Every WWE Star Who Was Just Released

The fallout of WrestleMania 42 included a number of talent departures from WWE's main roster and cuts from the NXT developmental system.

Most of the affected names were said to be outright released from the company, though some may have been informed of WWE opting not to renew their contracts. According to Fightful, the majority of releases can largely be attributed to WWE wanting to make room for new talents across its various brands and at the Performance Center.

Like usual, main roster talents have 90 days before they become free agents. For developmental talents, a 30-day period awaits them. Those approaching contract ends will mark free agency upon their respective expiration dates.

These are the performers most recently let go by WWE.

Kairi Sane's exit came as a shock to her fans and colleagues, especially as she played an integral part in the ongoing storyline between her fellow Joshi wrestlers IYO SKY and Asuka. At one point, many within WWE pushed for Sane to be added to their long-anticipated payoff match, effectively making it a triple threat. Alas, that possibility is no more as Sane's latest WWE run, which began in 2023, has come to an end.

"I'm truly grateful to have people like you by my side. Thank you for always being with me. I'll set sail...in my own time. Until then...I love you," Sane wrote on X following the news.

Sane originally left WWE in December 2021 when her contract expired. Following a successful run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and STARDOM, she then returned to the WWE bubble in November 2023 in order to help SKY retain the WWE Women's Championship at Crown Jewel. This naturally led SKY to join the Damage CTRL stable — alongside SKY, Asuka, Bayley, and Dakota Kai — shortly afterward.

With Bayley splitting from the group and Kai being released from WWE in the early months of 2025, Sane, Asuka, and SKY briefly carried the Damage CTRL name as a trio, though it was later dropped altogether due to Asuka and Sane's betrayal on SKY. Once again as the Kabuki Warriors, Sane and Asuka held the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships for nearly two months before losing them to SKY and Rhea Ripley on the first "WWE Raw" of 2026.

"The Pirate Princess" leaves WWE as a one-time NXT Women's Champion and three-time Women's Tag Team Champion. How the company will approach the SKY-Asuka program in her absence now remains to be seen.

Coming together in 2024 as a tribute to the late Bray Wyatt, the entire Wyatt Sicks faction — Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, and Joe Gacy — has now been released from WWE.

Following several weeks of cryptic clues and QR codes, the Wyatt Sicks unveiled themselves as a unit on the June 17, 2024 edition of "WWE Raw," with a trail of motionless executives and wrestlers left in their wake. The chilling group's first official targets were American Made (Chad Gable and the Creed Brothers) and The Final Testament, with whom they feuded throughout the second half of 2024, respectively.

Upon the faction's move to the "WWE SmackDown" brand in 2025, Gacy and Lumis dethroned The Street Profits as WWE Tag Team Champions. A grueling six-pack TLC match occurred shortly after at SummerSlam, in which Gacy and Lumis retained the titles.

From November 2025 until April 2026, the Wyatt Sicks found themselves primarily pitted against the MFTs, led by Solo Sikoa. During this extended program, Sikoa and Tama Tonga defeated Gacy and Lumis for the tag team gold. Sikoa also gained possession of the Wyatt Sicks' lantern, which too honored Bray Wyatt. The Wyatt Sicks-MFT storyline concluded with an eight-man Street Fight on the April 17 edition of "SmackDown." The MFTs emerged victorious.

Nikki Cross began her WWE career in 2016, with reigns as WWE Women's Tag Team and Raw Women's Champion coming in the years following. Bo Dallas, who laid under the Uncle Howdy mask, is the real-life brother of Bray Wyatt and initially departed from WWE in 2021. Erick Rowan was a part of the original Wyatt Family alongside Wyatt and others. Dexter Lumis left WWE in April 2022 following a run in "WWE NXT"; he returned to the company four months later. Joe Gacy signed with WWE in 2020, notably leading the Schism stable in "NXT" before linking up with the Wyatt Sicks on WWE's main roster.

The husband and wife duo of Zelina Vega and Aleister Black were also amongst this wave of WWE cuts.

In Black's case, his exit comes just one year after he marked his return to WWE with a kick to The Miz on the "SmackDown" episode following WrestleMania 41. From there, Black defeated The Miz and Carmelo Hayes in singles competition, then dove into an extended feud with former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest.

