WWE lost a ton of superstars in 2024. Whether it was due to a non-renewal of their contract, or a release, there was a plethora of talent departures. Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP all went to AEW, and Xia Li (now known as Léi Ying Lee) departed and went to TNA Wrestling.
In addition to those superstars who were lucky enough to find an opportunity at a new company, Tegan Nox, Baron Corbin, and Indi Hartwell are still on the market. As the company continues to grow and head in a new direction, some of the wrestlers don’t suit the vision for the future. Looking at WWE’s current roster, ten superstars stand out with the potential to leave WWE in 2025.
10
Karrion Kross
The End Of The Final Testament
Since debuting in WWE in early 2020, Karrion Kross has accomplished a lot early on in his career by winning the NXT Championship in August 2020. After defeating Keith Lee for the title, he immediately had to vacate the title due to an injury. As one of few to hold the NXT title more than once, Kross was quickly called up to the main roster on Raw, where he struggled to find his place and was then released in 2021. He was brought back by Paul “Triple H” Levesque on an episode of Smackdown in August 2022.
Since returning, he still hasn’t been able to have a legitimate feud, and he appears less and less on television. On screen, he appears to be obsessed with the Wyatt Sicks, but now they’re not even on the same show. His current character portrayal with the rumored “curse of Karrion Kross” does have some potential. It will be interesting to watch how they write his character to follow up that feud.
9
Kiana James
Perfect Example Of Being Called Up To Main Roster Too Early
Kiana James is a former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion (with Fallon Henley). She had a short stint in AEW under the name Xtina Kay before signing with WWE and joining the NXT brand. The character that WWE built for James was a smart business executive. In two years on NXT, she competed for opportunities at the NXT Women’s title, but the closest she came was a title match against Tiffany Stratton she ended up losing.
Related
Meet WWE’s Roxanne Perez: NXT’s Hot Callup and Bayley’s Newest Rival Explained
NXT’s Roxanne Perez has been invading Raw and attacking Bayley. Who is the WWE Superstar & why is she targeting the former Royal Rumble winner?
After two years on NXT, James was shockingly called up to the main roster for Raw in the 2024 WWE Brand Draft. It was a shock because it felt like she had some missed opportunities on the brand and so many wrestlers, when they’re called up too early, get lost in the shuffle. Her call-up didn’t shock WWE Hall of Famer and NXT broadcaster Booker T.
“In this business, they gotta be able to trust you. Trust you to go out and be able to perform, trust you not to get hurt more importantly than anything. I think Kiana James checks off all those boxes.” – Booker T
Since being called up, we watched her win her debut match against Natalya and backstage segments where she offered Raw General Manager Adam Pearce help. It’s been over seven months since we’ve seen her on the show, so we will see how WWE books her character when she comes back.
8
Montez Ford
Montez Ford Is Ready To Be A Solo Star
Montez Ford has spent his entire WWE career as a tag team with Angelo Dawkins as The Street Profits since 2016. Since then, they’ve made history as one of three tag teams to become WWE Triple Crown Tag Team Champions. They haven’t been Tag Team Champions since January of 2021, and have hardly been on television over the past year or so.
Traveling back to the 2023 Elimination Chamber, Ford was one of six men who competed for the United States Championship. It was one of very few matches we were able to watch Ford showcase his abilities as a solo competitor, and he won over the WWE Universe with his performance. Over the past year, he has noticeably been frustrated with how they’ve been booked and in an interview with The Daily Star expressed his feelings.
“I feel like I’m the greatest athlete in the professional wrestling circuit. I feel like I’m the greatest entertainer in the professional wrestling circuit. I feel like I’m the greatest of all time. I feel like my confidence is at an all-time high. I feel like I’m the only one consecutively that’s been dealing with The Bloodline and every variation of The Bloodline for the last four years,” Ford said.
It is clear he is ready for more opportunities as a solo competitor but WWE struggles to see him as more than a tag team wrestler. If things keep trending the way they are now, Ford could be wrestling for another company in 2025.
7
Braun Strowman
The Monster Among Men Needs To Be In The Title Scene
Braun Strowman was once associated with The Wyatt Family and has since gone on to do incredible things in WWE. He’s won Money in the Bank, he has been a Raw Tag Team Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and the WWE Universal Champion. After being released back in 2021, Strowman was brought back in 2022 with a surprising return. Unfortunately, he was quickly sidelined due to a neck injury and took a hiatus for neck surgery.
Since being brought back, Strowman hasn’t really been booked to do much. The best thing about his return was his violent, yet exciting feud with Bronson Reed. He is now on Smackdown and feuding with Carmelo Hayes. At 41 years old, Strowman has a few years left, and being a top guy for a company again has to be in the back of his mind.
