WWE News: Simon Gotch Has Been Released

It was announced on Wednesday afternoon that Simon Gotch, one half of the Vaudevillains tag team, has been released.

Here’s the official statement from WWE.com: “WWE has come to terms on a mutually agreed upon release with Simon Gotch as of today, April 5, 2017. WWE wishes Gotch the best in all his future endeavors.”

The phrase “mutually agreed upon release” is not that common, so it would suggest that he may have asked for his release with time remaining on his deal and they were willing to do it.

Gotch is a former NXT Tag Team Champion with partner Aiden English. He signed a developmental deal with WWE in June 2013. A year later in June 2014, the Vaudevillains team was formed. They won their only NXT Tag Team Title in August 2015 at the NXT Takeover Brooklyn show that year.

The Vaudevillains made their main roster debut on April 7, 2016 on Smackdown. It was after WrestleMania, so it was a big deal for them. Sadly, the duo never really got going on the main roster although they did get a few title shots.

In July 2016, Gotch got in a backstage fight with Sin Cara and apparently was a one sided fight won by Sin Cara. Most of the blame went to Gotch for starting it, so he has had some heat on him for a while.

TJR Thoughts: It sucks for him, but it’s easy to see why WWE would do it because the Vaudevillains team wasn’t featured that much. I think Aiden English is a very talented performer can do well on his own or with another partner if they can find somebody else to team with him.