Report: Backstage News On Why Lars Sullivan Stopped Appearing On WWE TV

It emerged last night that Lars Sullivan's WWE run had come to an end. The Freak was quietly released by the company sometime in January and WWE confirmed the news yesterday.

Only a few months ago, Sullivan appeared to be on course for a big push on Friday Night SmackDown. He returned to WWE TV on October 9 by attacking The Miz and he later picked up wins over Jeff Hardy and Chad Gable. Sullivan then appeared in two widely-panned backstage interviews, but he disappeared from WWE TV soon after.

Dave Meltzer noted on the Wrestling Observer Forum that Vince McMahon wanted to push Sullivan up to the point of his release, but Lars stopped appearing on WWE programming because he no-showed TV. A report from the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast noted WWE Creative didn't know what to do with Sullivan, but Meltzer said that was not accurate.

Sullivan signed with WWE back in 2013 and he eventually debuted in NXT four years later in April 2017. He competed in high profile bouts on the black and gold brand, including an NXT Championship match against Aleister Black, before making his way to the main roster in April 2019. He found himself on the shelf soon after, though, after suffering a severe knee injury and he wouldn't return until October 2020.