WWE Had Big Plans For Giovanni Vinci - Until They Fired Him (WWE News)
Giovanni Vinci's post-Imperium run came to nothing in WWE, who released him last week.
People within WWE were high on the idea of a Giovanni Vinci singles run that ultimately went to nothing in 2024.
Vinci was released alongside the likes of Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Cedric Alexander, Blair Davenport, and Sonya Deville last week, ending the Italian's seven-and-a-year-year tenure with WWE. Before this, a potential singles run had stirred excitement.
Per Fightful Select, people in WWE were high on Vinci while creating vignettes for him last summer, though this "didn't end up conveying to TV." The majority of Fightful's sources believe WWE ended up pushing Vinci down the card when they knew he wasn't going to be brought back.
Vinci's WWE release caps a confusing year for the former Imperium member. Jettisoned from the stable by Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser in April, Giovanni was sent to SmackDown via the 2024 WWE Draft the following week, though he wasn't used on television for another four months.
Returning to the "Veni, Vidi, Vinci" character he'd used in NXT in 2022, Vinci appeared on the cusp of a singles push. This was until Apollo Crews beat him in a four-second squash match on SmackDown's 6 September 2024 episode. Two weeks later, Vinci ate another (longer, at 1:37) defeat to Crew. His last televised WWE appearance was a Speed loss against Sheamus on 11 October.
Vinci broke his silence on his WWE release on Sunday, tweeting:
Thank you for everything! @WWE pic.twitter.com/W0S0rXaTZN— Gio Vinci (@VinciWWE) February 9, 2025
The 34-year-old will be free to work and sign for other wrestling promotions when his 90-day non-compete clause expires in May.
Vinci departed WWE as a two-time NXT Tag Team Champion with Kaiser, who competed as Marchel Barthel when the duo held the gold.