5 People WWE released within six months of hiring them
The term ‘WWE Lifer’ is often used to describe Superstars who are likely to remain with the company for the rest of their careers, such as The Undertaker and Kane.
In contrast, there have been plenty of people over the last two decades who have joined WWE with the intention of at least staying in Vince McMahon’s company for a few years. But, for various different reasons, their WWE careers did not work out how they expected.
In this article, let’s take a look at five examples of WWE employees who received their releases within six months of being hired.
#5 Cain Velasquez (6-month WWE run)
The Cain Velasquez story goes all the way back to when the former MMA star defeated Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October 2010 to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Velasquez later became a two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion before he decided to swap the octagon for the squared circle in 2019 following his 26-second loss against Francis Ngannou.
After initially producing some impressive in-ring performances in Mexican promotion AAA, Lesnar’s former UFC opponent made his WWE debut in October 2019 when he confronted “The Beast” in the final segment of the first episode of SmackDown on FOX.
Lesnar, who had just won the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston in a match lasting eight seconds, went on to retain his title later in the month against Velasquez at the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
The nine-years-in-the-making match between the two men was surprisingly short – Velasquez tapped out after 130 seconds – and it soon emerged that WWE’s new signing had a knee injury that had not been disclosed.
Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue reported that Velasquez “made a catalog of errors” early on in his WWE career.
"He didn't say anything about his initial injury when he signed his contract. He said he was going to be in the Royal Rumble when it hadn't been announced, so he was pulled. He posted a picture with Ronda Rousey in the WWE HQ when nobody was supposed to know they were there. He unfortunately just made a catalog of errors early on."
WWE announced the release of over 20 Superstars in April 2020 as a cost-cutting measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was later revealed that Velasquez’s contract had also come to an early end.