Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, and More Released from WWE

[cero2k]

BRAUN STROWMAN, ALEISTER BLACK AND LANA AMONG SIX WWE RELEASES
source: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/brau ... ses-343061

WWE is continuing to pare down their talent roster, announcing on Wednesday that Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott and Santana Garrett have all been released.

The 37-year-old Strowman was last seen at May's WrestleMania Backlash, competing against WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat and had been involved in the Raw main event mix for several months.

A member of the WWE system since 2013, Strowman is a former Universal Champion, Intercontinental Champion and a two-time Raw Tag Team Champion.

After a long absence following his wife Zelina Vega's release last fall, Aleister Black had finally made his return to SmackDown at the end of May following several weeks of vignettes and appeared to be set to start an angle with Big E. On Twitter, he said the decision came out of left field as they had just started his new "Dark Father" character.

It was reported last month that Vega appeared to be on the verge of a return to WWE, but this decision puts that into question. Black had been with WWE since the summer of 2016 and is a former NXT Champion. He was called up to the main roster in February 2019.

Originally the mouthpiece for Rusev (AEW's Miro), Lana eventually transitioned into an in-ring character and had been involved in the women's tag team scene, most recently teaming with Naomi on Raw. The 36-year-old originally signed with WWE in June 2013.

Used sparingly after the Seth Rollins/Rey Mysterio family angle came to an end, Murphy only wrestled three times this calendar year. The 32-year-old last appeared in the Andre The Giant Memorial battle royal on the pre-WrestleMania SmackDown. He is a former NXT Tag Team Champion, a former Raw Tag Team Champion and a former Cruiserweight Champion.

Riott was most recently seen on the May 28th SmackDown as she and Liv Morgan lost to Natalya and Tamina. The 30-year-old had signed with WWE in December 2016 and was called up to the main roster in 2017 after starting out in NXT.

Garrett was signed to a deal in August 2019 and worked sparingly in NXT with only three main roster appearances during that time. She was last seen in this year's Women's Royal Rumble.

[cero2k]

I think this is just a generic excuse now

[Big Red Machine]

I think this is just a generic excuse now

Or it's legit and they haven't been as open with their finances as they're supposed to be.


It also could be an overreaction to extremely poor ticket sales so far for their return to touring or something like that (and that would be a big story in it's own right).




But either way, that's two big names right there. And also Lana.

[Big Red Machine]

Dude! You buried the lead BUDDY MURPHY IS A FREE AGENT! Come on, ROH or AEW!

[cero2k]

Dude! You buried the lead BUDDY MURPHY IS A FREE AGENT! Come on, ROH or AEW!

AEW already has an Omega, but ROH would be great. If not for travel ban, I could totally see him in NJPW Jr division

[Big Red Machine]

Dude! You buried the lead BUDDY MURPHY IS A FREE AGENT! Come on, ROH or AEW!

AEW already has an Omega

Ah. Yes. Because they both do a running knee strike and... are men... with hair? I guess AEW isn't interested in Bryan Danielson or Andrade Kota Ibushi, either.

[cero2k]

Alvarez is speculating that redundancy cuts, getting rid of overly large contracts, people not being used, etc, are moves they would need to set up if Khan/McMahon were setting up the company to be sold.

[cero2k]

Dude! You buried the lead BUDDY MURPHY IS A FREE AGENT! Come on, ROH or AEW!

AEW already has an Omega

Ah. Yes. Because they both do a running knee strike and... are men... with hair? I guess AEW isn't interested in Bryan Danielson or Andrade Kota Ibushi, either.

Well, AEW doesn't have an unmasked Mexican, nor a submission specialits, nor a beautiful Japanese man. Murphy also doesn't have a tenth of those men's name recognition.

[Thelone]

Strawman is surprising since you think they'd keep him around as the new resident monster, especially with the older ones all gone and/or retired (Show, Henry, Kane, Taker). Maybe they didn't think he was worth what he was earning and they can replace him with Omos and... whatever Babatunde goes by nowadays.

Black is yet another guy I don't understand why he's "such a missed opportunity". Sure, he can wrestle and cut spoopy prerecorded promos from his broom closet for months, but then what?

Murphy seems to be another solid hand, but not much else really.

Lana was on borrowed time ever since her husband left.

Riott just didn't fit WWE's mold (even pre-Ace) and was never going to get any kind of singles run there. Hell, you can see it right now with Ripley who's a complete afterthought to Charlotte-Asuka despite being the champion.

