Whether he left or was fired by WWE, Dean Malenko wasn't out of work long. He's already signed on to be part of Starrcast II.

On Thursday, reports started to surface that a number of producers and writers were leaving or being fired from WWE. Among them was long-time producer, former wrestler and "The Man of 1000 Holds", Dean Malenko.

With new backstage hands like Sonjay Dutt, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss, Shane Helms and others coming in, confirmation wasn't clear as to whether or not Malenko left on his own accord or was pushed out, (speculation was he was fired), it didn't take long for him to find new work. On Friday, it was announced he would be part of the Starrcast II festivities.

The announcement read, "This Superstarr is known as The Man of 1000 holds!! He's held championships all over the world... #Starrcast II is proud to welcome Dean Malenko to Las Vegas, Memorial Day Weekend!

Malenko was most known as a Cruiserweight in WCW. He later joined a reincarnation of the Four Horsemen and then jumped to WWE with Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn as part of the Radicalz. He spent a few years wrestling but later took a backstage role and had been with WWE for eight years.

News of his departure came as somewhat of a shock to fans but on Friday, it was also revealed Dave Schilling had left WWE and this comes after news Road Dogg was taking a break and another writer was fired at the WWE Hall of Fame and only a couple months after the exit of Arn Anderson.

What This Means

Clearly, there is change happening behind the curtain in WWE. Why it's happening is unclear but that a number of former Impact Wrestling personalities are coming in and old school WWE guys are going out might not be a coincidence.

Fans shouldn't be surprised if Malenko's name starts to get mentioned in relation to AEW.

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