WWE Rumors: ‘SmackDown’ Superstar Reportedly Released Due To Backstage Heat Over COVID-19 Diagnosis
On Thursday, WWE announced that it had released Friday Night SmackDown superstar Steve Cutler, who was most recently seen on television as part of King Corbin’s Knights of the Lone Wolf faction. As is the case with most of the company’s releases, it wasn’t immediately clear why the wrestler was let go, but a new report offered more information on the matter.
As cited by Ringside News, a subscriber-only article from Fightful Select shed more light on Cutler’s departure from WWE, which came despite how he and his Knights of the Lone Wolf colleague Wesley Blake were “very active in trying to return to television” after several months away from the blue brand. However, Fightful Select suggested that it was Cutler’s positive coronavirus test that might have been the driving factor behind his release.
“There was heat on Cutler specifically from Vince McMahon when Cutler was sidelined from WWE TV after contracting COVID-19 in early January.”
Cutler’s girlfriend, current Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo, took to Twitter on Thursday night to confirm that she and her boyfriend both tested positive for COVID-19 last month. The former NXT superstar added that both of them were asymptomatic at the time of their diagnosis and also stressed that they are now “healthy and in good spirits.”
Likewise, Cutler issued a brief statement on Twitter, revealing that he was “shocked” to learn that WWE was releasing him but emphasizing that he is “excited” about what the future holds for him. He also alluded to the 90-day noncompete clause that will prevent him from signing with another promotion until early May.
Prior to joining forces with Corbin, Cutler and Blake were two-thirds of another stable, The Forgotten Sons, which was in the middle of a feud with The New Day when they were all taken off television early last June. This decision came shortly after the group’s leader, Jaxson Ryker, drew the ire of many of his colleagues for using the faction’s catchphrase while showing support for Donald Trump and disparaging the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. His then-stablemates distanced themselves from his comments but were nonetheless kept on the shelf for an extended period of time.
As of September, rumors were swirling regarding the possibility that The Forgotten Sons would be repackaged, though it wasn’t until December when Cutler and Blake re-debuted as Corbin’s henchmen. Ryker, meanwhile, returned that same month, moving to Monday Night Raw and debuting a new gimmick as Elias’ enforcer.
