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The wrestling world is full of competition right now and the rise of AEW means that many WWE stars now have an option when their contracts are due to expire. Tye Dillinger requested his release and moved over to AEW, much like Dean Ambrose back in April when his deal came to an end, whilst Neville decided to wait out his contract before he was released by WWE before joining AEW a few months later.
Whilst the likes of Randy Orton and a few others are putting out teases on Social Media stating that they are looking to move before re-signing huge contracts, many superstars are seriously considering switching over to AEW because they don't feel they are gaining everything they currently require from WWE.
Here are just five WWE stars who have publically requested their release from Vince McMahon's conglomerate company over the past year.
#5. The Revival
The Revival were two of the first stars to be looking over their shoulders at AEW, since it was well known that they had history with The Young Bucks. The duo were said to have not been happy with their careers on the main roster, which is why they requested their release from the company back in January.
WWE's response to this was to give them the Raw Tag Team Championships and later the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, in the hopes that they would re-sign with the company when their contracts expired. The company denied their request to be released and as their expiration date edges closer, they are doing everything they can to try to make the duo re-sign rather than have them head over to AEW and help their stacked Tag Team Division.
#4. Luke Harper
Luke Harper was once part of The Wyatt Family before the group split and went their separate ways. As a former Intercontinental Champion, it was thought that Harper would be one of the break out stars after the split, but instead he was paired with Erick Rowan once again and the duo became known as The Bludgeon Brothers.
At WrestleMania back in 2018, the duo were finally able to claim the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, but an injury to Rowan meant that they were then forced to drop the titles unexpectedly and the company then had no idea what to do with Harper.
With Rowan sidelined for a number of months, Harper wrestled on NXT a number of times but seemingly became frustrated this year around WrestleMania when Rowan had returned to the ring without him and WWE still hadn't given the former Champion any kind of storyline to sink his teeth into.
Harper requested his release from the company back in April, but the company once again denied this request and allowed him to rejoin Rowan a few months later. The duo has since been split in the WWE Draft and it's now unknown what the future holds for Harper.
#3. Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger had a fantastic run in NXT. Known as The Perfect 10, he was over with the WWE Universe and was even able to debut in the Royal Rumble at number 10. Sadly this wasn't enough to give him a boost on the main roster.
WWE dropped the ball with Dillinger and he finally decided that he had given up when he requested his release from the company back in February and posted publically on Twitter that he had decided it was time to walk away, on his Birthday.
Unlike every other star on this list, WWE granted Dillinger's release from the company just three days later. Following his release, Dillinger went back to using the ring name Shawn Spears and was able to debut for AEW at Double or Nothing in May, alongside former WWE star Dean Ambrose.
Spears has since become known as The Chairman in AEW and is now seen as one of the biggest stars in the company, having recently taken on The Bad Boy Joey Janela in a standout match as part of their Full Gear pay-per-view.
#2. Mike Kanellis
After weeks of being caught up in a storyline with his pregnant wife, who would belittle him at every turn, Mike Kanellis had finally had enough before he decided to request his WWE release back in October.
Sadly for Mike, this was just weeks after he and his wife Maria had signed on for five more years, which means that the company went on to deny his request. It's interesting to note that the former 24/7 Champion hasn't been seen on WWE TV since his release request and there has been no continuation of the storyline concerning his wife's pregnancy on Raw.
Mike made his WWE debut back in 2017 when he and Maria debuted at Money in the Bank, they were set to become WWE's next big IT Couple but reports suggested that Vince McMahon was no longer a fan of Kanellis, which is why he was relegated to 205 Live.
Maria then left on maternity leave to give birth to her first child, before she later revealed that she was pregnant for a second time and it has been downhill for the couple ever since.
#1. Sin Cara
Sin Cara became the latest in a long line of stars to request his release from the company when he tweeted his thoughts on his career over the past few years. It was on November 11th ahead of Raw in the United Kingdom that the masked star decided to tweet out to the company and request his release.
Cara had been part of a feud with Andrade ahead of this request, but the feud came to an end just a week ago and reports stated that Catalina had been sent back down to NXT. This meant that the story between Andrade, Zelina Vega, and Sin Cara was officially over.
It's thought that the company had perhaps informed Cara that there was nothing in the pipeline for him at present, which is why he decided that the only thing left was to ask for his release.
Even though his release was in Spanish, translated it reads:
"Last night, after praying and considering it a lot, thinking about my children and in the future, I made one of the most difficult but sensible decisions I have had to make in my professional wrestling career; I have asked for my WWE release."
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