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

Then: Jiu-Jitsu and amateur wrestling were important to Arturo Ruas long before he joined WWE. The Brazilian came 4th in the 2011 Pan American Games, then inked a deal with the juggernaut company in 2015 and immediately reported for training at the Performance Center.

Coaches there must've been impressed by what they were seeing, because Ruas was out on the road working NXT house shows by the following summer. At first, Arturo was in a tag-team with future Money In The Bank winner Otis. They didn't quite become the next Heavy Machinery, but it was a decent enough start for both before Otis went off to team with Tucker.

Ruas got what seemed to be his first big break as part of Shane McMahon's Raw Underground skits in the summer of 2020, but those were never built to last. Neither was his WWE career - top brass cut Arturo in June 2021.

Now: As Tiger Ruas, the man worked 6 matches for AEW. All of them fell on Dark, so he was hardly going to go down as one of All Elite's biggest names. Fans who rarely (if ever) checked out Dark might not have seen him at all.

Arturo hasn't wrestled a match since 2022. His last AEW bout was teaming with Cezar Bononi vs. Dark Order paid Evil Uno and Ten. It doesn't look like he's all that interested in doing much more with the pro biz at time of writing, although those plans could change in a heartbeat if the right opportunity comes along.