Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 10:36 PM EST

As reported on earlier, WWE announced today that Heidenreich was officially given his release from the company.

We noted yesterday that Heidenreich had been off the WWE schedule with the SmackDOwn brand after checking himself into a hospital complaining of a serious ear infection. Some more details have become available about his situation since then. According to reports, WWE agents called him to bring him back to the company's next tour with SmackDown. Heidenreich reportedly turned down the return saying he couldn't deal with being on the road anymore.

The word making the rounds among WWE wrestlers was that Heidenreich was dealing with some family problems and that it was possible WWE gave him his release so he could go deal with his issues, basically leaving the door open down the line for a return if he was interested. According to some new reports, many WWE wrestlers attempted to contact Heidenreich over the last week, but were unsuccessful. His release from WWE wasn't a huge suprise to some as his name was removed from WWE's upcoming tour of Japan as Animal was scheduled to team with Matt Hardy. The belief is that Animal will now get a singles role on SmackDown with Heidenreich now gone from the company.

Credit: Mike Johnson @ PWInsider.com