WWE Releases Talent During SmackDown

By Daisy Ruth
A giant WWE logo shines from the WWE world headquarters on January 28, 2024 in Stamford, Connecticut. WWE founder Vince McMahon resigned from the WWE and its parent company TKO as executive chairman and board of directors following allegations of sexual assault in a Connecticut lawsuit. A former employee Janel Grant accused McMahon, 78, of sexual assault and sexually trafficking her. John Moore/Getty Images

Three WWE talent releases were reported as Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown" was airing. Jinder Mahal, Xia Li, and Xyon Quinn were all released by the company. Prior to the outlet's report, both Mahal and Li posted cryptic messages to X (formerly Twitter), with Mahal saying "I quit," and Li releasing a lengthier statement thanking the WWE, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, and the "WWE Universe." Quinn has not posted to X since March 8.

Even though Mahal posted that he had "quit," his departure as actually confirmed as a release to Wrestling Inc. Fightful Select reported they had not heard of any memos being sent to talent regarding the releases. Li, Mahal, and Quinn all have 90-day non compete clauses, which Mahal alluded to when he changed his X bio to read "Free Agent – 90 Days," alongside a fire emoji.

Li's last match in the company was on the April 15 episode of "WWE Main Event" in Canada, where she lost to Natalya. Jinder was most recently the subject of a series of posts on X by AEW President Tony Khan, comparing Mahal's booking against former World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins in comparison to AEW's HOOK against World Champion Samoa Joe. Mahal went on to be defeated by Rollins in their title match. Quinn's final match with WWE was during a "SmackDown" taping on January 3, when he was defeated by Bron Breakker.

As of this writing, WWE has yet to publicly comment on the releases.

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