News

WWE Releases John Morrison, Hit Row, Drake Maverick, More

By John Canton • Published 19th November 2021
john morrison wwe

There were several WWE superstars that found out they were released by the company including John Morrison and all of Hit Row.

The news was first reported by Fightful, who revealed the eight WWE superstars who were released. They are:

* John Morrison

* Drake Maverick

* Isaiah “Swerve” Scott of Hit Row

* Top Dolla of Hit Row

* Ashante “Thee” Adonis of Hit Row

* Tegan Nox

* Shane Thorne

* Jaxson Ryker

Hit Row was drafted from NXT in October to Smackdown. They released the female member of the group B-Fab earlier this month on November 4 along with other WWE cuts and now the rest of the group is gone.

Hit Row appeared on last week’s Smackdown in a segment with Sami Zayn and now they are gone from the company.

WrestlingInc shared an email that WWE sent out to talent tonight to confirm the releases.

“Due to budgetary cuts the following WWE talent were released today, November 18, 2021. John Morrison, Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, and Jaxson Ryker.

Thank you,
John Laurinaitis”

It was reported by PWInsider that 82 superstars have been released by WWE this year.

Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast is reporting that a WWE source shared that many people in the company felt “blindsided” by these releases.

Here are some social media reactions from some of the superstars released including Drake Maverick, whose video was quote tweeted and shared by John Cena as well as you can see below. It was a creative video by Maverick.

Taya Valkyrie, who was Franky Monet in WWE, was released by the company earlier this month on November 4 even though she was regularly featured on the NXT program.

Taya is married to John Morrison, who she met years ago before she signed with WWE and went back there. Taya had some aggressive tweets about what happened while also showing support to her husband.

WWE did not publicly announce the releases on their website.