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WWE Releases Cedric Alexander; Sonya Deville Reportedly Not Renewed as More Stars Cut

Mike Chiari

WWE reportedly released multiple Superstars from its roster on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

According to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, WWE parted ways with Sonya Deville, Cedric Alexander, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Blair Davenport, Giovanni Vinci, Isla Dawn, Paul Ellering and AOP's Akam and Rezar.

While most of the releases are believed to be a termination of existing contracts, Sapp reported that Deville was informed by WWE that her contract would not be renewed when it expires, meaning she will be free to appear elsewhere as soon as her deal is up in "a number of weeks."

Deville, a former MMA fighter, competed in the 2025 women's Royal Rumble match last weekend.

The 31-year-old veteran signed with WWE in 2015 after competing on Tough Enough, and she went on to become a one-time WWE tag team champion.

Last year, Deville returned from a torn ACL and formed a stable known as Pure Fusion Collective with Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, but the group never achieved significant success.

The 35-year-old Alexander confirmed his release Friday night with the following post on X:

He joined WWE back in 2016 after taking part in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament, later becoming a one-time cruiserweight champion and one-time tag team champion with Shelton Benjamin as part of the Hurt Business.

Since Hurt Business members Benjamin, Bobby Lashley and MVP are now in AEW as the Hurt Syndicate, there is seemingly a good chance that Alexander will join them at some point.

Gallows and Anderson, known collectively as the Good Brothers, re-signed with WWE in 2022 after getting released back in 2020.

During their first stint, Gallows and Anderson were two-time Raw tag team champions. Gallows also had a previous run with WWE from 2006 to 2010 under the names Festus and Luke Gallows.

When the Good Brothers returned to WWE in 2022, they reformed The O.C. shortly thereafter with AJ Styles and eventually Michin, however, the group broke apart and Gallows and Anderson began appearing in NXT last year.

Anderson announced back in November that he underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and partially torn labrum.

Dawn, Davenport and Vinci were all little-used members of the SmackDown roster in recent months.

The 31-year-old Dawn, who had been in a tag team called the Unholy Union with Alba Fyre since 2022, seemed to indicate Saturday on her Instagram Stories that she had been released:

Dawn and Fyre once held the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships together, and they were the WWE women's tag team champions last year for 76 days.

Davenport, 28, signed with WWE in 2021 and became a fixture in NXT UK and later NXT before getting called up to the main roster last year.

She briefly formed an alliance with Dawn and Fyre, but it never got off the ground, and she hadn't competed in a televised match since November.

Vinci first competed in WWE under the name Fabian Aichner in 2016 as part of the Cruiserweight Classic.

He later became part of Imperium with Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser and Alexander Wolfe, and he twice held the NXT Tag Team Championships with Kaiser as his partner.

Vinci rejoined Gunther and Kaiser as Imperium in 2023, but he was kicked out of the group last year and moved to SmackDown, but he was rarely seen on WWE programming after that.

AOP or the Authors of Pain first arrived in NXT in 2016 under the tutelage of Ellering, who is a WWE Hall of Famer thanks largely to his managerial work with the Road Warriors or Legion of Doom.

Akam and Rezar were a dominant force in NXT, holding the NXT Tag Team Championships once. They got called up to the main roster without Ellering in 2018 and won the Raw Tag Team Championships on one occasion as well.

AOP were released in 2020 before returning to WWE with Ellering in January 2024 as part of the Final Testament stable with Karrion Kross and Scarlett.

The Final Testament struggled to advance beyond a low-to-mid-card act, and Kross had recently been appearing on WWE programming without AOP and Ellering alongside him.

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