What They Did Next: WWE 2021 Releases - Part 1
Looking at where the first round of 2021 WWE releases are.
Vince McMahon is a collector at heart and, like all collectors, he has a problem. When he sees something new that he likes, he gets super excited over it and simply has to have it displayed on his shelf. But then the lustre wears off and now he's just got something that takes up space and takes energy to dust around and it isn't actually filling the hole in his life like he thought it would.
The problem is that Vince collects people who work in the wrestling business, and when he finds something shinier and has a clear out of his old rubbish, it's people he's taking to the charity shop or leaving outside with a note that says "Free to a good home after the non-compete clause is up".
As with all collectors, once he's made a clean spot on his shelf Vince just keeps hurling things in a garbage bag, often with no rhyme nor reason behind what he's throwing away.
In 2021 alone, over 70 wrestlers were wished luck in their future endeavours by the WWE. Here's fifteen of them, and what they did next.
15. Paul Wight
In 1999, Paul Wight found himself in unfamiliar territory. Not only had he signed with the then-WWF, but he was underneath the ring where all the kendo sticks presumably used to hammer the set together are kept. Climbing out, he immediately allied himself with Mr McMahon and hurled Stone Cold Steve Austin through the side of a steel cage.
From that moment onward, the former "son of Andre The Giant" was synonymous with WWE, and The Big Show picked up multiple championships and accomplishments despite being named Wrestling Observer's Most Embarrassing Wrestler of 2002 as well as gaining multiple Worst Feud and Worst Wrestler titles.
In 2020, Wight even appeared as himself in the not-at-all confusingly named The Big Show Show, a sitcom produced by WWE Studios for Netflix. Middling at best, The Big Show Show show was cancelled after just one season.
Since leaving the WWE, Wight has signed with AEW where he debuted wearing that snazzy "No More BS" shirt. He currently works as a commentator for the AEW Dark: Elevation YouTube series, but is also signed to the promotion as an in-ring talent.