Byeeeee.

 

WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstars King Barrett, Santino Marella, Cameron, Hornswoggle, Alex Riley, El Torito and Zeb Colter as of today, Friday, May 6, 2016. WWE wishes them the best in all of their future endeavors

 

http://www.wwe.com/article/king-barrett-santino-marella-other-superstars-released

No surprised for any of them at all. Won't be surprised if the list grows

Add Damien Sandow to the list

Cameron was long overdue.

There are a lot of rumblings that Orton is on the chopping block. While it seems plausible, his "injury" last year was rumored to be a cover for a drug-related suspension (it would have been his third, and therefore requiring termination), so I can't imagine they'd just release him if they went through all that trouble to cover up his mistakes.

 

Again, all of that is hearsay and likely dirtsheet junk, but it's all stuff I could totally see being true in some fashion. We'll see!

Surprised Dutch Mantell wasn't kept on in a backstage capacity, the guy is an excellent booker.

There are a lot of rumblings that Orton is on the chopping block. While it seems plausible, his "injury" last year was rumored to be a cover for a drug-related suspension (it would have been his third, and therefore requiring termination), so I can't imagine they'd just release him if they went through all that trouble to cover up his mistakes

It's a load of bunkum and if it was just a cover for a Wellness failure, then he would have been back by now, especially over the 'Mania period when so many others were out injured.

It's a load of bunkum and if it was just a cover for a Wellness failure, then he would have been back by now, especially over the 'Mania period when so many others were out injured.

 

I dunno, I see the point in what people are saying. It would have been his third strike, which would be termination. Therefore there's no precedent for how long they'd be suspended, because there logistically would be no suspension. If they're trying to cover it so they don't have to fire him, they'd want to keep him out long-ish in order to cover their tracks.

 

At this point, his "star power" wasn't going to add much to Mania anyways.

 

I'm not saying it's true, I'm just saying it's not entirely out of the cards.

Steve Lombardi, better known to fans as the Brooklyn Brawler, was released from WWE last week after 33 years of service to the company. (Wrestling-Online Newsletter via PWInsider.com)

T'is the beginning of the end...

How WWE hasn't released Adam Rose at this point is beyond me. In case you haven't heard, Rose was arrested this morning in Florida over a domestic violence incident with his wife and WWE has suspended him indefinitely. I'm honestly surprised they just didn't fire him on the spot considering he was already serving a suspension for his Wellness Policy violation.

 

It's a shame that they let The Brooklyn Brawler go after so much time with the company, but I guess I can see why they would let him go. I definitely think Brawler deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame though.

 

Even though King Barrett's release wasn't a major surprise, it's still a shame that he never really got to realize his full potential (mostly thanks to WWE's booking). It's the same situation with Damien Sandow; Sandow had a lot to offer WWE, but WWE just squandered what could have been a decent mid-card talent.

 

Outside of Barrett and Sandow, the rest of the releases were a long time coming, it seems. Santino is retired and has outside endeavors to worry about, El Torito didn't have anything to do after Los Matadores were repackaged, Hornswoggle didn't really have anything to do in the company, Zeb Colter has barely been doing anything for the past couple of years (although he is admittedly talented with his promos), Cameron has, well, always been terrible, and Alex Riley just couldn't cut it as a wrestler or commentator, plus he seems to be a bit injury prone.

I have to imagine that Rose will be gone by the end of the month.

 

I'm surprised that guys like Santino, Colter, and Brawler are gone just because the latter seemed well-liked and had a long-standing relationship with the company, and the other two would likely have been invaluable assets from a "teaching the talents" perspective either backstage or in NXT. Or even as road agents. Maybe they didn't want that role though, who's to say.

I know Santino has his own training academy, so maybe he wanted to focus on that.

Some updates

 

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

 

You can add former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Christian to the list of WWE talents that have been released in the past week. His release has nothing to do with his agreement to do The Edge & Christian Show and is more of a technicality do to him no longer having an active performer’s contract. Christian received a concussion in March 2014 and WWE then decided to stop using him due to his history with concussions.

 

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is also reporting that there were several internal lists going around last week and two other names on the lists that have not been released yet were Ryback and Adam Rose.

 

 

Rose is still serving a 60-day suspension due to suffering his second wellness policy violation. He is also currently under arrest following a domestic battery charge involving an incident with his wife. On top of his 60-day suspension he is now also suspended indefinitely.

 

Ryback has recently been very outspoken against the company and has not been used by WWE

 

PWInsider.com is reporting Damien Sandow’s WWE release was not due to anything Sandow specifically did, but the company felt it was time to change the roster up a bit.

I know Santino has his own training academy, so maybe he wanted to focus on that.

 

Oh, that's true, I forgot about that. Have any of his students made it on to NXT or developmental in general? I know Lance Storm has pushed his guys to that level before (or tried), curious if Santino has had any success at the same.

It's early days for his academy, so we're a long way from that at this point. Same for the schools run by Booker T and The Dudleys (although they've had some feature in TNA).

 

An interview with Santino post-release has him saying he was shocked by it because while he has been retired from in-ring, he felt he could contribute as a road-agent or a trainer at the PC.

Cody Rhodes is gone.

Le sigh.

He's asked for his release, but it's not been granted as of yet (although it's unlikely WWE won't give it).