Report: Why WWE Released Duke Hudson Revealed

After six years with the company, Duke Hudson (AKA Brendan Vink) was released by WWE, with it being noted that he was removed from the internal NXT roster in mid-January.

Hudson was let go by WWE as WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque didn't see him as a main roster guy, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

"Levesque is the one who makes the calls and for whatever reason, he didn't see Duke as a main roster guy. So at some point when you're 34 and you don't see him as a main roster guy and he'd been there for six years, it's kind of like that's the way it works," Meltzer said.

After signing with WWE in February 2019, Hudson was utilised in EVOLVE under his real name Brendan Vink and he was first booked on WWE TV under that name, forming a short-lived tag team with Shane Thorne on Monday Night Raw and NXT. The team was managed by MVP but they were only on TV from March to May 2020.

Vink was repackaged as Duke Hudson in the Summer of 2021 and he had been a talent on NXT ever since, rising to popularity from late 2022 as part of Chase U with the likes of Andre Chase and Thea Hail. The faction even led to Hudson winning the NXT Tag Team Titles with Andre Chase in 2023.

Chase U disbanded in November 2024, however, and Duke Hudson had not been used by WWE since an NXT live event on November 22.

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