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WWE has released a plethora of Superstars over the years. Many of these releases came as no surprise, as they were expected to occur. Other releases have sent shockwaves throughout the WWE Universe all over social media and across the world.
Some of these names have moved on to wrestle with other organizations. A few names, unfortunately, never recuperated from their release and continued into a downward spiral in their personal lives.
Today, we look at five WWE Superstars who were released in 2021 and see what they are up to today.
#5. Andrade (January 2021)
Andrade was one of the more talented international WWE Superstars to join the roster back in 2015. Andrade made his big splash on the NXT Brand by defeating Tye Dillinger at NXT TakeOver: The End. He later turned heel and evolved his character.
Andrade aligned himself with Zelina Vega and went on to capture the NXT Championship from Drew McIntyre at NXT TakeOver: WarGames. After holding the title for 140 days, he dropped the title to Aleister Black at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
Andrade and Zelina were drafted to the SmackDown brand in 2018. Outside of a United States Championship reign and a feud between Rusev and Lana, Andrade had minimal success on the main roster and would later request his release from the company. The release request was granted on March 21, 2021.
Andrade is now wrestling with AEW and is the faction leader for the “Andrade Family Office.”
#4. Christian
Christian was a WWE mainstay, working for the organization from 1998 to 2005, then from 2009 to 2021. During his career there, he became a Tag Team Champion nine times (seven with Edge, and two separate runs with Chris Jericho & Lance Storm).
He was also a Hardcore Champion, European Champion, and Light Heavyweight Champion. He won the ECW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.
Christian had many historic rivalries which included Edge, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, William Regal, The Hardy Boys, and so many more. Christian continued wrestling for WWE until he was injured in early 2014.
His last match in WWE at the time was a victory over Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus in a Fatal 4-Way match to face Big E for the Intercontinental Championship. The match never came to fruition, as Christian was forced to retire after suffering a concussion.
Christian continued working with WWE in other roles until he made his surprise in-ring return in the 2021 Royal Rumble match. Shortly after the event, Christian’s contract expired with the company and was never renewed.
Christian signed with AEW in on March 7, 2021. He is currently in a feud with “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry.
#3. Lana
Lana signed with WWE in 2013 and was placed on the NXT roster as a valet to Rusev (her husband in real life). They quickly garnered a lot of heat as they became representatives of Russia, as her character majored in foreign affairs, using this to their advantage to make references to President Vladimir Putin and his anti-American ways.
After the stint on NXT, she moved on to SmackDown with Rusev. She continued managing her husband throughout the course of 2015 until a storyline that showed Rusev and Lana having issues which led to an initial split up.
Lana turned face through association as she started a relationship with Dolph Ziggler. The angle ended quickly after Lana injured her wrist while training.
Lana and Rusev returned to the company following their engagement, confirming the two were back together (in kayfabe). She would continue managing Rusev until he was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Lana began her journey as an in-ring performer with feuds with Brie Bella and Naomi.
Rusev returned from a shoulder injury. An angle was created with Lana cheating on Rusev with Bobby Lashley, but it was dropped very quickly once Rusev was released from his contract.
In the latter part of her career, Lana turned babyface and continued to improve in the ring after feuding with Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax for the bulk of 2020 and 2021. She would later be released by the company in June 2021.
Lana appeared on VH1’s The Surreal Life reboot. She has yet to return to the wrestling industry since her WWE release.
#2. John Morrison
John Morrison was the co-winner of the Tough Enough III contest alongside the late Matt Cappotelli. He trained in OVW and wrestled a few squash matches on WWE television from 2002 to 2004.
He became “Johnny Nitro”, starting off as Eric Bischoff’s assistant initially before moving on to form a tag team alongside Joey Mercury as the team, “MNM”, with Melina as their valet.
The team had success as WWE Tag Team Champions on three occasions. They would split up in mid-2006, Nitro would continue as a singles star. He became an Intercontinental champion by defeating Shelton Benjamin and Carlito at Vengeance (2006).
He and Mercury would eventually reunite as “MNM” but would break up for good in March 2007 after Mercury was released from his contract.
Nitro was drafted to ECW and became “John Morrison”, winning his first major championship at Vengeance (2007) by defeating CM Punk for the ECW World Championship.
After his run ended as ECW Champion after feuding with Punk, he would begin teaming up with The Miz and form an on-again/off-again friendship that would last for the remainder of his career.
Morrison would depart the company in 2011, only to return to the company in 2019 and reunite with The Miz. They won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship over The New Day at Super ShowDown (2019).
His biggest feud in WWE during this second run was with rapper Bad Bunny, as he and The Miz lost to Bad Bunny and Damian Priest at WrestleMania 37 (2021) in a tag match.
The Miz turned his back on John Morrison in August 2021, which was supposed to set up a feud between the two men, but those plans were scrapped after Miz was taken off WWE television to compete on Dancing with the Stars. Morrison was released from his contract in November due to budget cuts.
Morrison is now wrestling for AAA and made sporadic appearances in AEW as “Johnny Elite”.
#1. WWE's "Charasmatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy has had multiple runs in the company with tremendous success. “The Charismatic Enigma” is a former eight-time WWE Tag Team Champion (with brother Matt Hardy), Light Heavyweight Champion, Hardcore Champion (three times), European Champion, Intercontinental Champion (five times), United States Champion, World Champion (two times), and WWE Champion.
Jeff Hardy had many historical rivalries with Edge, Christian, his brother Matt Hardy, CM Punk, Sheamus, AJ Styles, Triple H, and many others. Hardy had multiple runs with WWE between 1994 through 2002, 2006 through 2009, and his latest run with the company from 2017 through 2021.
Hardy had his battles with drug addiction and alcohol abuse, which unfortunately overshadowed his wrestling career.
Hardy was released by WWE in December 2021 after walking out of a 6-man tag match during a live event. He was signed by AEW in March 2022, reuniting with his brother Matt to reform the Hardy Boyz.
Jeff would later be suspended indefinitely after being arrested for a D.U.I. and is currently attending rehab for his addiction struggles.
