According to a new report from Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso, Dean Malenko has left WWE after spending the past eight years as a producer/road agent with the company. No reason has been given. Malenko retired from the ring in 2001 during the WCW Invasion of WWE after only one year with the company but returned in 2011 in a backstage role.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com confirmed with his own sources shortly after Barrasso’s report came out.
Had Barasso's report that Malenko quit WWE confirmed. A whole lot of turnover right now
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) April 26, 2019
A second generation grappler, Dean Malenko grew up under the wrestling mentorship of his father, Boris Malenko (an NWA legend in the South and Florida), and in the early 1980s began as a referee with NWA and WWF. In 1988, he and his brother, Joe Malenko, formed a tag team, finding success in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
In 1992, he jumped to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and in 1994, joined fellow New Japan gaijin Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) and Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) back in the US with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). In two years with ECW, he became a 2x ECW World Television Champion and ECW World Tag Team Champion alongside Benoit.
In the summer of 1995, the trio was on the move again, heading to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where Malenko became a standout in the WCW Cruiserweight division, becoming a 4x WCW Cruiserweight Champion and WCW United States Champion, joining Chris Benoit in joining a 90s incarnation of the Four Horsemen. In 1999, he departed WCW alongside Benoit and Guerrero, as well as another disgruntled WCW worked in Perry Saturn.
Together, the four debuted in the WWF in early 2000 as The Radicalz, a rogue group from WCW, and Malenko would become a 2x WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, including a stunning 322-day reign. In fact, in just over a year, he held the title for 357 days, before retiring in 2001.
