Where are they now? 5 prominent WWE stars who left the company

WWE is a huge wrestling company, and they are quite unbeatable after they acquired WCW. But, it is not the only company around in the wrestling scene. WWE is a huge company, and there is no second say in that, but regardless of the size, it gets only a certain amount of television hours which leads to some stars not being utilized as per their capability.

For the past few years, we have seen an influx of talent enter and exit WWE. The reason for their exit can be numerous, but the one which is speculated widely is the introduction of WWE Network. The transition from traditional PPV to the network has decreased the pay of many superstars. Disagreement with the management can be another reason for their exits.

As there are many other ways to make money, these superstars have decided to move away from the company. We’re going to find out where they all are now as we look at five stars that have left WWE in the last few years and what they’re currently doing.

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#5 Ryback

The 'Feed me more' guy always stays in the news because he makes controversial remarks about various WWE stars.

After a very tumultuous professional relationship, WWE decided to release Ryback in August 2016. A few days later, he announced that he is open for independent booking. Ryback has had a fairly good independent career as he has won all his matches since August 2017. However, his stint has been plagued by shoulder injuries.

Although he hasn't made it clear whether he will join AEW or not, he is highly complimentary about the new company. In an interview with Josh Wilding of RingReport, he says

"Right now, my main priority is just getting healthy," he said. "I just had another shoulder scope yesterday which was my second one in two years. I've had ten stem cells procedures and I've got the eleventh coming up on Feb. 11. That, right now, is my main focus."

"I think it's great having competition with All Elite Wrestling. I'm very happy for everyone involved. I think it's good for professional wrestlers to have options and there's different promotions that are doing a lot better now because of the visibility social media provides so it is one of those things where you might not have to work for WWE to have a successful career or to make a good amount of money.

#4 Ted DiBiase Jr.

The heritage and lineage this wrestler carries are incomparable. He is the son of Ted DiBiase Sr. who is a Hall of Famer himself. He has won the Tag-Team Championship twice alongside Cody Rhodes during his run in WWE. He was a crowd favourite wrestler, and according to the rumour mill, he was being considered to break the Undertaker's streak which is quite shocking to hear now.

He didn't let his legacy choose his career as he let his contract expire in 2013. He worked in the indies for a while, but he chose to stay away from the wrestling scene completely.

Surprisingly, unlike very few wrestlers, he chose to do a desk job. According to Wikipedia, he started to work as an executive for a college textbook e-commerce website known as College Garage Sale. He is now the vice president of business development for One Life.

#3 Bad News Barrett

Bad News Barrett was one of the most entertaining gimmicks WWE could ever come up with. During 2014-2015, he didn't wrestle even a single match, but he would stand on the podium and deliver 'bad news' to the audience which they enjoyed thoroughly.

He used to get an amazing response from the audience and we can call him a borderline babyface. But, all this came to an end when he won the 'King of the Ring' competition and dropped his 'Bad News' gimmick. Then, he became the member of the League of Nations and he then finally left WWE after a year.

According to Sports Illustrated, after his departure, he started working in movies like Vengeance, John Gold etc. He was also open with commentary, both in football and wrestling.

In 2018, made his Lucha Underground debut on the season 4 finale. He appears in an epilogue style segment, in which he appears with a cigar, and referring to his old catchphrase used in WWE.

#2 Jack Swagger

'We the People'

The OG's would surely remember this catchphrase. After a 13-year-old career in WWE, Swagger decided to move on from WWE to the Independent circuit. In 2018. he debuted in the Lucha Underground as a heel.

He started this year by giving a huge surprise to everyone. Swagger declared that he is going to make his MMA debut at Bellator 214 on Jan 26th. He fought a match against JW Kiser, and he won the match via submission in the first round which was very impressive.

He has gained a lot of confidence, and he is declared that he is no CM Punk, but he is more of Brock Lesnar because the latter and Swagger are Division 1 wrestlers.

#1 CM Punk

CM Punk is the most controversial wrestler in WWE, and there's no two say in that. His infamous pipe-bomb promo had caused a lot of troubles for the star as he broke the fourth wall and completely disregarded Vince McMahon.

However, he held the longest reigning World Champion tag for a very long time before Brock Lesnar destroyed it with his part-time champion nature. He joined UFC in 2014, and he fought two matches which ended disastrously. His UFC run is considered as a joke by many because he failed in both the matches in a pretty shameful manner.

His contract with UFC is not over yet. Currently, he is working with Cage Fury Fighting Championship (a UFC affiliate) as a commentator.

According to Dave Meltzer, he has received a call from the AEW regarding his return to the wrestling scene, but Punk is not interested anymore.

According to Ringside News, Meltzer says,

"CM Punk does not seem like he wants to do anything with pro wrestling. He has plenty of opportunities. I know he hates WWE and he has every right to after that lawsuit. That doesn't mean he should hate New Japan and AEW and all that.

"The reality is he's still under contract with UFC somehow even though they'll never use him again, but you know he doesn't seem to want to be around wrestling. If he doesn't, more power to him. If he wants to be around wrestling he can call them. They've already called him, I know that. He just doesn't want to be around wrestling."

Edited by Ben Roberts