5 recently released WWE Superstars who were once too big to fail

#2. Aleister Black found a new home soon after his WWE release

Aleister Black's career faded after he moved from NXT

Since 2020, WWE has released several big names to cut costs. Not many releases have been as big a surprise as Aleister Black’s release.

Black joined WWE in 2016 before going on a golden run in NXT. The superstar was presented as almost unbeatable. He enjoyed a good NXT Championship reign before moving to the main roster.

WWE continued his winning ways on RAW and SmackDown for some time before handing him a loss to AJ Styles. The creative team then started underutilizing the superstar even though many fans saw him as a future WWE Champion.

After not being used for several months, WWE gave him a new gimmick before surprisingly releasing him in June 2021. The release surprised the WWE Universe and the superstar himself. Black spoke to Renee Paquette on the Oral Sessions podcast regarding his release and the backstage reaction to his exit.

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.

— Malakai Black (@TommyEnd) June 2, 2021

“There’s been outpouring support from friends, colleagues, family, and fans. It’s helped” Aleister noted. “I’ve spoken to a lot of higher-ups and they don’t understand it.”

“Throughout the entire company there is a ‘why him?'” Aleister Black revealed. “It’s a good feeling that the perception you have of ‘why am I being let go?’ is shared by many high up in the company that are very close to the boss.”

Only WWE could put all that effort into heavily produced return promo segments for Aleister Black as well as have him begin a feud with Big E, only to then release him days later. Vince dropped the ball with him big time. #WWEReleases 🤔🤦🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/XDuIFQej29

— Joshua Crisp 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@IAmJoshua_) June 2, 2021

The Striking Man from Amsterdam was seemingly too big to fail in WWE. Throughout his career, he was seen as someone who could become the next face of the company. However, WWE decided to cut Black’s stay in the company short and gave its competitor a massive name in the process.