Garrett is someone who always seems to be close to breaking out, and yet falls flat every single time.

[Big Red Machine]

Alvarez is speculating that redundancy cuts, getting rid of overly large contracts, people not being used, etc, are moves they would need to set up if Khan/McMahon were setting up the company to be sold.

Keller has speculated a bit recently that Vince would see the company and retire rather than go to the grave doing the job.


So if we all pool our money, how much do we have?

[Big Red Machine]

AEW already has an Omega

Ah. Yes. Because they both do a running knee strike and... are men... with hair? I guess AEW isn't interested in Bryan Danielson or Andrade Kota Ibushi, either.

Well, AEW doesn't have an unmasked Mexican Thunder Rosa


nor a submission specialit Angelico

nor a beautiful Japanese man. Michael Nakazawa

Murphy also doesn't have a tenth of those men's name recognition.

Neither did Darby Allin or Wardlow or MJF or Britt Baker before AEW started. Lack of name recognition is easy to overcome when you've got several hours of TV every week in prime time on a good station.

[Big Red Machine]

Ruby Riott is a must-get for ROH. They have a division but no top babyface.

[Thelone]

Keller has speculated a bit recently that Vince would see the company and retire rather than go to the grave doing the job.

Vince is clearly planning his exit with Nick Khan taking over the business side of the company, Stephanie keeping her spot as CBO and Hunter most likely moving up as head of creative when that happen. You can definitely make a case that those cuts are made to clean the books for a potential sale, but could also be Khan being more cartesian than Vince (not that hard) and just letting people who want out go/cutting big/needless contracts.

[cero2k]

Ah. Yes. Because they both do a running knee strike and... are men... with hair? I guess AEW isn't interested in Bryan Danielson or Andrade Kota Ibushi, either.

Well, AEW doesn't have an unmasked Mexican Thunder Rosa


nor a submission specialit Angelico

nor a beautiful Japanese man. Michael Nakazawa

Murphy also doesn't have a tenth of those men's name recognition.

Neither did Darby Allin or Wardlow or MJF or Britt Baker before AEW started. Lack of name recognition is easy to overcome when you've got several hours of TV every week in prime time on a good station.

Thunder Rosa is not a luchadora, Angelico's Navarro school is really different from 'technical wrestlers' like Dragon, by that sense you could say that Penta is also a technician. And would you really consider that Nakazawa is at Ibushi's level?

Yeah, all those wrestlers were not big names, but neither was AEW, in a way, they were all lucky that AEW got them when they started the promotion. I don't think WARDLOW would be getting signed at this point if he hadn't been signed from the get go. Murphy is a great worker, but that's it.

[Big Red Machine]

Well, AEW doesn't have an unmasked Mexican Thunder Rosa


nor a submission specialit Angelico

nor a beautiful Japanese man. Michael Nakazawa

Murphy also doesn't have a tenth of those men's name recognition.

Neither did Darby Allin or Wardlow or MJF or Britt Baker before AEW started. Lack of name recognition is easy to overcome when you've got several hours of TV every week in prime time on a good station.

Thunder Rosa is not a luchadora, Angelico's Navarro school is really different from 'technical wrestlers' like Dragon, by that sense you could say that Penta is also a technician. And would you really consider that Nakazawa is at Ibushi's level?

Yeah, all those wrestlers were not big names, but neither was AEW, in a way, they were all lucky that AEW got them when they started the promotion. I don't think WARDLOW would be getting signed at this point if he hadn't been signed from the get go. Murphy is a great worker, but that's it.

You didn't say Luchador. You said "Mexican." Ergo, Thunder Rosa counts. If it's an unmasked Luchador you want, then they have Orange Cassidy.

With Angelico, Excalibur is always pushing that he is different than the others because of his technical style. He is pushed as a submission specialist.

No, I wouldn't put Nakazawa at Ibushi's level... but I wouldn't put Angelico at Danielson's level, either. And a good chunk of the AEW roster is well below Buddy Murphy's level. Murphy is a great worker, and knows how to cut a promo without coming across like a clown. AEW needs more of that. He fills a need.

[KILLdozer]

I mean...Strowman they never seemed to know what they were gonna do and settle on it and stand by it...no matter what...so maybe he just got tired of it...but I do agree you think they'd at least try to keep him around just because.