News: WWE and The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) Have Agreed on Their Immediate Release
It was announced this morning that WWE has released The Revival tag team of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder. It was posted on WWE.com this morning with this statement.
Effective today, Friday April 10, 2020, WWE and The Revival have agreed on their immediate release from WWE. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
It was also reported by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet that The Revival are free as of now, which is why WWE put “immediate release” in the statement. There’s no 90-day no-compete clause.
FYI – I’ve confirmed with sources that The Revival do not have a no compete clause and are free to work wherever now, hence the “immediate release” wording from WWE.
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) April 10, 2020
There have been reports for months that The Revival have turned down contracts that WWE offered them that included raises. They turned them down because they were not happy with the creative direction of their careers. There were also reports that the team also requested their release multiple times, but WWE did not grant them…until today.
The Revival had a lot of success in their WWE careers after starting to team up in 2014. They were NXT Tag Team Champions two times including winning NXT Tag Team of the Year in 2016. On the Raw after WrestleMania in 2017, they made their main roster debut and went on to win the Raw Tag Team Titles two times and the Smackdown Tag Team Titles once. It’s pretty impressive to say that they won the tag team titles on all three of WWE’s brands.
Reports have come out about The Revival pitching ideas only for Vince McMahon to say no including late last year when they wanted to be in a stable with Randy Orton, but Vince turned it down. There are other things that they have pitched that didn’t happen, so that played a part in them wanting out of WWE. When you are frustrated creatively, no amount of money is going to change your mind. Orton tweeted this message today.
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) April 10, 2020
Dawson will turn 36 years old in and Wilder will turn 33 years old in May. When they wrestle outside of WWE, they will have a different team name.
The official WWE release means they can continue their “no flips, just fists” philosophy in another wrestling company.
TJR Thoughts: They are a great team that just didn’t fit the WWE mold in some ways. We all know how much Vince McMahon loves over the top personalities. These guys are traditional, old school wrestlers and they didn’t fit that WWE style. I think WWE could have used them better and if they did, maybe The Revival would have re-signed. I know Scott Dawson has a young family at home, so the WWE schedule is tough on a dad that wants to see his kids. Working for AEW means a much lighter schedule with no live events. It’s easy to see why they wanted out.
One of the greatest matches I ever saw in person was at NXT Takeover Toronto in November 2016 when they had an incredible match against DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) in a 2/3 Falls match. I rated it five stars out of five in my review. One of the best tag team matches I’ve ever seen too.
It’s expected that they will end up in All Elite Wrestling, who really are pushing their tag team division hard, so they should be a nice fit there. Let’s hope when they are free to sign in July that there’s a crowd there to welcome them to AEW or whatever promotion they end up in. I think it will be an elite future there.