Every WWE Release Of 2021 - Where Are They Now? (Five Years Later)
61. Lana
Then: Lana was a go to punching bag for the rest of the women's division before she departed WWE in June 2021. She'd teamed with Naomi in a quick loss to Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose mere days before leaving (on the 31 May edition of flagship show Raw), and so she's another who took everyone completely by surprise.
Who else was Nia Jax going to slap about the place like some 1980s-style jobber extraordinaire?!
Now: One thing no-one banked on was that Lana, now going under CJ Perry, would take a few years off from wrestling before signing with AEW in September 2023. People assumed she'd show up in All Elite at some point, but perhaps a little sooner than over 2 years after she'd kissed goodbye to WWE.
Her husband, Rusev/Miro, was working in Tony Khan's promotion from 2020, so most figured TK would do everything to sell CJ on a deal. Nope, at least not for a while, and she was only #AllElite for a few months in the end anyway.
In total, Perry's AEW stint ran between September-December 2023. It was hardly worth paying attention to beyond her debut at All Out.
CJ took some more time out from wrestling, gave plenty of interviews, then inked a WWE legends deal in April 2025. She's gone on to confirm retirement from in-ring work. That was one of wrestling's worst kept secrets, because Lana hadn't worked since that aforementioned 2021 tag bout on Raw.
She knows her strengths, and they aren't on show when trading holds.