Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre NOT the biggest releases in WWE history; Hall of Famer explains his choice

Modified Apr 14, 2025 09:30 GMT

Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre were once some of the biggest WWE releases [Image credits: WWE.com]

At one point in time, Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre were not WWE Superstars. Although they started their careers with the Stamford-based promotion, they were let go, before returning years later and becoming main event talents. Despite this, one Hall of Famer believes they are not the biggest releases in the company's history.

Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre are the caliber of superstars that can be the face of any wrestling promotion, but, early on in their careers that was not the case. Rhodes left WWE in 2016, while McIntyre departed in 2014. They were both released, but according to Hall of Famer JBL, there is another star whose departure was far more significant, and it's Jeff Jarrett.

Speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, Layfield was asked by host, Conrad Thompson about the biggest WWE release. In the 58-year-old's opinion, Jeff Jarrett's release in 1999 was the biggest. This is mainly because he believed Jarrett was a huge draw, and that history shows it was a mistake.

He pointed out how Double J went on to find great success with other promotions, including WCW, and later, founded his own promotion, which was none other than TNA.

"I always thought Jeff Jarrett was the one because you see what happened in history. Jeff went on and he really helped TNA and other companies. It would've been easier to keep him on the payroll. Plus, he was a draw!" said JBL. [00:25-00:40]

There is no denying that Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre are big names when it comes to releases. However, when it comes to success outside of WWE both in and out of the ring, few surpass what Jarrett has accomplished.

Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre will be focused on WrestleMania 41

Whether or not they're the biggest releases in WWE history will matter little to Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. After all, in a week, they will be performing in Las Vegas for WrestleMania 41.

Both superstars have huge matches ahead of them, against difficult opponents. The Scottish Warrior will be looking for revenge against one of the men who stole his World Heavyweight Championship moment around the same time last year, Damian Priest.

As for The American Nightmare, he is all set to main event Night 2 of WrestleMania. He will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against a heel John Cena.

WrestleMania weekend is bound to be exciting. It will be interesting to see if both men will come out on top in their respective bouts.

About the author

Nithin is a Pro Wrestling writer who covers WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree and has 4 years of content writing experience working for the likes of The SportsRush and GiveMeSport. His association with SK goes way back as he wrote for the pro wrestling division earlier, too, and interned with the team while pursuing his undergraduate degree.

Nithin’s writing style is inspired by the storytelling abilities of Japanese mangakas Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, and English authors like George R.R. Martin and JRR Tolkien. He strives to keep his reports accurate and relevant by keeping up to date with the pro wrestling world and catering to reader preferences.

He is a huge fan of Seth Rollins’ workhorse mentality and Sami Zayn’s never-say-die spirit. He says that if he could go back to The Attitude Era, he would love to manage Kurt Angle and bring out his ‘Wrestling Machine’ character much earlier in his career.

In his free time, Nithin watches, reads, and makes videos about sports on his YouTube channel ‘The Daily Raid.’ He also enjoys gaming, watching anime, and reading manga.

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Edited by Nithin Joseph