Rhea Ripley Issues Heartbreaking Statement After 20+ WWE Stars Get Shockingly Released
Rhea Ripley was on SmackDown to celebrate, but it was also a tough night for the WWE Women’s Champion for other reasons.
There is always a lot of excitement in WWE during Wrestlemania season in the lead up to the show. However, coming out of WrestleMania week, reality seems to have set in, as the annual post-WrestleMania WWE cuts took place on the same day as the first Friday Night SmackDown after WrestleMania 42.
On Friday, April 25th, 25 WWE superstars from the main roster and NXT were released by WWE. In some cases, it might be because they have a contract coming up and WWE has chosen not to renew it, but in most cases, it’s usually because WWE wants to move on.
Ths list of names released from the main roster are below.
Aleister Black
Zelina
Kairi Sane
Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy of the Wyatt Sicks
Nikki Cross of the Wyatt Sicks
Erick Rowan of the Wyatt Sicks
Joe Gacy of the Wyatt Sicks
Dexter Lumis of the Wyatt Sicks
Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns
Alex Shelley of the Motor City Machine Guns
Santos Escobar
Apollo Crews
Zoey Stark
Alba Fyre
In NXT and WWE’s developmental system, the following superstars were let go. Some of these names were on past WWE LFG seasons, while others wrestled on NXT for several years.
Andre Chase
Dante Chen
Sirena Linton
Tyra Mae Steele
Chris Island
Tyreik Igwe
Tyson Dupont
Luca Crusifino
Malik Blade
Trill London
Francois Prinsloo
The news of the WWE releases broke in the afternoon of April 24th, as WWE superstars were preparing for that night’s SmackDown episode in Fort Worth, Texas.
Rhea Ripley won the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania 42 this past weekend and was featured heavily on SmackDown, but she also went on X/Twitter to share her thoughts about the WWE releases because several people released were her friends.
Today’s been a very sad day… Absolutely guttered for my friends and comrades 😔Worst time of the year. Go prove them all wrong! ❤️
— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) April 25, 2026
Today’s been a very sad day… Absolutely guttered for my friends and comrades 😔Worst time of the year. Go prove them all wrong! ❤️
Rhea Ripley Was Confronted By A New Challenger On WWE SmackDown
After winning the WWE Women’s Title from Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42, Rhea Ripley went on SmackDown and praised Cargill for putting up a fight in their match.
Ripley would go on to say it’s her time to prove that the WWE Women’s Champion is a fighting champion, so Ripley called for anybody to step up to “Mami” for a fight.
That led to Fatal Influence’s Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid showing up. Earlier in the show, the trio that was called from NXT made their mark on SmackDown by attacking Paige, Brie Bella, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss.
The confident former 2-time NXT Women’s Champion Jayne got in Ripley’s face, and the two women exchanged words. What was interesting was that Jayne was booed heavily by the fans, and it was difficult for her to do the promo because the arena in Fort Worth, Texas, was so loud. Eventually, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis booked the Ripley-Jayne match.
Rhea Ripley and Jaycy Jayne went on to have a competitive non-title match. Just as Ripley set up for the Riptide about 10 minutes into the match, Henley went into the ring to hit Ripley and cause the disqualification. After the match, the trio of Henley, Reid, and Jayne attacked Ripley, while nobody tried to help Ripley. Jayne hit her Rolling Encore elbow smash on Ripley to put her down. The fans were booing loudly.
Later in the show, Ripley approached Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, who were also not happy with Fatal Influence, and it appears that the trio could work together against the newcomers in Fatal Influence.
Also Read: Rhea Ripley Publicly Addresses Ex-Partner After Tearful Breakup