"Black Friday" is a term that is usually associated with retail and consumerism. That feeling of dread leading up to Thanksgiving that reminds you that you have to buy your Christmas presents ASAP. This definition does not apply to WWE, although it does share that same feeling of dread. WWE's version of "Black Friday" marks the day that a lot of talent are "future endeavored," where they are released from the company.
They haven't done a spring cleaning like this in a while. It was believed that they would let the talents' contract expire if they choose not to renew it. However, no one expected WWE to sign on the likes of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson from NJPW. Not to mention NXT signed on various talents to their performance center, from other indy promotions, and most recently veterans from TNA. With WWE declaring this year being the "New Era," with a slew of talents getting signed up or called up from NXT, along with their current talent being put into new storylines and challenges, it was inevitable that WWE had to take a look and see who to keep and who to let go. In this case, some talents already felt they were not being utilized creatively and chose to either leave amicably or not to renew their contract.
This is the list of the future endeavored so far. I've also included other notable names who were released prior to Black Friday.
Wrestlers Released
- Hornswoggle
- Alex Riley
- El Torito
- Cameron
- Santino Marella
- Wade Barrett
- Damien Sandow
Other Talent Released
- Zeb Colter
- Kyle Edwards (released last week)
- Rich Brennan (released last week)
There are other talents who are expected to be walking out the door at least this year. Titus O' Neil will not be renewing his contract, especially since he came back from a lengthy suspension for grabbing Vince McMahon's arm when Daniel Bryan announced his retirement. Ryback made it clear in his Tumblr post that he doesn't care if WWE releases him before his contract ends in September. And there are other talents that have been mysteriously absent recently, such as Heath Slater, Adam Rose (still under suspension for violating the wellness program), and Jack Swagger. Vince seems to be waiting for a major name to be released and he thinks it could be someone like Dolph Ziggler or Randy Orton.
It looks like that's it for now.
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