WWE releases Braun Strowman, Aleister Black and more big names

WWE has said goodbye to Braun Strowman, Aleister Black and Ruby Riott in the latest round of releases.

The company – who let the likes of Samoa Joe, Mickie James and the IIconics go in April after WrestleMania 37 – has continued with its cuts and fans will be stunned by some of the sudden departures.

In a statement, WWE confirmed: ‘WWE has come to terms on the releases of Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott and Santana Garrett.WWE wishes them the best in all of their future endeavors.’

As reports were coming out about the releases, Black admitted he wasn’t expecting to be cut.

Confirming his exit, Black tweeted: ‘Im gathering my thoughts as this was a complete left field for me as obviously we just started the dark father character but this was it, thank you so much WWE universe for allowing me to create and give you small bits of myself. (sic)’

As first reported by Fightful, the former NXT Champion – who only returned to SmackDown last month and attacked Big E – is joined by Riott and Strowman.

The latter is a massive surprise, as the Monster Among Men has been around the main event scene for much of his WWE career.

When Roman Reigns dropped out of WrestleMania last year, Strowman defeated Goldberg to capture the Universal Title, and he faced off with Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania Backlash just weeks ago having faced Shane McMahon at the Show of Shows in April.

Lana was a steady fixture on WWE TV and appeared on Raw days ago, while Riott was on SmackDown last Friday. Fightful added that they weren’t sure if more releases were on the way.

Samoa Joe’s exit in April led to a big commentary reshuffle, and recent addition Adnan Virk has already left with Jimmy Smith coming in to replace him.

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