10 Wrestlers WWE Needs to Release

WWE has one of the deepest rosters professional wrestling has ever seen.

That isn’t necessarily a good thing.

There are only so many hours of television every week, only so many meaningful storylines and only so many spots near the top of the card. At some point, WWE has to ask a difficult question: Is keeping a wrestler under contract actually helping WWE—or the wrestler?

This isn’t necessarily a list of the ten worst wrestlers in WWE. Some of them are talented. Some have been successful. Some are incredibly popular.

But if WWE were trimming its roster today, these are ten names I believe it could afford to lose.

And yes, I’m fully aware some of these are going to piss people off.

Good.

10. Angelo Dawkins

For years, there has been speculation about what would happen if WWE finally separated The Street Profits.

I’ve even read that Montez Ford didn’t want the team broken up because he didn’t want Angelo Dawkins to become the next Marty Jannetty. Whether that particular story is actually true, I can’t verify it.

But the concern itself isn’t difficult to understand.

Because Montez Ford has practically everything WWE should be looking for in a potential singles star.

The charisma is there. The athleticism is there. The personality is there. The look is there.

At some point, remaining permanently attached to The Street Profits stops helping Ford and starts limiting him.

Yes, Ford and Dawkins are currently World Tag Team Champions. That doesn’t change the larger question. They’ve already won championships together across NXT, Raw and SmackDown. What else is there for Montez Ford to prove as one-half of The Street Profits?

And when I look at Dawkins as a potential singles wrestler, I don’t see the same upside.

His in-ring work is mediocre at best, and I’ve never seen anything from his microphone work that makes me believe WWE could build a compelling singles character around him.

Not everyone has to be great on the microphone. Wrestling history is filled with wrestlers who benefited tremendously from managers.

But there still has to be something worth managing.

It’s time to find out how far Montez Ford can actually go.

And unfortunately, that probably means leaving Angelo Dawkins behind.

9. Jade Cargill

This was probably the easiest name on the entire list.

Jade Cargill looked like an absolute superstar in AEW.

Then she came to WWE.

And suddenly the weaknesses became much harder to hide.

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way: Jade looks like a million bucks.

She may have one of the best superstar presentations in professional wrestling. If you showed someone who had never watched wrestling a photograph of the WWE women’s roster and asked them to identify the star, Jade would probably be one of their first choices.

Then the bell rings.

Or she gets a microphone.

WWE has given her every opportunity imaginable. She even held the WWE Women’s Championship for 169 days before losing it to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 42.

But presentation can only take someone so far.

When Jade is working with someone experienced enough to guide the match, WWE can protect her weaknesses. When she isn’t, those weaknesses become painfully obvious.

The difference between looking like a professional wrestler and actually being a great professional wrestler is enormous.

Jade Cargill has mastered the first part.

I’m still waiting on the second.

8. Je’Von Evans

I know.

He’s young.

He’s athletic.

He’s exciting.

And apparently WWE sees enormous potential in him.

I don’t.

Je’Von Evans can do some spectacular things inside a wrestling ring, but WWE already had somebody who could do virtually everything Evans does—and do it while looking considerably more believable against larger opponents.

His name was Ricochet.

And WWE wasted him.

Yet now we’re supposed to believe Je’Von Evans belongs anywhere near major championship conversations?

Evans desperately needs either more size or another dimension to his character that compensates for it. Being able to jump incredibly high isn’t enough when seemingly half the modern wrestling industry can perform moves that would have been considered impossible twenty years ago.

And then there’s the OG Cutter.

Don’t even get me started.

Actually, we’re already here.

It’s a Cutter with extra bouncing.

There. I said it.

7. Joe Hendry

Say his name and he appears.

That’s the problem.

Eventually he has to do something after appearing.

Joe Hendry’s character worked in TNA. It worked in NXT. The unusual presentation, the music, the audience participation and the absurdity of the character made him stand out.

On WWE’s main roster?

I’m not seeing it.

WWE has absolutely tried. Hendry has been involved with significant names and programs since arriving on Raw. This isn’t a case where somebody was called up and immediately forgotten in catering.

The character simply hasn’t translated.

Sometimes an act is perfect for a particular environment. Move it onto a bigger stage and suddenly the things that made it unique become exposed as limitations.

That’s where I think WWE is with Joe Hendry.

I believe in Joe Hendry.

I just don’t believe he belongs on WWE’s main roster.

6. LA Knight

YEAH!

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

I don’t understand the continued fascination with LA Knight.

His popularity is undeniable. I’ll give him that.

But popularity and quality aren’t always the same thing.

Knight’s entire promo style feels like someone watched hours of Steve Austin and The Rock and decided the perfect wrestling character would be somewhere in between.

It isn’t.

Austin’s promos worked because Steve Austin sounded like Steve Austin.

Rock’s promos worked because The Rock sounded like The Rock.

LA Knight too often sounds like somebody trying to manufacture pieces of both.

And inside the ring?

Mediocre.

Knight is now in his 40s. This isn’t a 25-year-old prospect where WWE can reasonably expect another enormous developmental leap.

We’ve seen LA Knight.

We’ve seen what he does.

We’ve seen what his ceiling looks like.

And in my opinion, that ceiling was reached years ago.

YEAH.

5. Michin

This one is different because I actually think Michin has talent.

That’s precisely why keeping her around makes so little sense.

What exactly is WWE doing with her?