The Priest-Black story began in July 2025, when a loss to R-Truth via roll-up led to Black lashing out backstage and Priest trying to calm him down. Instead, Black attacked Priest on multiple occasions, prompting Priest to retaliate with his own. In October, Vega helped Black beat Priest in a Last Man Standing Match; Priest summoned his Terror Twin Rhea Ripley shortly after, resulting in a Mixed Tag Team win over their mystifying foes to even the score. This rivalry eventually concluded with Priest coming out on top of an Ambulance Mach in January 2026.

The following month, Black bounced back with a huge victory over WWE veteran Randy Orton in the main event of "SmackDown." Moreover, WWE's creative team reportedly pitched him to defeat Orton yet again during WrestleMania 42 weekend. Evidently, though, those plans fell through as Black competed in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal in what would be his final match under the WWE banner.

In Vega's case, her return to WWE in 2021 brought about the distinction as the company's first ever Queen of the Ring. Alongside Carmella, she then enjoyed a reign as WWE Women's Tag Team Champion from November 2021 until April 2022. Her ventures in the tag team division continued when she aligned herself with Legado Del Fantasma, which eventually became a part of the larger Latino World Order.

Vega left the LWO upon her move to WWE's blue brand in early 2025. The same night Black reemerged in WWE, Black unseated Chelsea Green as WWE Women's United States Champion. This reign spanned two months as Vega later lost the title to Giulia in late June.

Eighteen months after the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) made their WWE debut as a team, the two have now been released from the company.

On the heels of their exits from TNA Wrestling, Shelley and Sabin signed with WWE in the fall 2024. Their first in-ring outing proved successful as they bested A-Town Down Under and Los Garza in a triple threat bout. Even more successful were MCMG's second and third matches, which solidified them as the number one contenders, then new holders to the WWE Tag Team Championships on "SmackDown."

MCMG's run as tag team champions, while short, led to an exciting feud with DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa). After being dethroned by DIY in December 2024, MCMG battled them for the gold at a series of WWE live events and a Best Two-Out-Of-Three-Falls match at the Royal Rumble. Their pursuit of the gold didn't stop there, though, as Sabin and Shelley continued to vie for the titles throughout 2025, including at SummerSlam, where Sabin and Shelley competed in the aforementioned six-pack Ladder Match also involving the Wyatt Sicks, DIY, Fraxiom, The Street Profits, and Andrade and Rey Fenix.

In the early months of 2026, MCMG primarily appeared in backstage segments involving Johnny Gargano, who, following Ciampa's own WWE departure, suffered a mental breakdown. As Shelley repeatedly offered to help Gargano, Sabin questioned his partner's commitment to their work as a team. Shelley proved that he was when he and Sabin defeated Fraxiom the next week on WWE's blue brand. Their last on-screen outing came when they competed, as individuals, in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on April 17.

Initially bursting onto the WWE scene as Kay Lee Ray, Alba Fyre departs the company with storied runs in "WWE NXT UK" and "NXT" as well as what was an ongoing one alongside Chelsea Green on WWE's main roster.

Fyre, a native of Scotland, partook in WWE's inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017, though a loss to Princesa Sugehit took her out of the tournament in the first round. Still, she returned for an international six-woman tag bout along the road to the MYC finals.

Fyre's Mae Young Classic outings marked her only WWE-related appearances for two years until a deal landed her a spot on the "NXT UK" brand in 2019. It was here that Fyre arguably found her greatest WWE success as a victory over Toni Storm laid the groundwork for her 649-day reign as NXT UK Women's Champion. During it, Fyre (as Kay Lee Ray) conquered the brand's hottest stars, including Meiko Satomura, Jinny, Storm, and her future tag team partner Piper Niven. Satomura later unseated Fyre in a rematch.

With "NXT UK" in her rearview mirror at that point, Fyre moved stateside to the "NXT" brand, where an alliance with IYO SKY resulted in them winning the 2022 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. In the months following, Fyre set out to capture the NXT Women's Championship on multiple occasions, but fell short. She and Isla Dawn, known as Unholy Union, did triumph in their pursuit of the NXT Women's Tag Team, and later, WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, however.

Five months after Unholy Union lost the Women's Tag Team Championships, WWE released Dawn, which briefly left Fyre alone on the main roster. Fyre found new allies in the form of Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, the former of whom she helped retain the Women's United States Championship in March 2025. Together, Fyre and Niven formed the loyal Secret Hervice, with Fyre respectively being called "Slaygent A."

Even through Niven's injury-related absence and Green's recent ankle injury, Fyre continued to lend her her-vices, both in-ring and backstage, while wearing a formal suit. How WWE will approach Green's patriotic storyline now following Fyre's release has yet to be seen.

Zoey Stark's release from WWE follows a period of injury-related inactivity.

WWE fans last saw Stark in action on the May 19, 2025 edition of "Raw," where she, Kairi Sane, and Rhea Ripley collided in a triple-threat Money in the Bank qualifier. Minutes into it, however, a failed springboard missile dropkick attempt resulted in Stark being taken out of the match and Ripley and Sane left to fight one-on-one. Doctors later determined that Stark sustained a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus that required surgery to fix.

According to Fightful Select, Stark recently received medical clearance to return to the ring. Due to her release, she is now on track to mark her comeback outside of WWE. Where exactly that will happen is still unknown, though based on her social media statements, Stark made it clear that she is open to bookings once again.

Formerly known as Lacey Ryan on the indies, Stark joined WWE as a member of the "NXT" roster in 2021. As a babyface on the brand, she and IYO SKY enjoyed one reign as NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. Following her return from another knee injury in 2022, Stark pursued the titles once more, this time alongside Nikkita Lyons. When she and Lyons emerged empty-handed, Stark attacked Lyons, and in the process, turned heel.

Stark's heel run continued through her call up to WWE's roster in 2023. First, she aligned herself and eventually betrayed WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. Then, she, Shayna Baszler, and Sonya Deville formed the hard-hitting Pure Fusion Collective. Together, all three battered members of the "Raw" locker room, though by May 2025, only Stark remained in WWE.

Deville left WWE after the company opted not to renew her contract in February 2025. Baszler followed suit in May amidst a different wave of releases. Meanwhile, Stark hoped to kick off a run as a singles star.

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews too found himself amongst the latest round of releases. In his case, it put an end to his 11-year run with WWE.

Crews marked his televised in-ring debut against Tye Dillinger (aka Shawn Spears) in August 2015 as a part of "NXT" TakeOver: Brooklyn. By 2016, WWE promoted Crews to its main roster, where he quickly feuded with company veterans such as Sheamus, The Miz, and Dolph Ziggler.

Alongside Dana Brooke and Titus O'Neil, Crews began representing Titus Worldwide in 2017. Crews and O'Neil notably pursued the Raw Tag Team Championships, then held by Sheamus and Cesaro, to no avail. Their last tag team outing came in October 2018 at a WWE live event, after which Crews returned to singles competition on television.

Crews got his first taste of WWE gold in May 2020 by dethroning Andrade as United States Champion. Under a persona embodying Nigerian royalty, Crews also captured the Intercontinental Championship from Big E. In 2022, Crews returned to the "NXT" brand as a babyface to confront, and then challenge, NXT Champion Bron Breakker. In between, he defeated Grayson Waller in a Casket Match.

Crews' final years with WWE brought him back to the main roster, where he'd split his time between "WWE Main Event" and "SmackDown." A torn pec Crews suffered in January 2025 rendered him unable to compete for several months, though he later returned to action at a AAA event in November. He resurfaced in a WWE ring through a loss to Talla Tonga on the January 8 episode of "Main Event." A "Main Event" match against AAA's Mr. Iguana on April 23 marked his final appearance in WWE.

Santos Escobar, who briefly entered the free agency market last October, is set to do so once more as he too was released by WWE.

The former Legado del Fantasma leader departed from WWE in October following the expiration of his contract. Per reports, though, Escobar and WWE quickly reached an agreement to bring him back under a new one attached with a pay raise and creative promises.

Since re-signing with WWE, Escobar had not appeared on WWE programming. Instead, Escobar reemerged in AAA, a promotion that WWE acquired last year. Escobar initially targeted AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. in January 2026 by knocking him down and taking possession of his AAA title. Escobar and Wagner Jr. followed up with a pair of matches against one another at "NXT" live events, in which Escobar triumphed.

Reports later revealed that Escobar sustained a triceps tear during one of those "NXT" live events. Under the impression that the injury wasn't as bad as it actually was, though, Escobar continued to wrestle two more matches for AAA. In the second, coming in the form of a four-way AAA Rey de Reyes final on March 14, he reportedly worsened the injury, which led to Escobar undergoing not one, but two surgeries in the weeks after.

Escobar's last televised WWE match dates back to May 2025, when Rey Fenix defeated him on "SmackDown." He, Angel, and Berto defeated El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano and Psycho Clown at WWE x AAA Worlds Collide the following month.

