WWE Releases Finding New Homes Following Non-Compete Expiration
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Back in late April, WWE released a long list of talent, with many of those performers required to serve a 90-day non-compete clause before returning to the ring. Now that those restrictions have officially expired, several former WWE stars are already making their next moves across the wrestling landscape.
Uhaa Nation In TNA
The first major return came from Apollo Crews, who has resumed using his longtime ring name, Uhaa Nation. He made his post-WWE debut at TNA Slammiversary, appearing as the mystery opponent in a match involving Mustafa Ali and Rich Swann. His appearance marked the beginning of what has quickly become a wave of former WWE talent resurfacing on television and the independent scene.
The Independent Scene
Another familiar face wasting no time is Joe Gacy, who is now competing under the name Joseph Swayer. The former Wyatt Sicks member has already begun accepting independent bookings and recently teamed with fellow former Wyatt Sicks member Dexter Lumis—now once again using the name Samuel Shaw—at an Atomic Legacy Wrestling event.
Zoey Stark has also returned to action, now competing as Zoey Serrano. She made her debut in RevPro’s Women’s Grand Prix. This marks not only her first appearance since departing WWE, but also her return from a serious injury. At the time of her release, Stark was expected to miss close to a year with the injury.
Several other recently released stars are also beginning to make public appearances. Members of the Wyatt Sicks, and the former Zelina Vega—now going by Xelina, are scheduled to appear at WrestleCon this weekend in Minnesota. They are not currently advertised to wrestle. But, the convention will mark their first autograph signing appearances outside of WWE since their departures.
TNA And AEW Debuts
Thursday night also brought additional movement from WWE’s latest class of releases.
Ahead of TNA Impact’s live television taping in Philadelphia, former WWE LFG competitor and NXT trainee Sirena Linton made her TNA debut in a match before the live broadcast. It remains unclear whether the bout was a dark match or taped for a future episode of TNA Impact.
Later in the evening, AEW Collision featured another notable debut as The Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin returned to All Elite Wrestling in front of their hometown crowd in Detroit. The duo addressed the audience in the ring before officially announcing that they are “All Elite.”
Although this marks their first time signing with AEW, it wasn’t their first appearance for the promotion. Shelley and Sabin previously competed at AEW All Out 2022. They teamed with Jay Lethal in a six-man tag team match against FTR and Wardlow.
With several high-profile names from WWE’s latest round of releases, such as, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Kairi Sane, Santos Escobar, Aleister Black, and others. Now free to compete, the wrestling world will be watching closely to see where the next wave of talent lands.
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