Parker Boudreaux: Why Did 'The Next Brock Lesnar' Fail?

Parker Boudreaux, the 27-year-old American wrestler, was dubbed “The Next Big Thing” in WWE a few years back. But he’s not even a part of WWE anymore. The company released him during the budget cuts of April 2022, which came as a surprise to many fans. Even Parker didn’t think WWE would part ways with him. He called his release the “most blindsiding thing” in his wrestling career.

Boudreaux explained that he was working hard backstage and doing everything he could to improve. WWE was also consistently pushing him, which is why he was surprised when John Laurinaitis called to tell him about his release. So what went wrong with Parker, actually?

Parker Boudreaux Signed With WWE In 2021

When Parker Boudreaux first signed with WWE back in February 2021, a lot of fans talked about his physique and called him the “next Brock Lesnar,” including former WWE wrestler Matt Riddle.

Boudreaux made his WWE debut on the October 12, 2021, edition of NXT as Harland. He worked against wrestlers like Guru Raaj, Joe Gacy, and more. Over the next few months, he wrestled a handful of squash matches on television, which he usually won.

WWE Felt He Wasn’t Improving In The Ring

However, in April 2022, WWE released Parker Boudreaux alongside a plethora of other talents. According to a Fightful report, Parker’s release was directly related to his lack of progression as a wrestler.

And it’s not like WWE didn’t want to do more with him. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter once reported that Edge wanted Parker in the Judgment Day, but he was injury-prone, and there was another undisclosed reason why WWE didn’t add him to the stable. Additionally, according to Meltzer, a lot of people backstage weren’t a fan of his work. WON’s report said:

“As it turns out, even though he did not get great recommendations from people in NXT, Parker Boudreaux, aka Harland, had been hand-picked by Edge to be the fourth person in The Judgment Day. Ringside News reported it, and we were told that this was supposed to be a major secret and that Edge had told very few, and he was one of the few who knew. They even kept it from Boudreaux, but it is accurate. The only thing we were told as to why it didn’t happen is that the company found something out about Boudreaux and made the decision based on that. The other reason is because of the feeling in NXT that he had stopped improving, and he got a tag of getting hurt too much early on.” (H/T Cultaholic)

Boudreaux Later Joined AEW, But Got Released For Similar Reasons

Shortly after his WWE release, Tony Khan signed him to a contract. Initially, Parker Boudreaux worked some Dark tapings and squashed wrestlers such as Serpentico, Sonny Kiss, and more before making his Rampage debut. AEW fans particularly remember his tag match against Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee, where he teamed up with Swerve Strickland. However, this proved to be a disaster and turned off a lot of fans who were watching the show.