Major Stars Released By WWE

Several talents have today been fired by WWE. Post updated continuously.

by Andrew Pollard
Emma WWE
WWE

Update

In an update to our original story of Mustafa Ali and Emma's time with WWE coming to an end, it sadly appears that Ali and Emma were the first of several names to be let go by the market leader today in this currently-developing situation.

Since that initial report, Aliyah has announced her WWE exit, and the reliable Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful notes how Rick Boogs, Elias, Riddick Moss, Top Dolla, Shelton Benjamin and Dolph Ziggler have been released.

For more details on all of this, head over to our Every Wrestler WWE Just Released article.

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Original

As per the talent themselves, Mustafa Ali and Emma have today departed WWE.

Ali and Emma have both taken to X to announce this news. While Mustafa didn't specify whether he'd been terminated, had asked for his release, or simply his contract expired, Emma noted how she had been released.

In the case of Mustafa Ali, he was due to challenge Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Title at the No Mercy PLE on 30 Saturday. Obviously, that will now not be the case. Ali had previously requested his WWE release in early 2022, but it was at that time refused.

For Emma, just 50 minutes before announcing her release, she was celebrating the news that WWE will be heading to her home country of Australia to run its Elimination Chamber PLE from Perth's Optus Stadium on 24 February next year.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reports that he's heard rumblings of talent cuts taking place today, so it remains to be seen whether the company exits of Mustafa Ali and Emma are the start of a larger round of cuts. Sadly, WWE has a storied history of releasing numerous wrestlers over in one hit - and hopefully that isn't the case again here.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.