The roundup on the reported WWE and NXT releases.
On Friday, WWE held their most recent round of releases, with PWInsider and Fightful Select revealing the names of those who are no longer with WWE throughout the day. It’s worth noting that, while it’s currently unclear whether any of these departures are a result of the company allowing contracts to expire rather than releasing them, any released talent will have a non-compete clause to adhere to before taking bookings elsewhere, with main roster talent having to wait 90 days and NXT talent having to wait 30 days before making their next week.
Below is a list of those who have reportedly been released from WWE, with many having already addressed their departure via social media.
- Braun Strowman – ‘The Monster Of All Monsters’ had returned to WWE in 2022 after being released around a year earlier. Most recently, Strowman found himself in the United States Championship scene, with his Last Man Standing match with Jacob Fatu proving to be a particular highlight of the last few months.
- Shayna Baszler – Baszler’s last WWE appearance came on April 11 when she and Zoey Stark, as part of Pure Fusion Collective, took part in a match to earn a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. The 44-year-old’s departure brings to a close her eight-year run with the company.
- Dakota Kai – the Damage CTRL member hadn’t wrestled since March at the time of her release and had expressed frustration with her recent absence, clarifying to fans that she wasn’t injured. Known as ‘Evie’ outside of WWE, many fans will be excited to see what the 36-year-old does in the future. It was noted by Fightful that Kai is expected to receive outside interest and offers moving forward.
- Kayden Carter and Katana Chance – the former WWE and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions had competed sporadically across multiple brands over the last year before leaving the company. They most recently held gold in January 2024 and individually competed on WWE Speed at the start of this year.
- Gigi Dolin – Dolin had been with WWE for four years, having signed in 2021, and is a former two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion. The former Toxic Attraction member had been teaming with Shotzi and Tatum Paxley as part of Chemical X in recent months.
- Cora Jade – Jade was a prominent member of the NXT roster in the over four years she spent with WWE. Returning from injury last October, the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion had been by the side of Roxanne Perez for around six months and even competed for brand’s Women’s Championship at Vengeance Day in February.
- Eddy Thorpe – the 34-year-old competed for the NXT Championship on three separate occasions from December 2024 to February 2025 and last competed on the brand just over two weeks ago. Prior to signing with WWE three years ago, Thorpe wrestled for New Japan and it’s possible he could look to return to Japan in the future.
- Javier Bernal – after making his NXT debut in 2021, Bernal appeared across multiple of the company’s developmental brands and his most recent appearances came on Evolve. As for televised matches, fans last saw him on Tuesday nights back in July 2023.
- Jakara Jackson – having signed with WWE in 2021, Jakara Jackson became prominent when she aligned with Lash Legend, Oro Mensah and Noam Dar. As part of Meta-Four, Jackson has contended for Women’s Tag Team Championship gold four times including a title match on pay-per-view at Crown Jewel in November 2024.
- Oro Mensah – the second Meta-Four member to be released, Mensah’s time with WWE ended after six years. Mensah is a former NXT UK Tag Team Champion alongside Ashton Smith and, on Tuesday nights, competed for a myriad of titles including the NXT and North American Championships respectively.
- Gallus – Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came together on NXT UK back in 2018. As part of the group, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang would win both the NXT and NXT UK Tag Team Championships, with the former also winning the Heritage Cup during his time with the company.
- Riley Osborne – following his debut in the NXT Breakout Tournament, Osborne made his name as part of Chase University. However, when the group were forced to disband in November, the 27-year-old was only seen on NXT live events and Evolve.
- Dani Palmer – coming through the WWE Performance Center in 2022, Palmer mostly appeared on NXT Level Up and live events. Most recently, she featured on the first few episodes of Evolve.
- Shotzi – adding to the list of releases, Fightful learned that Shotzi has been informed of WWE’s decision not to renew her contract. As yet, there’s no indication as to when her deal is up but the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion will be free to take bookings outside WWE for the first time since 2019 when her contract expires.
We wish all those affected by the recent WWE releases all the best in the future and will continue to update this page with any further names should they emerge in the coming days.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the WWE releases as soon as we hear more.
