Shane Thorne released by WWE.
Fightful reports that Shane Thorne has been released by WWE.
Thorne signed with WWE in March 2016 and joined NXT alongside Nick Miller as TM-61. They entered the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, losing to Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) in the finals. They remained a tag team in NXT until Miller was released by WWE in December 2018. Thorne would become a singles competitor until joining WWE Raw alongside Brendan Vink in March 2020.
Thorne would be repackaged as SLAPJACK and part of RETRIBUTION in September 2020 before RETRIBUTION was disbanded and he disappeared from television.
Thorne would quietly be moved to SmackDown and wrestle dark matches, dropping the SLAPJACK gimmicking and going full Australian with a gimmick inspired by Steve Irwin.
Other inspirations 100% Paul Hogan, Steve Irwin and @JohnCena.
— Shan? Thorn? (@WWEThorne) September 25, 2021
And honorable mention to @TBARRetribution for constantly nagging me to just go full Australian --
I mean... I've always been Australian --
— Shan? Thorn? (@WWEThorne) September 25, 2021
He last wrestled in a dark match ahead of the September 24 episode of WWE SmackDown.
Taking a comedic approach in reacting to his release, Thorne joked that he thought he had retired already and used a gif of Homer Simpson to describe how he feels at the moment.
Oi! Which one of you gave them my number?
— Shane Haste (@WWEThorne) November 19, 2021
I thought I was retired??
— Shane Haste (@WWEThorne) November 19, 2021
— Shane Haste (@WWEThorne) November 19, 2021
In an internal e-mail, WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis cited budget cuts as the reason.
You can view a list of all the released talent on November 18 by clicking here.
