Whenever a WWE Superstar publicly asks for their release, like Luke Harper and Mike Kanellis did, there’s a chorus of fans in comments sections and on social media that say “He shouldn’t have made it public. Now they won’t release him.” Sin Cara’s the latest to make this move and has been getting the same remarks.
What I find confusing is where anyone’s getting the idea that asking in private makes a release more likely. We don’t know how many people have asked for their release privately, but if anyone has it doesn’t look like they’ve gotten released either. The last notable WWE releases came in February of this year, when Hideo Itami and Tye Dillinger were released on the same day, and TJP was released a couple of days later. Dillinger publicly tweeted about asking for his release before it was granted, while Itami apparently requested his privately, and rumor has it that TJP was let go without asking. So it seems less like whether you’re granted a release from your WWE contract has anything to do without how you approach the matter, and more like releasing talent is something WWE has simply stopped doing in the last nine months.
Of course that probably has something to do with Tye Dillinger and Dean Ambrose (who wasn’t released, remember, his contract ended) showing up in All Elite Wrestling as Shawn Spears and Jon Moxley. For all that WWE wants to seem unconcerned about the idea of competition, they don’t seem to like seeing their former talent on AEW Dynamite.
So it’s unsurprising to hear that, according to PWInsider, WWE has no plans to release Sin Cara. Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer backs that up, and adds that the current policy at WWE is “No one’s getting fired, and no one’s released,” although he notes that there is some disagreement backstage about keeping people who’ve made it clear that they’re unhappy there.
No offense to Sin Cara, but it does seem like if they won’t release him, they probably won’t release anyone. Sin Cara isn’t exactly a big star in WWE, and he’s also a masked wrestler whose mask and name belong to the company, not to him. So while he could go off and be Hunico again, it’s hard to say that he could substantially benefit from any stardom WWE bestowed on him. And WWE could just bring in a new Sin Cara, if they care about having Sin Cara around.
Honestly though, if WWE’s really just not going to release anybody, then frankly we should be glad that these guys are asking to be let go publicly, just so we have some idea of how many of WWE’s workers don’t want to be there.
