Predicting Where EVERY Released WWE Star Will Sign Next

A tradition as old as any, WWE's post-WrestleMania spring cleaning hit the main and developmental rosters hard last Friday (24 April), totalling 25 future endeavour-fuelled phone calls.

Like every year, the majority of these releases were elementary: if a talent was cut from Raw or SmackDown, it was because WWE had filed for creative bankruptcy on their character, and if they were given their marching orders from NXT, EVOLVE, or LFG, it was because they were deemed as having made insufficient progress. Developmental is, after all, intended to develop talent, not be your forever home, although in saying that, you have to question what sort of scandalous dirt Nikkita Lyons has on a high-ranking WWE staffer to have survived yet another round of cost-cutting.

The question now? What's next?

The answer? Nobody knows.

Forecasting the future of wrestling's newest free agents isn't as easy as it was even just two years ago. Not everybody can expect to find work with AEW because, mercifully, Tony Khan has realised that he can't be the saviour every WWE outcast is looking for. TNA is even more of a step down than it used to be, given the WWE relationship. International employers, like NJPW and CMLL, typically don't attract those who have just been issued a WWE-stamped P45.

It's a tricky road to navigate, but let's try...

Without sounding too offensive, does anybody even care?

NXT isn't the needle-moving product it once was, and that is most evident in the absolute state of the names who were let go. Trill London; Carlee Bright; Sirena Linton; Chris Island; WWE may as well resurrect Jim Neidhart to portray his infamous Who persona, because that is the exact reaction most will have upon hearing that collection of names.

The most prolific departure, and even that's a stretch to say in 2026, was Andre Chase. He'll likely end up somewhere like MLW or the NWA, gaining the slightest bit of traction on social media. Second behind him is Tyra Mae Steele, a former Olympic gold medalist who won the first season of LFG, WWE's latest Tough Enough offshoot. Her pro wrestling days are likely behind her.

Tyriek Igwe and Tyson Dupont, the boulder-sized ex-enforcers of Wes Lee, could do with a little more fine-tuning, but they'd be a relatively good fit for TNA's tag team division. Dante Chen and Malik Blade, meanwhile, are the sort of WWE outcasts who will tour the lower-class North American indies as if they were massive gets.

Lastly, there is Luca Crusifino, who has already retired. Expect to see him prowling around WrestleCon in 2027, if there is a WrestleCon in 2027.