Brian Kendrick granted WWE release

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick is no longer with the company.

Fightful first reported Tuesday that Kendrick’s request from several weeks ago to be released was granted.

Kendrick was already announced for a match with Jon Moxley on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, confirming a Fightful report that he could be in Chicago Wednesday in either an on-screen or backstage role.

Kendrick had been serving as both a producer and coach for NXT and 205 Live, but had not been an active competitor since October 2020.

A Kendrick vs. Harland match was announced for the December 28, 2021, NXT episode, but never took place. An angle between the two where Harland threw Kendrick down a flight of stairs had aired on the prior week’s show to set up the bout.

In the course of his WWE career, Kendrick held one version of the WWE Tag Team titles, a version of the World Tag Team titles, and the WWE Cruiserweight title after it was revived in 2016. 

Mustafa Ali has publicly requested his WWE release as well, but WWE reportedly has no plans to honor the request.