Shortly after announcing sweeping cuts will be made as the company navigates the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first of the talent cuts have been announced.
Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Lio Rush, Curt Hawkins, EC3, and Drake Maverick have all been released by the company.
Gallows and Anderson were most recently seen in the Boneyard Match with The Undertaker and AJ Styles in the main event of Night One of WrestleMania 36. They were two-time Raw Tag Team Champions and won a Tag Team Turmoil match in October 2019 at WWE Crown Jewel to be labeled the Best Tag Team in the World. It was announced in July 2019 that they had signed a new 5-year contract with WWE.
Lio Rush debuted with the company for the NXT brand in 2017 and was a one-time Cruiserweight Champion. He was also the former manager of Bobby Lashley.
Curt Hawkins was in his second stint with WWE. The first run went from 2007 to 2014 where he was a member of The Edgeheads with Zack Ryder, winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Hawkins re-signed with the company in 2016 and won the Raw Tag Team Championship with Ryder once again as his partner on the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff Show.
EC3 debuted with the NXT brand in 2018 and was listed among the call-ups to freshen up the roster in December of that year. EC3 was a 4-time WWE 24/7 Champion.
Drake Maverick was recently announced as being part of the round robin tournament to crown the interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion. Maverick had a comedic feud with R-Truth in the summer of 2019 over the 24/7 Championship. Maverick held the title 6 times.
You can view the full press release below:
WWE has come to terms on the release of Drake Maverick (James Curtin), Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers), Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra), Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson), EC3 (Michael Hutter) and Lio Rush (Lionel Green). We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.