WWE Shocks Fans with Sudden Releases During SmackDown

Tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown was supposed to set up things for Elimination Chamber, and while it certainly did, many WWE fans were focused on something else that was happening during the show. About midway through SmackDown Cedric Alexander revealed he was no longer with WWE, but it seemed like it could be an isolated release. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and since then WWE has released 6 superstars in total, and it’s not known if more releases are coming (via Fightful).

As of now, tonight’s releases include Alexander, Sonya Deville, Paul Ellering, Akam, Rezar, and Blair Davenport. Fightful did report that in Deville’s case, her contract is set to expire in a number of weeks, so she will be able to jump into free agency immediately after her deal expires.

Even with that caveat, Deville’s name is the most surprising one here. Deville has been a strong presence whenever she is on TV, and she was recently part of the Pure Fusion Collective on Raw alongside Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark. Even if the group ended up getting split, no one expected Deville to no longer be that presence on TV, let alone released.

The other surprising name on this release list is Blair Davenport. Davenport was called up from NXT last year to be on the SmackDown brand, and she never really had the chance to form a persona or get over with the crowd. An injury would sideline her for a time, but when she came back she was barely featured on TV before being released.

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Alexander is surprising too, mostly because he was regularly being featured on NXT and had signed a new deal not that long ago. He announced his release on X, telling fans he’s not done with wrestling and that he will see them in 90 days.

As for Akam and Rezar, it’s been a surreal journey for them on this latest WWE run. Reports indicated that they had been signed by WWE for a while before they made their returns on Television. They would join with Karrion Kross and Scarlett to form the Final Testament faction and would go on to have several feuds on Raw and SmackDown. Over the past few months though, they’ve barely been seen on TV, with Kross appearing on his own more in backstage segments or on social media, and if anyone was with him, it was Scarlett and not the rest of the group.

We’ll keep you posted on any other WWE news we hear, but we wish everyone affected by the releases all the best and hope to see them back in a ring as soon as possible.

You can talk all things wrestling with me in the comments or on Bluesky @knightofoa.