Beyond sport and entertainment, first and foremost, WWE is a business. Like every business, employees are expected to abide by the rules of the workplace and make sure that they don’t do anything that will give the company a bad name. At the same time, WWE has shown time and time again that it is more than capable of damaging its own reputation. Sometimes that damage has occurred  because the company has terminated its wrestlers’ employment for reasons that seem quite bewildering to fans.

Whether it’s internal politics, silly mistakes, or the egos of the powers that be, WWE has fired wrestlers for reasons that many fans find hard to believe. In some cases, the stars even been let go for merely doing what was asked of them by the company itself. Pro wrestling is an unusual industry where performers can seemingly be held accountable for the mistakes their bosses have made. That said, there are plenty of other ways superstars can lose their jobs as well - from crimes and romantic drama to wavering loyalties and hurt egos. Once things for sure, the lost jobs and firings in the WWE are rarely predictable.

Therefore, without further ado, here are 15 Crazy Wrestlers Why WWE Wrestlers Got Fired.

Daniel Bryan - For a Storyline Beatdown

These days, Daniel Bryan is the most popular wrestler in the entire world. His recent comeback from a career-threatening injury was one of WWE’s most emotional watershed moments, and as the face of the "YES Movement", he's attained a legacy that will live on long after he retires from in-ring competition. However, for a while back in 2010 his WWE career was nearly over from the moment it truly began.

Upon making his main roster debut as part of the upstart faction The Nexus, Bryan and his compatriots appeared on Monday Night Raw and ran roughshod over the roster. As a heel stable, their job was to make an immediate impact and get heat from the crowd. To do this, Bryan choked out ring announcer Justin Roberts and spat in John Cena’s face. He was let go straight after because his actions did not adhere to the company’s PG guidelines.

After returning to the independent circuit for a couple of months, he returned later that year at the Summerslam pay-per-view and ended up on John Cena’s side against his The Nexus. That was a wise decision on WWE’s part given how his subsequent popularity has made them millions of dollars throughout the years.

Highlander Robbie - For Being a Fan

Along with his partner Rory, Highlander Robbie was part of a short-lived comedy tag team that wore kilts and acted like stereotypical Scottish men. Neither wrestler is Scottish in real life, but they played the part with aplomb and were quite entertaining. That said, both wrestlers were also doomed from the get-go as history has shown time and time again that stereotypical gimmicks don’t have a long shelf-life in WWE. Given that WWE has a juvenile sense of humor, a lot of bad gimmicks slip through anyway, and this one was hardly the worst.

However, Robbie wasn’t let go because the gimmick he was saddled with had run out of steam. He was released because he attended a show of WWE’s rival company, Total Nonstop Action, back in 2008.

The camera caught his face in the crowd and aired it on television, which incurred the ire of WWE’s powers that be.

It wasn’t just Robbie who suffered for the incident, though. Without Robbie, WWE didn’t have anything for Rory either and he was also released. While the tag team hasn’t been missed in the grand scheme of things, they were talented performers who deserved much better than how they were treated by the company.

Dawn Marie - For Becoming a Mother

If you watched Extreme Championship Wrestling during the 1990s, you’ll remember Dawn Marie and her popularity among the company’s fans. Although she was used primarily as eye candy during one of the industry’s edgier days, she was good at playing a conniving heel. When she found her way to WWE, her role was pretty much the same. When the company let her go, they had nothing creatively interesting for her to do. The reason she was fired, however, was actually quite appalling.

In 2005, the company released Dawn Marie after she announced her pregnancy while she was on maternity leave. According to former WWE “Diva” Jackie Gayda, the decision came as a quite a shock, but she also understood WWE’s position given how the company prioritized beauty over bronze back then.

Marie didn’t have the biggest impact in WWE, and she was part of an era where women were portrayed as symbols and not athletes. Prior to her release, she was a part of some racy storylines, including one where she married an elderly man. The company’s reason for releasing her was because she was surplus to requirements. However, feeling that was let go unfairly because of her baby situation, she sued the company.

