Many fans expected The Fiend to get revenge on Randy Orton at WrestleMania after he had set him aflame back at WWE’s TLC pay-per-view in December 2020. Instead, the lackluster match saw Orton win in less than six minutes from a single RKO, and since then, neither The Fiend nor Bray Wyatt has been seen. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding his absence, and now, Mike Johnson of PWInsider has reported that he is being kept off television by design, and he hasn’t any backstage heat.

The WrestleMania match did come across as writing off The Fiend character. However, he sells so much merchandise it’s hard to believe WWE isn’t planning on him eventually returning. There has previously been a questionable report claiming he is dealing with mental health issues, but no reputable sources have validated that. It’s possible WWE’s creative team just feels less is more with The Fiend as they currently have Alexa Bliss and her demonic doll Lilly on Raw. It will, though, be surprising if he doesn’t return in time for SummerSlam in August.

Lio Rush has announced his intention to retire from the wrestling business due to suffering an injury and deciding that competing in the squared circle is no longer best for him and his family. He does intend to honor his New Japan commitments, but after that, at the age of just 26, the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion will step away.

This news became a hot topic of conversation on social media. While many fans were worried about Rush and his mental health, one person who seemingly wasn’t was WWE ring announcer Greg Hamilton, who would quote tweet the news along with the below derogatory comment.

After being called out for this by fans, the SmackDown ring announcer deleted the tweet. Then when asked by a fan why he chose to remove it, he simply replied, “You tell me…..” There isn’t any publicly known heat between the pair, and they wouldn’t have worked together much, being on differing brands for most of their WWE careers. So at present, only Hamilton knows where the hostility came from.

Six wrestlers were released last week by WWE, but the most shocking name was that of Braun Strowman. The promotion had heavily pushed him since he broke away from the Wyatt Family stable and was the ultimate company man. The issue was his $1.2 million a year contract, which Vince McMahon no longer felt he warranted, and when budget cuts were decided upon, he was deemed expendable.

Having only ever having worked for WWE and previously being among Vince McMahon’s favorites, he stated in a previous interview that he would not put on his boots for anyone else. However, at 37 years of age, he still has many years left to wrestle. According to PWInsider.com, he is asking indie promoters five figures to appear on their shows once his non-compete expires.

While this initially sounds like a large sum when many indie wrestlers only earn a few hundred dollars, having Strowman on a show will virtually guarantee a vast increase in ticket sales. Additionally, he has been earning $100,000 a month from WWE, so he doesn’t need to work anytime soon and afford only to work a few high-paying dates a year.

Tammy Sytch, known best to wrestling fans as Sunny, was once the most downloaded celebrity on the internet and was honored by WWE with a Hall of Fame Induction in 2011. Sadly, her life has been troubled with legal issues since then, with her having been arrested over a dozen times and spending time in both rehab and prison. After spending 2019 locked up, Sytch was released in February 2020 and was focused on building up signups on an adult website and was supposedly making over $100,000 a month from subscribers.

Sadly she wouldn’t remain out for long after being arrested on July 13, 2020, while still on parole. She was charged with eluding a police officer, contempt/violation of a domestic violence restraining order, and operating a motor vehicle during a second license suspension. This resulted in being incarcerated at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in New Jersey.

Now though, PWInsider has today confirmed that she has been released and is again a free woman as of this morning (June 9, 2021). Hopefully, she can now put her troubled past behind her, and begin to rebuild her life.

Thea Trinidad, who wrestled for WWE as Zelina Vega, was let go by the company last year for breach of contract. The decision came straight from Vince McMahon, unhappy she opened a third-party account after WWE had imposed their ban. Now that her husband Aleister Black has also been let go by the promotion, he has publicly discussed her release during an interview on Renée Paquette’s podcast.

At the time, it was speculated that Black might have considered asking for his release as a show of solidarity. However, it appears that was never the case. Black was still ready to give his all to WWE, and it had seemed his perseverance had paid off after the company began hyping his return during numerous vignettes on SmackDown. Sadly for him, he’d only make one appearance on the blue bland before his own release, with the company citing budgetary reasons.

Now with both of the married couple free agents, it will be interesting to see whether they go on to work together in the future. There had been reports WWE was looking at Vega back with her recently seen at the Performance Center, but all has been quiet on that since.

New Japan contracted wrestler Lio Rush has announced his intention to retire less than two weeks after making his AEW debut. He was the 21st, and final entrant, also known as the joker in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing, and during the match, he suffered an injury. Now, in an Instagram post, he has announced that he has re-evaluated his life and decided that he will step away from the business once he heals up and completes his obligations with New Japan.

26-year-old Rush is a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion but was released by the company as part of the companies mass cuts in April 2020. He did contemplate quitting the business previously to focus on music and went as far as to wrestle a retirement match against Joey Janela. However, he would return a few months later. Since then, he has competed for MLW, New Japan, and even wrestled as a Spider-Man-inspired character called Aracno at AAA TripleMania XXVIII. Additionally, he appeared on MTV reality show The Challenge but quit the show citing mental health reasons.

Ryback was aligned with Paul Heyman in 2013 as part of the former ECW head honcho’s feud with CM Punk. The pair’s relationship didn’t elevate the former Skip Sheffield, and it’s understood Ryback was unhappy working with Heyman. He’d later claim that Heyman had made his career from latching onto successful wrestlers.

Now during a recent virtual autograph signing with Highspots, Heyman has taken the opportunity to take his own shot at Ryback. He did this after being asked which wrestler he’d worked with previously that he knew would never become a big star.