Her involvement with Jade Cargill eventually resulted in Michin and B-Fab essentially becoming Jade’s backup.

Why?

I’ve talked before about feuds that should have ended with opponents developing mutual respect and eventually becoming partners.

This wasn’t one of them.

Instead of establishing Michin as something meaningful on her own, WWE has effectively positioned her as another piece of someone else’s presentation.

If WWE doesn’t see anything more for her than that, let her go somewhere that does.

Sometimes releasing somebody isn’t an indictment of their ability.

Sometimes it’s admitting you have absolutely no idea what to do with them.

4. R-Truth

When WWE released R-Truth before, I was as surprised as anybody.

When the company reversed course and brought him back, I was even more surprised.

And initially, I was happy about it.

Especially when WWE started moving away from R-Truth and toward Ron Killings.

There was something there.

After years of comedy, we were finally getting an opportunity to see a more serious version of the man behind the character.

Then WWE screwed it up.

Now we’re right back where we started, except WWE has another comedy act occupying significant television time in Danhausen.

And here’s the problem:

Danhausen is fresher.

He’s also more entertaining.

There is absolutely a place for comedy in professional wrestling. Some of wrestling’s most memorable characters have been funny.

But how many comedy acts does WWE need occupying television time simultaneously?

Truth has given WWE more than anyone reasonably could have expected from this character.

It’s time.

3. The Bella Twins

Yes, I’m counting them together.

Because separating them would mean I’d have to write essentially the same thing twice.

I have never understood the revisionist history surrounding The Bella Twins.

Neither Nikki nor Brie Bella ever belonged in a WWE ring.

Their greatest contribution to WWE wasn’t wrestling.

It was reality television.

Total Divas turned them into mainstream personalities and helped WWE reach an audience professional wrestling wasn’t reaching before. I’ll give them credit for that.

But being a reality television star doesn’t automatically make somebody a great professional wrestler.

And now they’re back.

In 2026.

Competing for championships.

Why?

WWE’s women’s division has evolved dramatically since the Divas era. The expectations are higher. The athleticism is better. The matches are better. The talent pool is deeper.

Yet we’re reaching backward for The Bella Twins.

Without Total Divas, I genuinely wonder whether either Bella would be remembered as anything more than another act from the Divas era.

They’ve had their run.

Actually, they’ve had several.

That’s enough.

2. Jimmy Uso

Jimmy Uso is the Marty Jannetty of the entire Bloodline.

There.

That’s the argument.

Look at everyone surrounding him.

Roman Reigns became the defining WWE star of his generation.

Jey Uso broke away and proved he could become a legitimate singles attraction.

Solo Sikoa developed his own identity.

Jacob Fatu looks like somebody WWE could build around for years.

And Jimmy?

Jimmy is…there.

Whenever Jimmy delivers a serious promo, I feel like I’m watching somebody audition for a high school production of Shakespeare.

Everything feels exaggerated.

Every facial expression.

Every pause.

Every line.

Then there’s the wrestling, which I’ve always considered mediocre outside the context of a tag team.

Jimmy benefited tremendously from being one-half of The Usos and later from being attached to one of the greatest wrestling storylines WWE has ever produced.

But eventually you have to evaluate the performer without everything surrounding him.

Strip away Roman.

Strip away Jey.

Strip away Solo.

Strip away Jacob.

Strip away The Bloodline.

What’s left?

Not enough.

1. Matt Cardona

Matt Cardona is in tremendous shape.

Let’s establish that immediately.

Physically, the guy has taken care of himself better than a huge percentage of wrestlers from his generation.

That’s not my issue.

My issue is that Matt Cardona feels like a wrestler from another era who has been dropped into WWE’s current product.

And I don’t think he fits.

Cardona deserves credit for reinventing himself after WWE released him in 2020. He went onto the independent scene and demonstrated that Zack Ryder wasn’t the extent of what he could do.

But coming back to WWE hasn’t convinced me that the company actually needs Matt Cardona.

Interestingly, Chelsea Green really did play a role in opening that door. Cardona has explained that Green spoke with WWE President Nick Khan after Cardona’s NXT appearance, Khan told her to have Cardona contact him, and that conversation helped lead to Cardona’s eventual WWE return.

So Chelsea’s connection to his return isn’t speculation.

But here’s my speculation:

I honestly wonder whether part of WWE’s motivation for bringing him back was keeping Chelsea happy and ensuring she had every reason to remain with WWE rather than eventually looking elsewhere.

I can’t prove that.

But watching Cardona on WWE television hasn’t given me many other compelling reasons why the company desperately needed him back.

He’s 41 years old. WWE isn’t developing its next generation around him.

He’s not going to become the face of the company.

And with a roster this ridiculously deep, every television segment given to someone whose best years are behind him is a segment that can’t be given to somebody whose best years might still be ahead.

Matt Cardona proved there was life after WWE.

Maybe WWE should let him go prove it again.

⸻

The point of releasing wrestlers shouldn’t simply be cutting costs.

A release can create opportunity.

It creates an opening on television for somebody else. It forces WWE to stop relying on familiar names. And sometimes it gives the released wrestler the freedom to reinvent themselves somewhere else.

WWE has more talent than it knows what to do with.

Eventually, having the biggest roster stops being an advantage if half of that roster has nowhere meaningful to go.

These are my ten.

I’m sure you disagree with at least one.

Probably several.

That’s what the comment section is for.