WWE releases Brian Kendrick

World Wrestling Entertainment has released former tag team champion Brian Kendrick, according to a Thursday announcement via WWE.com. Kendrick's last match was a quick non-title loss to U.S. champion Kofi Kingston on Raw.

Kendrick rose to WWE prominence as a beloved and skilled tag team champion on the Smackdown brand with Paul London. Both wrestlers were eventually drafted to Raw where they briefly were tag team champions again but with less time available for quality matches there, they never replicated the same success.

After London fell into the quagmire of WWE politics, Kendrick was drafted back to Smackdown where he was refashioned as an arrogant heel called 'The Brian Kendrick' paired with the mysterious enforcer Ezekiel Jackson. After a brief run near the top of the card though, Kendrick fell on the wrong side of WWE politics too and quickly tumbled down the Smackdown ranks.

Kendrick was redrafted back to Raw again where he worked an ongoing storyline search for a new tag team partner, never actually finding one. The storyline was quietly discarded though with Kendrick simply being jobbed out until his release. Whatever else may be said of him, Kendrick retains his wrestling talent and should find the going good for him on the independent circuit or Japan again.

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