6
Blair Davenport
Blair Davenport Is Ready To Be A Star Again Like She Was in NXT UK
Blair Davenport has all the potential to be a top star in the women’s division. Outside of WWE, she’s won several championships but is best known for her tenure in World Wonder Ring Stardom in Japan. In WWE, her highlight was her NXT Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge win that earned her a title shot against Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women’s title, which she lost.
She’s been booked very well on two separate occasions: the first was when she first started in the NXT UK. She started off undefeated and earned a shot at the NXT Women’s title just to lose to Meika Satamura. The second was when she was revealed as the parking lot attacker on NXT. Since then, she’s kind of gotten lost on Smackdown, due to a premature call-up. Since she has already made a couple of appearances on AEW, if opportunities don’t arise in WWE soon, we could see her elsewhere in 2025.
5
Apollo Crews
Crews Never Found The Spotlight He Had In NXT
Apollo Crews had solid runs with both the Intercontinental and United States Championships. Both of those title runs were four and five years ago. The Nigerian Prince Era has been the most successful gimmick they’ve come up with for him. Once they sent him to NXT and rebranded him into a character that wrote journals and went fishing, he hasn’t fully recovered from that.
The problem is, they can’t go back to the Nigerian Prince gimmick, because that is similar to what they’re building with Oba Femi. Since returning to the main roster on Smackdown, he has been in a tag team with Baron Corbin and now is in mostly dark matches. It’s starting to feel like he is also getting lost on the roster.
4
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows)
A World-Class Tag Team That Deserves A Title Run
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows aka The Good Brothers have been off and on as tag team partners since 2013. After becoming an iconic tag team in NJPW as part of the original Bullet Club, they signed with WWE in 2016. Before they were released in 2020 (pandemic cuts), they won the Raw Tag Team Championships two times. They were then brought back to WWE in 2022 after spending two years in TNA.
Since Anderson and Gallows have been brought back to WWE, they’ve mostly been aligned with AJ Styles, but with him missing time due to injury and their split-up, they haven’t been featured on television much, saving a brief NXT run. There are not many real tag teams these days in professional wrestling that aren’t just thrown together. Unfortunately, Anderson recently had to get shoulder surgery and he will be out of action until after WrestleMania. It will be interesting to see if Triple H will give a good run to this team he personally called to WWE twice, or if the Good Brothers will have to find another home.
3
Sonya Deville
Pure Fusion Collective Hasn’t Done Anything For Sonya Deville
As a contestant from WWE Tough Enough back in 2015, Sonya Deville impressed WWE with her toughness and loveable character. She has spent time as both a general manager for Raw, and a wrestler for all three brands. She’s been through multiple groups, including Absolution, Fire and Desire, and Pure Fusion Collective. As an experienced martial arts fighter, she has the toughness that seems like it would be easy to build from.
It’s clear that WWE sees her as a leader of a faction but none of them have sustained long-term success. Pure Fusion Collective consists of her, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark. They started building them strongly. After a red-hot booking to start, they lost all momentum. At just 31 years old, Deville still has many years of wrestling left ahead of her. Even through her injuries, she’s still solid in the ring. Before her ACL tear, Chelsea Green was her Women’s Tag Team Champion partner. Piper Niven took Deville’s spot when she left. Eventually, WWE must figure out what they’re going to do with her.
2
Omos
Omos Has Made A Statement With His Appearances In Japan
WWE was on a roll with the early bookings of Omos. Introducing him as AJ Styles’ bodyguard worked. They also won the Raw Tag Team Championships. He appeared to be a dominant giant that nobody wanted to face. He had a decent feud with Lashley, but other than that, he hasn’t been on television much since switching to Smackdown.
The Nigerian Giant has recently been making appearances in Japan in Pro Wrestling Noah. He became the GHC Tag Team Champions but relinquished his title recently, teasing a return to WWE. Since joining WWE in 2019, they haven’t been able to book him consistently, but luckily for him, WWE’s deal that allows wrestlers to compete in Japan has resurrected his career. Perhaps, his future is elsewhere and not with WWE.
1
Pete Dunne
Leaving Butch Behind May Not Be Enough
Pete Dunne is one of the best wrestlers in the world today. The 31-year-old has spent time with many different independent promotions before signing with WWE in 2017. He had an incredible reign as the NXT United Kingdom Champion after defeating his former tag team partner Tyler Bate in one of the best matches in the show’s history. In addition to that, he is also a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion.
Although it was a fun and memorable gimmick, the biggest mistake might’ve been changing his name to Butch and aligning him with Sheamus and Ridge Holland to create The Brawling Brutes. He then had a short stint as a tag team with Bate called New Catch Republic. As one of the best in-ring performers in WWE, Dunne deserves a much better booking. He has put in the time and proven he can be a star on his own. For whatever reason, WWE books him in comedy segments. Eventually, WWE must put him in the midcard scene and compete for a title. In other wrestling promotions, he would be one of the top stars.
