5 WWE Superstars who requested their release
Nowadays, WWE Superstars have several options for pursuing careers elsewhere when their contracts expire.
Independent promotions have gained immense traction among professional wrestling fans recently. Tony Khan's All Elite Wrestling has also become a dominant force in challenging Vince McMahon's promotion.
These factors have led to several WWE Superstars publicly requesting their release before their contracts expire. The likes of Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose), Shawn Spears (fka Tye Dillinger), Dustin Rhodes (fka Goldust), and FTR (fka The Revival) have successfully negotiated their releases to join AEW.
Apart from the wrestlers mentioned above, in this article, we look at five other WWE Superstars who requested their release:
#5 WWE Superstar - Rusev
Former WWE superstar Rusev was a force to be reckoned with in Vince McMahon's promotion.
He is a former three-time United States Champion. Rusev had some classic bouts with established superstars like John Cena, The Undertaker, Sheamus, Randy Orton, The Big Show, and Mark Henry.
In 2018, just before WrestleMania 34, Rusev was unhappy with his direction on the SmackDown brand. He was supposed to compete in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at the grand event but was put in a fatal four-way match for the United States Championship at the last minute.
Rusev at the time had requested his release from WWE, with Mike Johnson revealing this on PWInsider Elite Audio:
"I know I heard a month or three weeks ago that Rusev was pushing for a release because he wasn't happy with how he was being used but I could not confirm that with a second source. So, it's possible it's true and I feel it's interesting that he was suddenly added to the match [at WrestleMania]."
The Bulgarian Brute was part of WWE for two more years before finally being released in April 2020 due to pandemic-related budget cuts.
After leaving WWE, Rusev joined AEW in September 2020 under the new ring name Miro. He eventually became the AEW TNT Champion after beating Darby Allin. After an impressive 140-day reign, he lost the title to Sammy Guevara.