Likely Reason For The Wyatt Sicks & Aleister Black’s WWE Release

There is news about why some WWE superstars were released after WrestleMania.

The post-WrestleMania WWE roster cuts have become an annual tradition that nobody in the company looks forward to. The same thing goes for the fans of the superstars.

Among the WWE roster cuts on April 24th were the Wyatt Sicks stable, consisting of Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross, who was the longest tenured wrestler in the group.

Even though Gacy and Lumis were WWE Tag Team Champions, the stable wasn’t featured as heavily on SmackDown and weren’t wrestling on PLE shows either.

Another surprising cut was Aleister Black and his wife Zelina, who is a former Women’s US Champion. Black had a lengthy feud with Damian Priest in 2025 and wrestled Cody Rhodes on SmackDown as well, while teasing rivalries with the likes of Randy Orton and Sami Zayn, both of whom are big names on the blue brand. Even though Black and Zelina were heels on SmackDown, they weren’t being featured enough.

There was apparently a creative pitch at one point with Aleister Black being pitched as an ally of Randy Orton going into WrestleMania, in a role similar to what Pat McAfee was given.

“The idea was that if Black succeeded, it would prove Orton had never changed or evolved and was still the old Orton deep inside. We are told the idea was that Black and Orton would face off Mania weekend, with Orton would hesitate to use his punt kick and likely lose.

But then later attack Cody Rhodes as a Wrestlemania angle, using the punt to bring back the old Apex Predator and prove Black right all along. It’s unclear how far the pitch progressed through WWE’s creative process, but echoes of the original plan appear in Pat McAfee’s role, including the return of the Apex Predator and Orton punting Cody with the kick at Wrestlemania.”

Instead, WWE went with the shocking twist of Pat McAfee as Orton’s advisor, which didn’t go over well and ended as an angle in about three weeks.

WWE Owners TKO Group Not Interested In Supernatural Characters Like The Wyatt Sicks

The Wyatt Sicks, which was a tribute to Uncle Howdy’s brother – the late great Bray Wyatt – were unique characters different from everybody else.

On the current WWE roster, they lack the supernatural characters that existed in the past, like The Undertaker, Kane, and Bray Wyatt, to name a few. Wrestling fans like that sort of thing, but apparently, WWE owners TKO Group aren’t big fans of the supernatural.

In a Q&A posted on PWinsider.com, Mike Johnson wrote about how WWE upper management views those supernatural characters.

“I don’t know if there’s a pattern but I can tell you there’s been a story bouncing around among talents that someone in the TKO realm isn’t a fan of the darker characters and that’s been the blame placed on why The Wyatts, Aleister Black, Zelina, etc. were all cut.

One person even suggested to me that Undertaker being The American Badass and not The Deadman in appearances is proof of that outlook.

I have no way to prove that is correct, but the story has made the rounds this past week among numerous people we’ve spoken with. Whether there is something to it, or just assumptions, I can’t verify at this juncture. I guess we will see if and when WWE leans back into supernatural and dark characters again.”

The released superstars from the main roster have 90-day no-compete clauses, and the NXT releases are believed to have 30-day no-compete clauses.