Former WWE Star Believes Changed Gimmick Had Them ‘Stuck In Limbo’

WWE

Former WWE star Zack Gibson of Grizzled Young Veterans believes their changed gimmick had them “stuck in limbo” in the company.

In September 2023, Zack Gibson and James Drake of the Grizzled Young Veterans were released from WWE. Since becoming free agents in December, the duo has hit the ground running.

With appearances in AEW, TNA and across the independent scene, GYV have left their time with WWE in the past, especially their final few months.

After establishing themselves as the Grizzled Young Vets, Drake and Gibson had their names and gimmicks changed to Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid in the Schism stable with Joe Gacy on NXT 2.0 in 2022.

Speaking with Cultaholic Wrestling, Zack Gibson opened up about the Grizzled Young Veterans’ NXT 2.0 gimmick change. On feeling like it left them stuck in limbo, Gibson said:

“It was management at the highest level that hasn’t changed for the past god knows how long suddenly being completely overhauled.”

“Teams of people 30-40 deep were getting fired overnight and then an entire new team was in overnight when he walked into work and they say, okay this new team sees this direction as opposed to this one, so we’re going to do this to make them happy.”

“Then you start making those changes because you have to and you come in the next week, there’s a new team again.”

On feeling like they found themselves back in the position they should have been all along at the end of their run, Gibson said:

“When it started to settle, we just found ourselves back in a position where we should have just been GYV but we weren’t and now we can’t take a step backwards.”

“It was just very muddy and it left us just stuck in limbo basically doing this act that we didn’t think was going anywhere. I think everyone else that was watching could see it wasn’t going anywhere.”

“I know social media isn’t the be all and end all, but it is a viable indicator of what people are thinking. Not once did we get messages like, ‘This is the one. This is the thing that these guys should be doing’.”

The Grizzled Young Veterans recently made their debut for All Elite Wrestling in a loss to The Acclaimed on the April 27 edition of AEW Collision.

EXCLUSIVE: Grizzled Young Veterans open up about their NXT 2.0 gimmick change; "It left us just stuck in limbo."

"It was management at the highest level that hasn’t changed for the past god knows how long suddenly being completely overhauled. Teams of people 30-40 deep were… pic.twitter.com/LSNrhWesi3

— Cultaholic Wrestling (@Cultaholic) May 7, 2024

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