Samoa Joe was one of the stars WWE decided to release and Renee Paquette was not happy
WWE released nine stars as part of their budget cuts in 2021, leaving quite a few shocked.
This came out of the blue but was reminiscent of the actions taken in 2020. WWE released and cut 20 wrestlers last year, almost on the same day.
Miro, Kurt Angle and several other big names were cut and the same took place this time too. Of the nine or so stars released the big ones cut were Samoa Joe, Chelsea Green, Mickie James, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.
Royce and Kay are formed tag team champions on NXT and won the WWE Women’s tag titles at WrestleMania too.
However, they were split up fairly recently but WWE decided to cut them. James is a future Hall of Famer and WWE never gave the former Women’s champion and proper final run in the company.
Joe is a former NXT Champion and won the US title during his time on the main roster. The former TNA champion is still one of the best in the world but injuries cut short his time in recent months. He was still doing a lot of commentary but Renee Paquette claimed WWE made a big mistake with this release:
“How do you drop the ball on SAMOA JOE?!?!? How?! Injuries aside, what a mistake.”
Paquette was one of the top interviewers and hosts in WWE before she left the company. That was her own decision and she is now doing great with a cookbook and her own podcast.
The American was also shocked at some of the other releases by the company. She wasn’t happy with the release of Kay and lauded the IIconics member:
Further, Paquette also couldn’t believe that Mickie James and Chelsea Green got cut by the company:
Joe never winning the top WWE title during his time in the company is a mystery. He had all the tools to be the champion but his time never came.
Nevertheless, there are several options now for wrestlers to move to. Impact, ROH, NJPW and AEW would be looking to snap up some of these stars and it will be interesting to see where they go once their 3-month cool down period is done.
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