exactly been swatting off interview requests either. Or, maybe he has but people just haven't heard about him saying no to them because nobody made a big deal out of it.

A series of regrettable posts made on a bodybuilding forum in 2013 would haunt Lars during his WWE run. Sports Illustrated went to on spotlight "a slew of racist, sexist, homophobic and otherwise offensive" messages that brought negative PR on him during his first forays onto the main roster.

Wrestling just wasn't for Sullivan in the end, and he's all but vanished from public view despite rumours he was training for a bare-knuckle boxing career.