Raven - Being a bad influence on Shane McMahon

Raven was never given a chance to showcase his undeniable talent to the fullest extent in WWE. After wrestling for the company in the early 1990s as Johnny Polo, he reinvented himself after being fired to become one of the most compelling and unique characters in the history of the industry. He was a grungy, dark, and a precursor to modern day characters like Bray Wyatt.

What got him fired in the first place, you ask?

In addition to being a bit of a casanova with the ladies, he was also drinking buddies with a young Shane McMahon, the owner's son.

When he returned to the company in the early 2000s after stints in WCW and ECW, Vince McMahon was apparently confused and angry at the decision, as Raven discussed on the Talk Is Jericho podcast.

Following his second departure from WWE, Raven tried to sue the company over healthcare benefits. According to him, WWE performers were independent contractors who were used as full-time employees, only without the health provisions all full-time employees should be entitled to. WWE won the lawsuit, but in recent years him and the company have seemingly made amends as he returned for a roundtable interview with Rob Van Dam and Mick Foley for a documentary DVD.,

Abraham Washington - For Being Supportive

Abraham Washington was on the way to great things in WWE. Acting as a mouthpiece in an era where the old school manager was a lost art, Washington felt like a modern day equivalent to the bygone greats. His charisma was contagious, and even when he was working with some pretty subpar material, he was able to turn it into gold with his presence, humor, and promo work. The fact he was fired over a joke makes his release all the more frustrating.

Before she became a member of the Trump administration, Linda McMahon was no stranger to politics. She ran for Senate back in 2010, and Washington, being supportive, was vocal about his support for her. However, McMahon wanted to distance herself from the company at the time in a bid to boost her public image. Who in their right mind would want to be associated with a company that promotes such crazy storylines amid a political campaign, after all? This was the final straw.

Prior to endorsing Linda McMahon, Washington was at the center of controversy after making a distasteful joke on air. Granted, it was quite an edgy joke. He compared a wrestler to Kobe Bryant, who was at the center of a assault scandal at the time. That wasn't his wisest moment.

Alberto Del Rio - For Being A Victim of Racism

Alberto Del Rio Total Divas

Alberto Del Rio’s relationship isn’t exactly what you’d call positive. Last year he posted a video online where he called out WWE CEO Paul “Triple H” Levesque and threatened to beat up members of the New Day group after they made a joke about the tape involving his then-girlfriend, Paige, and WWE superstar Xavier Woods. Even though the last one is understandable, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Del Rio is that he has a temper on him.

His temper got the better of him once again in 2014 when he slapped an employee who allegedly made a racist remark towards the former WWE champion. Violence is never the answer to any problems, but it's understandable that Del Rio felt the need to put this employee in his place if he was acting like a bigot.

Del Rio did return to the company for another short-lived stint in 2016, but it wasn’t the fresh start he’d hoped for.

Since then, he’s gained a reputation as being difficult to work with elsewhere, as he was also fired from TNA earlier this year. There have been rumors of him returning to WWE in future as they’re on the lookout for a star who appeals to the Hispanic fan base.

Mickie James - For Weight Gain and Country Music

While WWE has made efforts to focus on women’s wrestling in recent years, Mickie James was one of the trailblazing performers to bring credibility to female in-ring competition. When she debuted in the mid-2000s, she was portrayed as Trish Stratus’s stalker. The storyline still contained elements of WWE’s standardproblems at the time, but when it came to actual wrestling she showed that WWE women were just as good as the men.

Of course, despite bringing credibility to women’s wrestling, she was still a victim of the company’s beauty standards. After gaining weight (but by no means becoming overweight), she was nicknamed “Piggy James” and eventually let go. But that wasn’t the only reason, as she also had aspirations of becoming a country musician and WWE felt this would be a distraction - even though male superstars like Chris Jericho and John Cena were allowed to pursue music on the side.

As it turned out, she was able to pursue her music dream and score some hit records. She was also very successful in other wrestling promotions after her release. Nowadays, though, James is back with WWE and competing among some of the best female wrestlers on the planet on a weekly basis.

