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The McMahon family returned on Raw this week to address the free-fall that Raw had experienced over the last two weeks.
In order to hype up the proposed changes, they announced that six wrestlers from NXT would be joining the main roster soon.
Among the call-ups were Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Heavy Machinery, and EC3.
Since six new wrestlers will be coming up to the already crowded rosters with several under-booked stars (Andrade Almas, the Revival, Shinsuke Nakamura, the IIconics) some wrestlers might either be released or not used.
Here are some wrestlers who might be released in the coming months in order to make room for the superstars joining the main roster.
Mojo Rawley/Zack Ryder
Zack Ryder has been with WWE for more than a decade.
Mojo Rawley has been with WWE or NXT for four years.
While the Hype Bros team had a few interesting moments, the shelf life of the team was not very long.
Rawley's spastic nature and 'over-hyped' nature actually resembled an out of control child more so than an adult male.
Ryder has always been over with the crowd, but both men have been off of television for quite some time.
Rawley was getting a little footing as a more serious heel, but feuding with No Way Jose can only get you so far.
Since both Ryder and Rawley don't really have roles in the current state of WWE, other than possibly jobbing to others, they might either ask for their releases or just be released outright.
Either might have better success on Impact or NJPW, but it does not appear like either has much of a future in WWE.
Tamina/Alicia Fox/Dana Brooke
Dana Brooke was pegged for bigger things once she debuted on the main roster as an ally of Emma.
After that, she was used as a goon for Charlotte Flair.
Ever since she's been primarily a singles' competitor, Brooke has floundered.
She's often found herself at the bottom of the pecking order on Raw due to her limited in-ring skills.
She's easily behind practically everyone on the Raw Women's roster, save for Tamina when it comes to in-ring skill.
She was thought to get a big push because of her bodybuilding background, but she proved to be botch-prone, and rough in the ring.
Ever since then, she's struggled to get on Raw. She even recently expressed her frustration with her lack of use on Monday nights.
Tamina always seems to have a place in WWE.
It's probably due to the chairman's love for Jimmy Snuka.
But when she's wrestling a match, Tamina isn't on par with the likes of Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Bayley or Mickie James.
She's a veteran of WWE which is why she's probably been kept around.
She's usually best used as muscle for someone, but once that partnership ends, she hasn't had the most success as a singles' star.
Alicia Fox is perfectly fine as a character and decent as a wrestler.
She is one of the longest-tenured females on the roster.
The new generation of women, however, have passed her by in terms of wrestling ability.
She's always good for an entertaining bit, but with so many talented young women's wrestlers down in NXT, she might get cut to make room.
Gallows and Anderson/the Colons
The duo basically addressed their WWE status on SmackDown when Anderson mentioned that they hadn't been on television in four months.
Four months.
Some champions have longer reigns than that.
The former Club is a great team and that's why they were initially signed by WWE.
They probably would have had a little more success had they been paired with AJ Styles or Finn Balor permanently, or for at least a year.
They did aid Styles when he feuded with Roman Reigns.
Rather than being the other team in multiple-team matches or not on TV altogether, the Good Brothers should be used as a butt-kicking heel team.
Let them do their talking in the ring, rather than on the mic.
The Colons have been with WWE for what seems like almost a decade. They've been around since 2010ish but haven't had anything resembling a push recently.
The whole timeshare gimmick was more annoying than anything.
It's a shame because they are both pretty talented in the ring. Perhaps they might request a release to pursue other things.
Unfortunately for them, they either haven't had a chance to show personality, or aren't the best on the mic.
Whatever the reason is, they just haven't clicked with the WWE Universe.
No Way Jose/Sin Cara/Shelton Benjamin
It's been said in the past that Mr. McMahon loves himself a dancing wrestler gimmick.
We've had Adam Rose, Fandango and No Way Jose as just a few of the more recent examples.
Jose's act was okay for the smaller NXT stage, but once he's been on Raw, he hasn't had much success.
He's fine in the ring and has some obvious charisma, but for whatever reason, he just hasn't had much of an opportunity to shine in one form or fashion.
Dancing gimmicks never really translate to success, so perhaps he could salvage himself if allowed to change his gimmick.
If not, he might be cut or ask for his release.
Sin Cara has had some good moments in the ring but the gimmick was dead on arrival back when the original Mistico was under the mask.
A few unsafe moments during matches didn't help his cause either.
Not speaking doesn't help, but he'd be better suited for a promotion like Lucha Underground or Impact.
The Lucha House Party pretty much has a monopoly on all things lucha libre not named Rey Mysterio in WWE.
Shelton Benjamin returned to team with Chad Gable.
He looked bigger than ever, but we haven't seen much of him on SmackDown.
He had a few good matches, including one with Daniel Bryan, but other than that and failed tag team title pursuits, Benjamin has been nonexistent in WWE.
Perhaps he understood how he would be used, but he'd probably be getting more screen time and storylines if he went back to ROH or NJPW.
Hideo Itami/Kassius Ohno
Hideo Itami was touted as one of the bigger signings for NXT before a huge slew of independent wrestlers from all over the world would follow suit.
Itami and Balor had a partnership in NXT, and both were treated as main-event level stars in NXT.
Unfortunately for Itami, he got hurt right when things were picking up in NXT.
Stars like Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, and others were joining the yellow brand.
Once he was healthy, he returned for a bit, but debuted on Raw to help out Balor once again.
After that though, he was shipped to 205 Live.
His prospects on the main roster appeared to be limited due to being smaller and not speaking the best English.
His in-ring skill was never in doubt, but with the possible folding of 205 Live, will Itami get a chance to shine on Raw or SmackDown like Mustafa Ali?
Or will he ask to be released and return to Japan?
Kassius Ohno sort of fell into the same trap as Itami.
A whole slew of indie stars had been signed by NXT as was Ohno.
He used his resigning as a restart of his NXT career, saying he wasn't ready for it and that he was too cocky in his initial run.
It worked for a bit, but once Adam Cole, Ricochet, EC3, the Velveteen Dream, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and several others debuted, he was sent to the back of the line.
They worked that fact into his storyline with Matt Riddle, but he might want more than being a stepping stone for incoming stars.
Or who knows, maybe he's fine with it.
He might be on the chopping block either way.