Among those released from WWE's developmental system, Andre Chase is the biggest name. The 37-year-old signed with WWE in 2021 and first appeared in that year's NXT Men's Breakout Tournament.

While falling short in the tournament's first round, Chase did break out in another way, specifically by launching Chase University, a kayfabe university (and stable) aimed at educating the young stars on the "NXT" brand. Notable Chase U students included Thea Hail, Jacy Jayne, Duke Hudson, and Riley Osborne.

Chase U enjoyed two reigns as NXT Tag Team Champions, firstly with Chase himself and Hudson, then with Chase and Ridge Holland. The latter reign ended in dramatic fashion as Holland and Chase lost the titles at "NXT" No Mercy 2024, with the Brit then attacking his Chase U brethren in the aftermath. Holland's path of destruction continued with an Ambulance Match victory, after which Chase faced him in a rematch paired with the stipulation that if Chase lost, Chase U would be forced to disband.

Holland again defeated Chase, which meant that the stable would indeed be no more — until five months later when Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors helped revitalize Chase and his institution. With Chase often in their corner, Dixon and Connors teamed throughout the remainder of 2025 and early 2026, at one point challenging for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Connors turned on Chase U in February in order to join the newly-formed Birthright stable instead. Chase, meanwhile, now ends his WWE run with Chase U seemingly put down permanently as well.

The WWE career of Olympic gold medalist Tyra Mae Steele (aka Tamyra Mensah-Stock) has also reached its conclusion.

Steele came aboard WWE in 2023 equipped with a background in amateur wrestling. Her professional wrestling debut took place at an "NXT" live event in March 2024, with her television debut following on "NXT Level Up" that July.

Steele's WWE breakout materialized in 2025 as she was crowned the co-winner of "WWE LFG" Season 1. During the show, Steele primarily took direction from her coach, WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker; "NXT" head booker Shawn Michaels regularly appeared in an advising role to Steele and other contestants as well.

Steele's post-"LFG" work included split duties on "NXT" and "WWE EVOLVE." On the former brand, she notably teamed up with fellow USA Olympian Tavion Heights to take on Canada's Chelsea Green and Ethan Page in a mixed tag bout at NXT Heatwave. Steele vied for the EVOLVE Women's Championship on two "EVOLVE" broadcasts, including the one aired April 15. That marked Steele's final WWE in-ring appearance — an eight-woman gauntlet match for the vacant title.

Dante Chen, WWE's first Singaporean Superstar, exits WWE after a five-year run. The former SPW Southeast Asian Champion marked his WWE debut in successful fashion as he defeated Trey Baxter (now known as AEW's Blake Christian) in an "NXT" singles bout in September 2021.

Across the next three years, he competed in various singles and tag team action, at one point even wrestling in an NXT Tag Team Championship contenders match alongside Boa. Chen's first singles title match in WWE came in July 2024 as he challenged then-NXT Champion Ethan Page. Additional shots at the NXT Championship and NXT Heritage Cup emerged at "NXT" live events the following year.

Chen's first and only main roster match pitted him against Bron Breakker, a former NXT and WWE Intercontinental Champion, on "SmackDown" in February 2024. Come June 2025, Chen moved to the "EVOLVE" roster. He finishes his WWE career with nine in-ring "EVOLVE" performances, the latest of which saw him face Kam Hendrix on March 18.

High Ryze is officially no more as Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe, the remaining members, have been released from WWE just six months after that of the group's leader, Wes Lee.

Dupont and Igwe each partook in the WWE tryouts surrounding SummerSlam 2022 weekend, after which WWE signed both of them to developmental contracts. Both also arrived to WWE with collegiate track and field backgrounds. Dupont represented University of South Alabama, while Igwe competed for Eastern Michigan University. 

Dupont and Igwe made their pro wrestling debuts together in a tag team match at a May 2023 "NXT" live event. The following year, they feuded with future NXT Tag Team Champions Hank and Tank in a best of three series on "NXT Level Up," with Hank and Tank ultimately triumphing in their third encounter.

In "NXT," Dupont and Igwe faced other teams such as No Quarter Catch Crew, The OC, and Gallus. Their losses eventually led "NXT" veteran Wes Lee to step in as a mentor and further form a trio known as High Ryze. As a unit, Igwe, Dupont, and Lee then targeted members of the "NXT" and TNA Wrestling rosters. WWE later released Lee in October 2025, leaving Igwe and Dupont to wrestle as a duo once more until respective departures last weekend.

