WWE Releases 2020-2021: Where Are They Now?

WWE released 128 wrestlers across 2020 and 2021. Where are those men and women now?

by Jamie Kennedy

There was a bad taste in everyone's mouths when WWE released a ton of wrestlers in 2020 and 2021. Officially, the reason given was "budget cuts", but most viewed that as insensitive when the company was reporting huge profit margins across the board in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

92 of those 128 released wrestlers get examined here across 77 full entries. Then, the remaining 36 get listed in a 'Best Of The Rest' category - a lot of those latter names barely appeared on television. Some were Performance Center trainees who were cut before they made it in front of the cameras, and others deemed suitable for that 'Best Of The Rest' tab haven't really gone on to make a splash elsewhere.

It's way more fascinating to look at those who did anyway.

Obviously, a fair whack of the men and women involved either ended up back in WWE or got scooped up by Tony Khan's AEW. It's still fascinating to see what happened to them, and how the retirement of one Vince McMahon changed their fates/brought them back into the WWE fold.

Take a deep breath!

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.