5 WWE Superstars who were fired in the middle of a storyline

#1. The Ultimate Warrior - Fired while WWE was being investigated

The Ultimate Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014

Until his WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2014, there was a lot of bad blood between The Ultimate Warrior and WWE. He was once poised to succeed Hulk Hogan as the franchise star of the company, but things didn't work out due to numerous circumstances.

For one, The Ultimate Warrior had a clash with Vince McMahon over his WWE contract. He felt that he deserved to be paid $550,000 for his WrestleMania VII appearance along with several other guarantees on his contract.

The timing of it was tricky for McMahon and WWE. At first, he agreed to the demands and ensured The Ultimate Warrior that no superstar would get paid more than him for his pay-per-view appearances.

This, however, turned out to be a ploy from Vince McMahon, who needed The Ultimate Warrior for SummerSlam. After the pay-per-view, WWE suspended him, with Vince McMahon hitting back over the threats made. The Ultimate Warrior refused to accept his suspension and walked away from the company.

Eventually, things cooled down and WWE was able to bring Warrior back for WrestleMania VIII - where he returned and saved Hulk Hogan after the main event. It was believed that his 1992 return would lead to another WWE Championship reign, but this period coincided with the federal investigation that WWE was facing over reported illegal supply of steroids to its performers.

The Ultimate Warrior was a heavy steroid user at this time and was fired because of it by WWE in 1992 along with Davey Boy Smith (The British Bulldog). Speaking to MLW Radio, Warrior opened up about what happened (H/T WrestlingInc):

“Vince was feeling the heat from the federal investigation in what ultimately became an indictment over the steroid thing,” said Warrior. “It’s another one of those instances where he did what he had to do to protect his foremost interest, which was himself and his business. He made the claim that me and Davey Boy, Davey Boy got let go at the same time, that we had violated the drug policy at the time, which wasn’t true.”

The Ultimate Warrior's release from WWE happened while he was in the middle of a storyline. He was set to team up with the "Macho Man" Randy Savage to face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon at Survivor Series.

However, WWE released him before the pay-per-view.