Luca Crusifino, a former football player at Duquesne University, was also released by WWE this past weekend.

Crusifino inked a contract with WWE in early 2022. "NXT Level Up" later served as the stage for his pro wrestling debut in which he faced Dante Chen in February 2023. Later the same year, Crusifino entered the Men's NXT Breakout Tournament, but fell short to Tavion Heights in the first round.

The following year marked Crusifino's true breakout as Tony D'Angelo brought him aboard as the consigliere to the D'Angelo Family. Alongside Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, Crusifino notably challenged Fraxiom for the NXT Tag Team Championships. The pair later pursued the titles once more in a number one contenders battle royal that December.

At "NXT" Stand & Deliver 2025, Lorenzo turned on D'Angelo, leaving Crusifino to presumably pick a side. Crusifino instead chose to support neither Lorenzo nor D'Angelo as he wanted to focus on himself as an individual. The D'Angelo Family was then put to rest when D'Angelo defeated both Lorenzo and Crusifino in a triple threat. Crusifino wrestled only a handful of matches after that, including the final one that aired on the April 22 edition of "EVOLVE."

Carlee Bright announced her departure from WWE in a lengthy post on Instagram, noting that while this chapter of her professional career was closed, her story is far from finished.

Bright, a former cheerleader at the University of Minnesota, jumped into WWE after a successful tryout during SummerSlam 2022 weekend. Her pro wrestling debut came in the form of a tag match alongside Fallon Henley at an "NXT" live event the next year. Former Women's EVOLVE Champion Kendal Grey emerged as Bright's recurring tag team partner at future shows, both televised and not.

Bright's presence on "NXT" programming was limited to just a handful of matches, with her last one resulting in a loss to Wren Sinclar in July 2024. In the months following, she appeared in TNA Wrestling and Reality of Wrestling — both partner promotions to WWE — before finding a more permanent home on the "EVOLVE" brand in 2025. Bright's final "EVOLVE" bout aired on February 4. "NXT" live event attendees last saw her in a battle royal determining the NXT Women's Championship number one contender on January 16.

While no longer with WWE, Bright will appear on Season 3 of "LFG," which kicked off on April 26.

Malik Blade's release means the end of a five-year run with WWE.

Trained by WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, Blade reported to the WWE Performance Center in August 2021 alongside the likes of Solo Sikoa and Tiffany Stratton. "205 Live" served as the platform for his WWE debut the next month; a lengthy run in NXT then followed.

Under the NXT brand, Blade primarily worked with Edris Enofe, beginning with the 2022 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. In it, Blade and Enofe advanced to the semi-finals before losing to MSK. The pair continued to regularly team together until June 2024, shortly after which Enofe underwent surgery for a shoulder injury. Blade underwent surgery for a torn ACL and meniscus months later.

Enofe returned to the ring in March 2025, though by September, he revealed that he was leaving WWE for good. Blade resumed his in-ring action at "NXT" live action in November 2025. A live event match alongside Romeo Moreno in February marked his final one with WWE.

"LFG" alumni Chris Island, Sirena Linton, and Trill London round out the latest batch of developmental releases.

London, a former NFL defensive back, had a successful tryout in the summer of 2024. WWE confirmed his signing that November, with his pro wrestling coming three months later against Keanu Carver on "WWE EVOLVE." Beginning in June 2025, he appeared in Season 2 of "LFG" as a member of Team Michelle McCool. Shiloh Hill went on to win the respective season for the men's division, though London still continued to wrestle on "EVOLVE" and "NXT" live events. His last match pitted him against Harley Riggins on the March 11 edition of "EVOLVE."

Like London, WWE announced Linton's signing in November 2024. Linton joined WWE as a former NCAA All-American gymnast from the University of Arizona. She competed on Seasons 1 and 2 of "LFG" under the guidance of Mickie James and Booker T, respectively. In her most recent in-ring outing, dated February 2026 at an "NXT" live event, she challenged Fallon Henley for the Women's Speed Championship.

Island, an amateur wrestler for California Baptist University, partook in a WWE tryout during WrestleMania 40 weekend in 2024. The same year, he marked his pro wrestling debut in a mixed tag match later aired for Season 1 of "LFG." Like Linton, he sat under the learning tree of Mickie James for Season 1, then Booker Two for Season 2. His last WWE match took place at "NXT" live event in February.

Despite their releases, London, Linton, and Island are all set to appear on season three of "LFG" through pre-taped episodes.