Aloisia - For Posing for Pictures

There was a time in WWE where posing in adult ways was encouraged, as the countless women wrestlers who participated in Playboy shoots can attest to. However, since becoming PG, the company has distanced itself from anything too risque.

Aloisia, who was once tipped for big things in the company due to her strength and physique, found out the hard way when she was fired because of some revealing pictures.

In a statement following her release, she said: "When I first received my offer from WWE, they asked me to fill out a 'Talent Information Form' providing them with information about myself and my background. One of the questions was, 'Have you ever posed [in a revealing manner]?' I answered "No" to this question, because that’s the truth. If they had asked me if I ever posed suggestively, I would of course have answered "Yes", but there’s a big difference between suggestive and [completely unclothed]. As to the question of whether this was why they took me off the show, that’s something you’d have to ask them.”

It wouldn’t be surprising given that the company has refused to welcome Chyna, who’s a legend and a pioneer of women’s wrestling, into the Hall of Fame because she made adult films after her WWE tenure was over.

Emma - For Accidentally Shoplifting

Emma. who was the company’s first female superstar from Australia when she signed in 2013, was a fan favorite in 2014. She wowed audiences with a mix of goofy dancing and excellent wrestling skills, and for a while her future was looking groovy. The fact she nearly lost everything because of a misunderstanding is crazy, though.

However, in 2014 she was fired and then re-hired by the company for shoplifting an iPad case. It is believed that she was unaware she had it on her possession, though, so the company reinstated her a couple of hours later. At the same time, it’s also believed that WWE re-hired her to avoid negative press, as they felt it would have opened up the floodgates to all the other misdemeanors they’d let slide throughout the years. Given that these involved possession charges and DUIs, Emma accidentally stealing an iPad cover wasn’t all that bad in comparison.

Unfortunately, Emma’s career never really got going and she was let go last year, despite being one of the most talented workers on the roster. Some believe that she had rubbed management the wrong way after failing to sell a gimmick that depicted her as model called Emmalina.

Matt Hardy - Because His Girlfriend Cheated

Edge and Matt Hardy WWE

Matt Hardy had the worst run of luck in 2005. After being sidelined with an injury for months, he discovered that his then-girlfriend and former WWE superstar Lita had been cheating on him with Edge, another wrestler and one of Matt’s best friends behind the scenes at the time. When news of Lita and Edge’s affair eventually made headlines, they were quite hated in the locker room and the fan community.

Most people were siding with Matt -- apart from the company.

WWE apparently had the feeling that Edge had more monetary value for the company, so Hardy was let go and Edge was given a push. However, when tensions dissolved, Hardy returned and entered a program with Edge which incorporated their real-life problems to create a captivating storyline that was beneficial for both competitors. When it ended, Edge was pushed as the top bad guy in the company. Today, he’s a Hall of Famer, and fans cried when he was forced to retire. All was forgiven.

These days, Hardy is still wrestling in WWE and he’s one of the most entertaining characters on television. He’s also married and has a child. There doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between him, Edge, and Lita either.

Brad Maddox - For Swearing

Brad Maddox in WWE

Brad Maddox was one of WWE’s most underrated personalities during his all-too-brief run with the company. He was introduced to fans as a referee who helped former champion CM Punk retain his title against Ryback, and during the early stages it seemed as if the company was hot on him. He was even an onscreen authority figure and played a wonderful corporate stooge. It was rumored that Triple H had big plans for him, but like most wrestlers in post-2010 WWE, his creative backing was mishandled and he became an afterthought.

Maddox had been off television for months when he was fired in 2015 for calling the fans a rude name during a promo at a house show. This word wasn’t even used on television, but it was considered too edgy for WWE’s PG product nonetheless. It also showed some serious double standards as the company has let other performers away with saying much worse.

Last year, Maddox also found himself at the center of a scandal when tapes of him and current WWE superstars together were leaked online. Even though this was an invasion of their privacy, the media attention was enough to make him quit social media.