Ryback’s career decline has been staggering as previously, he was one of the biggest stars WWE had. However, after leaving the company, he failed to capitalize on his prior success and has not wrestled since 2018 following a back injury that required over a dozen stem cell procedures. Late last year, he said he was training for a return and regularly teases wrestling for various promotions without actually following through. This has resulted in fans no longer taking him seriously, and many doubt he’ll regain his former glory.

Despite making record profits, WWE is frequently releasing talents and citing budgetary reasons for this. It’s then typical to see the recently let-go talent take to social media and thank WWE for the opportunity to have worked for them. The general belief is that the talents want to remain on good terms with the company, hoping to get re-hired in the future. However, Karl Anderson, someone with experience being released by WWE, has a very contrary opinion in this tactic. Instead, saying on his Talk N Shop podcast that the wrestlers should be telling the promotion to f*ck off.

There is little evidence that being nice to WWE results in being given a second chance. Yet, over the years, many outspoken critics of Vince McMahon and the company have found themselves back on his payroll, often for big money. Ultimately if WWE can make money with someone, they will hire them regardless of past comments.

In Anderson’s case, he and longtime tag partner Luke Gallows have proven there is life after WWE, having signed with Impact Wrestling with the option to wrestle for New Japan when feasible. Additionally, they are working with AEW as part of their working relationship with Impact and likely being well paid due to being in a prominent position alongside Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks.

Aleister Black was among six wrestlers unexpectedly let go by WWE last week. His release was shocking as the company had spent several weeks promoting his new gimmick through multiple vignettes, and he’d just returned to SmackDown attacking Big E on the May 21 episode.

Now the former WWE talent has reverted to using his prior ring name Tommy End and has been spending some of his free time talking to fans on his wife Zelina Vega’s Twitch account. During these streaming sessions, he has been sharing various tidbits with fans about his WWE run and revealed he was set to get new entrance music, going as far as to play it for those watching.

As a prominent member of the WWE roster, Black’s release came with a 90-day non-compete clause, so it will still be some time before returning to the ring. This likely frustrates the Dutchman as he hasn’t gotten to wrestle since October 12, 2020, where he lost a no disqualification match to Kevin Owens. When he is free, it will be interesting to see where he ends up as it’s anticipated that all the major promotions will be interested in him.

Nick Gage and Jon Moxley are currently feuding in Game Changer Wrestling, with a match between the pair expected later this year. Although at Sunday night’s Zombie Walk pay-per-view, a different former WWE talent got involved in Gage’s match. Gage, who recently received a lot of attention due to his Dark Side of the Ring episode, was defending his GCW World Title against Jimmy Lloyd when a man dressed in black hit the ring.

At first, fans believed it was Moxley due to the mannerisms and poses used. The mystery man even hit Gage with a Paradigm Shift, the finishing move of the AEW star. However, he’d remove his face covering to reveal himself as Matt Cardona, previously known as WWE Superstar Zack Ryder. This resulted in fans chanting “F**k Zack Ryder” as he celebrated in the ring. You can watch this for yourself below.

Cardona and Gage have been arguing over social media recently, and Gage invited Cardona to attend last night’s show. Many doubted this would happen, considering that one is a sports entertainer that collects action figures while the other is a deathmatch wrestler previously convicted of bank robbery. Now though, the mismatched pair look set to wrestle in the future, and it will be interesting to see if Cardona competes under the unconventional deathmatch style.

On Monday’s night episode of Raw, US Champion Sheamus wrestled two matches. The first was a non-title match against Ricochet, who won in just over a minute following Humberto Carrillo’s entrance distracting The Celtic Warrior. This led to Carrillo and Sheamus wrestling, and during this match, the Irishman was struck on the nose by Carrillo’s forearm. It was clear Sheamus was hurt due to the amount of blood coming from his nose, but he still finished the match, again putting over his opponent via rollup.

Sheamus has since shared the above two photos on Twitter showing he has undergone surgery to repair his nose. At this time, it isn’t known how long Sheamus will be out of action, but the standard recovery time is 1-2 months. If this is the case for Sheamus, it will allow him time to return for SummerSlam in Vegas on August 21. As he is currently United States Champion, WWE will now need to decide whether to take the title off him. He has previously stated he has no plans to vacate, but ultimately that won’t be his decision.

Aleister Black’s final WWE took place on October 12, 2020, where he lost a no disqualification match to Kevin Owens. Following that, he went on an extended hiatus, and as his wife Zelina Vega had been released on November 13, 2020, after she went against the companies third-party ban and later tweeted support for unionization, many thought he was borrowed time. It would later be reported he was training at the Performance Center for a potential return, and on the April 23, 2021, episode of SmackDown vignettes became promoting his return, leading up to him attacking Big E on the May 21 episode.

All looked to be going well for Black with him back on television, and working a program with one of WWE’s most popular babyfaces, however seemingly out of nowhere, he was released from the company due to budget cuts alongside Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Buddy Murphy, and Santana Garrett. While Strowman’s release was the most shocking, Black’s release also raised eyebrows. However, Booker T doesn’t seem to be among those shocked as speaking on his Hall Of Fame podcast, the WWE legend has stated that Black didn’t stand out from everyone else on the roster.

Many fans on social media objected to Booker T’s take, noting that a guy with over 50 tattoos covering much of his body with an occultist gimmick that speaks like a Bond villain isn’t like anyone else currently on the roster. Additionally, it should be noted Black can only do what he is permitted by WWE, with everything going through writers and producers before making television. Now though, with Black soon able to resume his career outside the confines of WWE in September, he will have much more creative freedom both in terms of his character and in-ring repertoire.