Report: WWE Has Denied Roderick Strong His Release Multiple Times
Roderick Strong no longer wants to work under the WWE banner, according to a recent report. When multiple talents were released from the NXT 2.0 brand last week, some insiders were surprised that the Diamond Mine member's name wasn't part of the future endeavored list.
Things have changed around Strong pretty quickly over the last several months. He was a member of NXT 1.0's most important stable in brand history—the Undisputed Era—alongside Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish. That trio calls AEW home now, and they've been up to big things since going All Elite. Strong's wife, Marina Shafir, is also in the midst of a program that could see her contend for the AEW Women's World Championship soon.
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Meanwhile, Strong has been denied his release from WWE "multiple times" according to Fightful Select. According to that report, NXT sources have said that the performer was also pitched a name change but was opposed to the idea. Fightful's WWE sources also say they have no desire to release Strong because he "factors into their creative plan." What exactly that planentails remains to be seen.
The entirety of the originally pitched Diamond Mine has been released, and NXT 2.0 doesn't really seem like the place for a 38-year-old former indie star. That's been the whole point in the shift from the black-and-gold brand to what NXT is today. It's trying to build its own stars from scratch instead of seeking out self-made performers from the independent scene. Strong has been wrestling for a long, long time, and the fear has to be that WWE is aiming to turn him into some sort of coach. That's the route it tried to take with the former Ember Moon, after all.
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