Former WWE Star Addresses What Went Wrong With His Faction: ‘There Were Some Fans I Don’t Know If I Was Ever Going To Win Over’

WWE

Former WWE star Joseph Sawyer – fka Joe Gacy – has shared his honest thoughts on what went wrong with his NXT faction The Schism.

The former “Joe Gacy” debuted a politically correct heel character in late 2021 who used a lot of buzz words such as “safe space”, which changed over time into a darker cult-leader character.

He aligned himself with the Grizzled Young Veterans – then the Dyad – in 2022, ahead of Ava becoming the fourth member of the faction known as “The Schism”.

With the Grizzled Young Veterans departing WWE in 2023, Joe Gacy declared at that year’s No Mercy event that the Schism was dead, officially disbanding the group.

During Simply Reliable Studios Mid-Week Shenanigans show, Joseph Sawyer was asked what he believes went wrong with The Schism in NXT.

Believing that his character divided fans from the get go, Sawyer said:

“As far as the Schism, my opinion, I enjoyed being a part of it, and I enjoyed doing the gimmick. I just think that the debut promo just split fans immediately. Either they loved it, or they hated it.

“I think it did what it was supposed to at the time, but the idea was always supposed to be, I’m preaching the thing that my character doesn’t fully believe. It was supposed to not feel believable in a way, kind of like a used car dealer.

“It’s like a sales pitch, I’m trying to get you to join me because I’m telling you I believe these things but I don’t actually, I’m just trying to manipulate you to get something out of you. Essentially like a cult leader, which was always kind of the plan.

“It was a hot button topic on some of the stuff that was talked about, Some people didn’t like it, I don’t know if people were offended.

“I don’t think it was ever meant to make fun of any certain type of person, but I feel like maybe some people took it that way. It took a while for that stigma to shake off of me.”

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Also believing that he didn’t get much of an opportunity to showcase his in-ring ability initially, Sawyer continued:

“I think they didn’t give me a real chance to showcase my in-ring ability at first. I was more promo, promo, promo, which was fine, but also I’m one of the main acts coming into the new era of NXT.

“I think the Black & Gold era fans already aren’t into the new NXT, they’re looking at the new NXT and looking at someone like me and going ‘What is this?’ I just think that could be what maybe also divided the fans a little bit.

“I hope that when I had GYV (Grizzled Young Veterans) join me that helped people see a little bit more of both sides, the character and the in-ring stuff.

“I think in my opinion, from the beginning, it was almost divided anyway. There were some fans I don’t know if I was ever going to win over. That’s okay, it is what it is.”

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Joseph Sawyer ultimately made his WWE main roster debut as a member of the Wyatt Sicks faction, which saw him hold the WWE Tag Team Championship for 196 days alongside Dexter Lumis.

Sawyer was one of numerous stars let go by WWE in April’s round of talent cuts. He recently returned to the ring at the July 24 REVOLVER Silence of the Slams event, defeating Rich Swann.

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• joseph sawyer
• nxt
• wwe
• Joe Gacy
• Schism

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