Paul London - For Smiling

If you’re familiar with Paul London, then you know that he’s one of the most upbeat guys in wrestling. Whether that’s onscreen as a character or in interviews, he comes across as a guy who doesn’t take life too seriously, and that’s why he’s spent the majority of his career as a babyface that fans naturally gravitate towards. One person who didn’t gravitate towards him, though, was Vince McMahon.

The reason why McMahon decided to fire London was because he smiled at the boss while he was walking down the corridor en route to his demise. That’s right -- there was a storyline where Vince’s limo blew up. The intention was to end his life for a mystery angle, and London’s smiling prior to the explosion was offensive to the boss. Of course, Vince has been known to overreact to wrestlers smiling at him. He suspended Titus O’Neil recently for similar reasons.

That said, credit needs to go to Chris Benoit for ruining the storyline, as his real life crimes quickly overshadowed everything in the WWE - and with good reason. The storyline was scrapped after that as if nothing had happened. Smiling doesn’t seem like such a big crime in the grand scheme of things, does it?

Gangrel - For Showing His Belly

If there's one thing Vince McMahon doesn't like, it's wrestlers that he considers fat. While this story is based on backstage rumors and gossip news, anyone who knows anything about Vince McMahon won't doubt its validity for a second. He's proven time and time again that he's not the most mellow of bosses. According to wrestling folklore,

Gangrel reportedly got fired because his shirt wasn't tucked in during a match and his gut ended up on display as a result.

Vince was allegedly furious, and Gangrel was released immediately.

Gangrel was never going to be WWE's biggest attraction, but he had a cool vampire gimmick and as part of stable The Brood, he was a big part of the company's popular Attitude Era. Prior to his release, he'd been relegated to the company's B shows and hadn't been involved in any notable storylines for a couple of years. While the appeal of characters like was no longer in high demand since the turn of the Millennium, it was still unique and Gangrel deserved a better farewell.

These days, the "Vampire Warrior" is still wrestling all over the world and even directs some adult film from time to time. Life goes on after WWE.

Kharma - For Being Out of Shape

Demanding that performers be in peak physical condition isn’t a big ask in WWE. Even though it’s difficult to train with their schedule, being fit is part and parcel with being an athlete of any kind. WWE have fired lots of talent throughout the years for this reason, but Kharma’s firing was quite shocking at the time.

Kharma was unlike other females due to her imposing size and monster heel character. The company had big plans for her, but she was fired for being overweight during a battle with depression following a personal tragedy.

Instead of giving her time off and letting her deal with the trauma while getting back into shape, they fired her.

On one hand, WWE’s decision is understandable, but this was also one of those situations where the choice of action felt extreme.

According to Kharma, though, the situation motivated her to get back in shape and fix her health issues. It’s also a prime example of how WWE doesn’t give any superstars special treatment unless they’re mega stars. There doesn’t appear to be any bad blood between the company and Kharma either, so hopefully the door is still open to her returning in some capacity down the line.

Mohammed Hassan - For Doing His Job

Mohammed Hassan was a great character. Despite being of Italian origin in real life, the character was portrayed as an Arab-American who criticized the United States for its treatment of his people. He would cut promos about inequality and the ugliness of racism which, despite being important conversations to have to this day, was too much for certain people to handle. The fans hated Hassan’s preaching, but he was was one of the most promising stars of the mid-2000s.

At first, Hassan wasn’t a terrorist sympathizer, but we always knew that WWE would cross that line eventually because they just couldn’t help themselves when it came to shock value. Towards the end of his run, men clad in balaclavas helped his cause, and associations with Islamic extremists was about as subtle as a punch to the jaw. Then the London bombing happened, and the outcry meant that the Hassan character was finished

Instead of repackaging the performer -- who was good at his job, regardless of the controversial nature of his character -- Hassan was fired after WWE’s television network pressured them to get rid of him. Real world events could never have been predicted, but if WWE kept Hassan as an anti-American heel and not a potential extremist, he would have been a superstar.

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What other wrestlers were fired for surprising reasons? Let us know in the comments!