WWE has been known to do what fans have dubbed a "spring cleaning" where it releases various people from their contracts each year. 2021 is no different, as WWE has announced the decision to release numerous performers from their contracts. The latest round of WWE releases includes Samoa Joe, who has been working with the company since 2015, both as a wrestler and more recently, as a commentator on Raw.
Samoa Joe is the biggest name to be released from his contract, but he's not the only one who lost his job today. WWE has also released the likes of Billie Kay, Bo Dallas, Chelsea Green, Kalisto, Peyton Royce, Mickie James, Tucker, and Wesley Blake from their contracts as well. Some of these releases aren't terribly surprising to anyone that has been keeping up with WWE programming lately, as most of these performers haven't been used regularly for quite some time. The exception to that would be Billie Kay, who has been featured prominently on the SmackDown brand and even wrestled at WrestleMania 37.
As usual, WWE didn't provide any further information on why these specific superstars were released from their contracts. It wished them "all the best" in their future endeavors, and that's it. Presumably, most of the wrestlers will have a 90 day no-compete clause, so it may be some time before wrestling fans see them pop up in other promotions.
It's possible that even more WWE superstars will be released from their contracts before this latest purging is through. In 2020, WWE released a number of superstars at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with new releases made from one hour to the next. That included some especially high profile releases, and it was even incorporated in a storyline that saw NXT wrestler Drake Maverick manage to win back his WWE career.
Unfortunately for those who have been released, it seems highly unlikely that something like that will happen again. At the time of this writing, none of those impacted by the releases have made any kind of public statement on the matter so it is unclear exactly what they are thinking or feeling at this time.
These mass-releases are not uncommon in WWE, and they will almost certainly happen again in future. The company occasionally releases wrestlers one at a time as well, like when it released Thea Trinidad, better known by her ring name Zelina Vega, amid the Twitch streaming controversy.