According to a report from PWInsider, independent wrestling standout and recent WWE developmental signee Willie Mack has been released by the company.
Mack’s signing was a part of WWE’s recent initiative to snatch up notable independent and international talent. You’ve seen a few of them show up in the Leaders Of The New School feature on WWE.com and on NXT. Mack was a regular favorite at Championship Wrestling Hollywood and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla shows, and had gotten an emotional farewell at this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles. The release comes before Mack had had a chance to do ANYTHING in WWE, which is surprising.
We don’t have a lot of details yet, but the situation reminds me a lot of when WWE signed Ring of Honor’s Claudio Castagnoli to a developmental deal with Deep South Wrestling before almost immediately releasing him. Claudio got another shot a few years later and became Cesaro, so here’s hoping things work out similarly for Mack.
If you aren’t familiar with his work, here’s a tribute video featuring him wrestling a guy who used to be El Generico, and a guy who used to be Kassius Ohno. “Used to be” in opposite directions.
