The WWE has made additional cuts with several notable names among the latest releases.
On Wednesday, the company issued an announcement that the following wrestlers had been let go:
*Braun Strowman
*Aleister Black
*Lana
*Murphy
*Ruby Riott
*Santana Garrett
The news of the cuts was first reported by Fightful just before WWE issued the announcement.
Braun Strowman was a main event-level performer that was just featured in a championship program over the past month with Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. He was signed without any prior wrestling experience and moved to the main roster in August 2015 as a member of The Wyatt Family. He would become a major pushed singles star after the brand split in 2016 when he was assigned to Raw and got over through squash matches and feats of strength. His run culminated with an impromptu Universal Championship win at WrestleMania 36 in 2020 after substituting for Roman Reigns to defeat Bill Goldberg.
In 2019, Strowman announced he had signed a four-year contract extension with the company.
Aleister Black, who wrestled as Tommy End on the independents, has changed his Twitter profile to his former name and issued the following indicating it was a complete surprise:
Im gathering my thoughts as this was a complete left field for me as obviously we just started the dark father character but this was it, thank you so much WWE universe for allowing me to create and give you small bits of myself.
Black had just returned to television after months of inactivity to shoot an angle with Big E., which indicates this was a recent decision. At one point, Black was tabbed for a major role on the main roster and was a rumored opponent for Brock Lesnar but instead, the company went with Drew McIntyre winning the Royal Rumble in 2020.
Lana has been with the company since 2013 and met her husband Miro Baryashev (a.k.a. ‘Miro’ in AEW) while working in NXT. Over the past year, she has been stationed in Florida improving on her in-ring skills and was featured in a tag team with Naomi with their final match taking place on Raw this week against Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose.
Ruby Riott recovered from double shoulder surgery in early 2020 and began a program with Liv Morgan that led to the reunion of the two as the remaining members of The Riott Squad. Riott signed with WWE in late 2016 and was assigned to NXT before her call-up with Morgan and Sarah Logan in November 2017.
Murphy was heavily featured on SmackDown last year for the angle involving the Mysterio family drama. Murphy was aligned with Seth Rollins until he got involved with Rey’s daughter Aalyah Mysterio. The feud culminated last November with Murphy defeating Rollins on SmackDown with Murphy having no follow-up story. He made an appearance on television earlier this year but was largely forgotten.
Garrett has made NXT appearances for years but was not signed until the summer of 2019. She was brought up to the main roster in April 2020 wrestling on Main Event but never had a defined role on Raw or SmackDown. Her last appearance was in the women’s Royal Rumble match this past January.
Thank you, @wwe 🙏❤️✨
Peace.. Love & #HeadbandPower ✨#timetoSHINE #womenswrestling #santanagarrett #wwe #nxt pic.twitter.com/9eLf1hOZ2C
— SANTANA GARRETT (@SantanaGarrett_) June 2, 2021
