Duke Hudson Released By WWE

Duke Hudson is no longer a part of WWE.

Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has reported that Duke Hudson is no longer with WWE as he has been released by the company. Hudson was let go in January, with his name being removed from NXT's internal roster in the middle of last month.

There is no word on why Hudson was released by WWE. He hadn't appeared on WWE NXT since the split of Chase U and he hadn't wrestled for WWE since an NXT house show on November 22, 2024.

Hudson - real name Brendan Vink - signed with WWE in 2019 after rising to prominence wrestling for the likes of NJPW and PROGRESS as Elliot Sexton. He was primarily utilised on EVOLVE under his real name until Vink made his TV debut in a short-lived tag team on NXT and Monday Night Raw with Shane Thorne. The team was even managed by MVP but Vink and Thorne were only utilised on TV from March until May 2020.

Vink was then briefly repackaged as Tony Modra before he made his return to NXT TV in the Summer of 2021 as Duke Hudson. This led to a high-profile feud with Cameron Grimes that ended with Hudson having his head shaved following a Hair vs. Hair loss to Grimes at NXT WarGames 2021.

Hudson rose in popularity from late 2022 as part of Chase U and he became an NXT Tag Team Champion with the faction, holding the belts for 21 days in 2023 with Andre Chase.

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