#2 Jack Swagger
Out of all of the releases to date in 2017, Jack Swagger is probably the one that shocked fans the most.
Coming out of college at the University of Oklahoma, Swagger had accumulated a plethora of skills that he could have used to be successful in practically any field he decided to go into. In the end, he opted for a career in professional wrestling and in 2006, Jacob Hager became Jack Swagger and he was then assigned to WWE's developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling.
Throughout the years, Swagger has been a fairly underwhelming and overall not very impressive. Swagger has had some success with the company since arriving on the main roster, becoming the ECW Champion at one time, as well as the United States Champion and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It's also worth mentioning that Jack also won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match in 2010.
In March, Swagger announced on Chael Sonnen's podcast, that he had indeed asked for his release from his WWE contract. However, WWE responded two days later that they had declined his request to be released. Just a couple of weeks after that announcement, WWE officials then confirmed that Swagger had been granted his release.
Since leaving the company he has kept a pretty busy independent schedule. While there have been conflicting reports as far as why he left the company, Jack spoke with The Main Event Radio show back in May and made the following statement regarding his release:
"I had been with the company for 10 years. I’m very fortunate for the career that I had. What it really was is a business decision. I valued myself at a certain price, they valued it at another. I’ve gotta move forward. It was just time for a change; time for Jake Hager/Jack Swagger to go out and see other opportunities."