WWE Releases 2020: 5 couples who have been split

The past few months have been hard on the wrestling business, as a whole, as audience members have been forced out of arenas and even WrestleMania was forced to take place behind closed doors earlier this month.

Vince McMahon was then forced to announce that the company would be making budget cuts when it came to all of their employees across the board. He then went on to release around 30 on-screen names whilst furloughing a number of producers in the hopes that they would be re-signed in the coming months when the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.

Some of the names were surprising when the list was first released on WWE.com, but it's even more surprising that many of the released stars still have spouses in the company and will now have to find a way to work around this.

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#5. Lana and Rusev

It's well known that even though Lana is currently in a relationship with Bobby Lashley on WWE TV, the former Total Divas star is married to Rusev, who she has been in a relationship with since 2013. Lana signed a new five year deal with WWE a few months ago, and it was believed that her husband would then follow in her footsteps, but this wasn't the case.

Rusev was released along with a number of other stars last week and reports now suggest that Lana will remain with WWE and continue this storyline with Bobby Lashley, even though the story doesn't make a lot of sense without Rusev as the babyface.

It will be interesting to see if The Bulgarian Brute follows through with the rumors and does make the move over to AEW. Lana and her husband then become another couple that is split between the two promotions.

#4. Rachael Ellering and Kassius Ohno

It's been made clear by former NXT star Kassius Ohno over the past few days, that he was one of many NXT stars who were quietly released by WWE late last week. Ohno was once one of the main stars in NXT and at one point he was the man who was pitched to be in The Shield instead of Roman Reigns, but recently Ohno has been plying his trade on NXT UK.

The star who was once known as Chris Hero was a shock release from the company last week and now that he's confirmed that he has departed from WWE, he will be leaving his longtime girlfriend Rachael Ellering behind.

Ellering signed with WWE back in 2016 and often appeared on the NXT brand under the name Rachael Evers. Back in January 2019, Ellering was re-signed to WWE and started appearing on the developmental brand under her real name after her father parted ways with the company when he was fired by The Authors of Pain following their promotion to the main roster.

#3. Mandy Rose and Tino Sabbatteli

Mandy Rose has been pushed into a high profile feud on the SmackDown brand over the past few months with Otis from Heavy Machinery looking to land his dream woman. Ahead of WrestleMania, it was revealed that there were some sinister plans in place, hoping that Otis and Mandy wouldn't end up together, but the couple still defied the odds and connected following Otis' WrestleMania match with Dolph Ziggler.

Whilst Rose is playing her role well on WWE TV, she recently talked about the fact that her real-life boyfriend is on board with the storyline so far. Rose didn't name her mysterious man, but back at the 2018 Hall of Fame Ceremony, it was revealed that the former Tough Enough star was in a relationship with NXT talent Tino Sabbateli. Tino will be known to WWE fans from his tag team exploits with Riddick Moss before he was promoted to the main roster.

The former NFL star was one of the many NXT stars who were quietly released from WWE at the tail end of last week.

#2. Chelsea Green and Zack Ryder

Chelsea Green and Zack Ryder have been dating for around three years and announced their engagement back in 2019. When the couple first began dating, Green was still working for Impact Wrestling and has since been able to move over to WWE where she now appears on the NXT brand.

Zack Ryder has been part of WWE's main roster for more than a decade and finally, after the couple waited to both be part of WWE at the same time, Ryder was one of them who was released from the company last week.

Green is part of the Robert Stone Brand in NXT and looks like someone who the company is looking to push in the coming months, so there isn't much chance that she will be joining her fiance in another promotion in the coming months.

Although there are rumors that WWE could be set to re-hire some of the talent that was released when the lockdown is finally over, it's believed that Ryder could be one of the names on that list.

#1. Sarah Logan and Erik

The only main roster female wrestler who was released from WWE last week was Sarah Logan, who had only performed on RAW in a match against Shayna Baszler just two days earlier. The former Riott Squad Member had fallen out of favor following the team's split and whilst Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan had a feud of their own, Logan was left on the sidelines.

Logan's release came as a surprise since she's married to former Raw Tag Team Champion Erik of Viking Raiders. The couple often travels together and now it means that for the first time in their relationship, Logan won't be on RAW at the same time as her husband.

There have been various rumors over the past few days that suggest that Logan could appear on RAW in the coming days and then be re-hired by WWE when the current COVID-19 situation has passed. Logan was mentioned numerous times on RAW, which means that it would make sense for her to appear as part of the current feud between Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan.