5 Superstars who were quietly released by WWE

#2 Former WWE star Richie Steamboat

In my opinion, the biggest “what if” story in NXT history. Richie Steamboat was awesome. pic.twitter.com/RdRpLG7P7L

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) August 20, 2019

Many members of the WWE Universe won't be aware of the fact that Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's son Richie was once part of WWE's Performance Center for almost four years until his subsequent WWE release in 2013.

The former star was initially signed to FCW back in 2009 and later became part of the NXT brand when the company was completely revamped. Steamboat was training alongside his father who is currently part of the NXT set up as a trainer until he suffered a back injury.

Steamboat suffered the injury in early 2013 and it was reported to have marked the end of his wrestling career at the time, but the company wanted several months to see how the injury progressed. WWE were then given little choice but to quietly release the former star from his contract later in the year.

Back in April 2015, his father, WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat, announced that due to the injury and recent surgeries, his son wouldn't be able to wrestle again.