September 21, 2023 is a sad day for many in wrestling as several WWE stars have been released from the company with more names likely to come.
Veteran names and relatively new names alike were all let go on Thursday and fans are naturally curious as to what the next step for such stars could be.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, who has been the go-to source for Thursday’s releases, provided fans with a timeframe as to when the talents are likely eligible to wrestle for another promotion. As per usual for main roster releases in WWE, Ross notes that most talent being cut are under the usual 90-day non-compete clauses, meaning we won’t see many or all the names wrestle until the Christmas season.
What WWE Stars Were Initially Released On September 21?
WWE hasn’t had a day full of mass releases in quite sometime, but September 21 unfortunately saw a return of that. WWE stars such as Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, Elias, Emma, Riddick Moss, Shelton Benjamin, Rick Boogs, Aliyah and Top Dolla were all let go from the company on Thursday.
Ziggler by far was the longest-tenured name to be released, and names like Emma and Top Dolla were two stars to have the shortest runs as both were recently re-signed to the company following Vince McMahon leaving the company back in 2022.
Those previous names join over 100 employees last week to be laid off from WWE and unfortunately, it appears more names will be released later in the day on Thursday with the likely focus being NXT.