5 biggest questions about recent WWE releases
WWE sent shockwaves through the wrestling world when news broke that the company had come to terms on the release of six major talents - Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Ruby Riott, Buddy Murphy, and Santana Garrett.
WWE releasing talent isn't anything new, but this set of releases was an unexpected one, especially when you consider WWE had already released a large list of people just a month ago.
While fans are still processing this information, there are many questions left to be answered around the motivations and repercussions of these cuts.
#5. Why did WWE give up on Aleister Black so quickly?
Aleister Black started his WWE career in NXT and quickly became one of the more popular wrestlers the brand had to offer. After a reign as NXT champion, he was called up to the RAW roster in February of 2019.
He was then drafted to Smackdown in October 2020, but was held off TV for six months before returning to the blue brand to attack Big E on May 21. Now, just 15 days later, he has been released from the company.
Black returned in a major way by attacking Big E, a high-profile Smackdown star, and had what appeared to be a new slant on his character. Was it a case of WWE officials not liking what they saw already? And since it took six months to get Black back on television in the first place, perhaps they decided to cut their losses.
Could his relationship with Zelina Vega have been an issue? Vega herself was released from WWE not too long ago, but there have been reports that she has been seen back at the Performance Center lately. So it would be hard to believe that she would have enough heat with the company that it would also get her husband fired.
Considering his obvious in-ring talent and recent prominent return to television, Black may be the most perplexing of the recently released talent.