On April 15, 19 main roster WWE stars were released by WWE for cost cutting measures.
Today we look at their greatest moments during their tenure with the company and celebrate their career.
Most of them are now without a job, because there is no place to wrestle in the current climate. If you can, check out their merchandise stores and support them.
Kurt Angle: Beating HBK At WrestleMania 21
Picking the greatest moment for one of the greatest of all time isn’t easy.
The Hall of Famer ended his in-ring career last year at WrestleMania 35 with a loss against Baron Corbin.
While this might be the exact opposite of his greatest moment, that also happened at WrestleMania.
In fact it’s more a whole match than a moment. The match between ‘Mr WrestleMania’ Shawn Michaels and the ‘Wrestling Machine’ Kurt Angle is considered to be one of the greatest ‘Mania matches of all time.
His victory over Michaels on the biggest stage of them all is something Angle can always look back on and be proud of.
Rusev: Entering WrestleMania With A Tank
In 2015, United States Champion Rusev was challenged by record-time WWE Champion John Cena for the title.
The match was set for that year’s WrestleMania and the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ wanted to impress.
While DX are only claiming they invaded WCW with a tank, Rusev got the real thing on the stage of WrestleMania 31.
The match itself was great aswell, but to this day people remember Rusev and his big tank at the grand daddy.
Drake Maverick: Beating Mike Kanellis On 205 Live
For a long time, Drake Maverick was the General Manager of 205 Live.
While some might only remember him for the 24/7 title involvement, Maverick himself actually names this moment as his favourite.
In one of the best long-term programs of the brand he got involved in an intense rivarly with Mike Kanellis.
Kanellis claimed he wasn’t given enough opportunities by Maverick and one day Drake just had enough of it.
The brutal unsanctioned match unfolded in July 2019 and is one the greatest matches the brand has ever produced.
But, Maverick’s matches in the upcoming Cruiserweight Title tournament, his last matches for the company, just might top that.
Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins: Winning The Raw Tag Team Championship At WrestleMania
Both Ryder and Hawkins (Hawkins with a break) were with the company for over twelve years.
The duo won their first set of tag team titles in 2008 but hadn’t teamed again for over a decade prior to last year’s victory.
During this time Hawkins was on a losing streak and after he was attacked by the Revival his old friend Ryder came to make the save.
WWE ignored the storyline for the upcoming weeks and just announced the match in a backstage segment after the last Raw before WrestleMania.
The match itself was fantastic and Hawkins broke his losing streak with a championship victory at WrestleMania, with his best friend by his side.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows: Winning The World Tag Team Cup
The incredible tandem of Gallows & Anderson weren’t really used to their full potential after signing with WWE in 2016.
They won two sets of the Raw Tag Team Championship in their career, but their biggest spotlight was probably when they became the “best tag team in the world”.
The O.C. was able to win a tag team gauntlet match in Saudi Arabia, beating multiple other teams to achieve this victory.
Heath Slater: Becoming The First Ever SmackDown Tag Team Champion
In 2016 Heath Slater found himself undrafted and therefore campaigned on both Raw and SmackDown to be signed.
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan, General Manager and Commissioner on the brand at the time respectively, took the chance on Slater.
If the former WWE Tag Champion would be able to win the tournament to crown the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions, he would receive a SmackDown contract.
His partner: Rhyno. The ECW legend who himself took a chance on Slater and defeated him to win his SmackDown contract a couple of weeks prior.
The two were able resolve their differences though and capture the SmackDown Tag Titles against the Usos at Backlash.
Eric Young: Winning The NXT Tag Team Championship With Alexander Wolfe
Young simply did not have any moments on the WWE main roster unless you count his debut.
His fantastic stable SAnitY was quickly dissolved and Young was never really used again until his release.
On NXT however he was fantastic and won tag team gold alongside Alexander Wolfe during NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III.
Rowan: Coming Out Of The Roman Reigns Attacker Storyline Stronger
After a complete mess of a storyline between him, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan and (briefly) Luke Harper, everyone thought this did not benefit anybody.
But Rowan, who was eventually revealed as the attacker and also split from Daniel Bryan in the process, made it out insanely strong.
He was able to turn this negative into an incredible opportunity. He took the ball and ran with it. Having moment after moment.
Most notably a fantastic promo on September 10, 2019. So it was only logical to give him an even worse storyline after his draft to Raw involving a robotic spider in a cage and then release him, I guess.
Sarah Logan: Runner-Up In The 2019 WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal
After splitting the Riott Squad, WWE never really used Sarah Logan again.
Her only big moment came during WrestleMania 35 last year, when she was the runner-up for in Women’s Battle Royal.
The entire crowd thought Logan won the match, before Carmella came up from behind and eliminated Logan. WWE never took advantage of the great reaction Logan got.
No Way Jose: Wrestling Austin Aries At NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II
The one time No Way Jose got to show his abilities was in his feud with Austin Aries.
Jose, who recently talked about his WWE release with WrestleTalk, went from party animal to serious competitor and was able to pull off some entertaining matches with ‘A-Double’.
Mike Kanellis & Maria Kanellis: Feuding With Each Other Over The 24/7 Title
WWE also never really got behind the Kanellises.
However, after signing a big $500,000 contract each, both were put in what became known as the ‘cucking storyline’.
This involved Mike being humilaited by his own wife, who forced her husband to drop the 24/7 Championship to her.
EC3: Beating Dean Ambrose On Raw
His biggest moment also became his downfall for some reason.
When EC3 beat former WWE Champion Dean Ambrose on his way out of the company, the fans still cheered for Ambrose.
The company blamed that, for some reason, on EC3. So the biggest victory in his WWE career ultimately let to his demise.
Aiden English: Spearheading Rusev Day
Aiden English is a former NXT Tag Team Champion, but the biggest spotlight came to him, when he began teaming with Rusev.
Obviously Rusev was the main focus of ‘Rusev Day’, but it was Aiden’s voice which made the act as great as it was.
From the innital formation to the ‘one night in Milwaukee’ angle, English made moment after moment for Rusev Day special.
Lio Rush: Winning The NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Rush did not have the best of times in WWE. Being described as rather difficult backstage, he was pulled away from the main roster before he was able to shine on his own.
After a contract dispute, Rush returned to NXT TV and won the Cruiserweight Championship off Drew Gulak on the first live episode of NXT on USA.
He would become the last Cruiserweight Champion before the title was put under the NXT umbrella.
Primo & Epico Colon: Succesfully Defending The WWE Tag Team Championship At WrestleMania XXVIII
By far the longest tenured stars on the the list of released workers are Primo and Epico Colon.
Since they also had long phases without doing anything with the company, their greatest moment dates a few years back.
While Primo and his brother Carlito also combined the WWE and World Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 25, Primo and his cousin Epico defended those titles three years later at the show of shows.
The duo defeated Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd aswell as the Usos to remain on the top of the tag team mountain in WWE.
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