Kyle O’Reilly Opens Up About Decision To Leave WWE

Kyle O’Reilly made his AEW debut back on December 22, reuniting with his former Undisputed Era stablemates Adam Cole and Bobby Fish.

O’Reilly was not subject to a non-compete clause, as his WWE contract expired back in December, with his last match being a steel cage defeat to Von Wagner on the December 7 show.

O’Reilly and Fish recently appeared on Talk Is Jericho, where Kyle discussed his reasoning for leaving WWE and joining up with Cole and Fish in AEW.

He said:

“Seeing Bobby and Adam come (to AEW), how could you not want to be back with these guys and part of a group like AEW where every week it’s like a TakeOver crowd, just on TV. We talk about the natural progression and next steps of one’s career and it felt like, for me, it was the next logical step for me. NXT 2.0 rebrand happened and it felt like, before the rebrand, Kyle O’Reilly was a top guy in NXT and after the rebrand, plans shifted. That’s fine, it’s business. I’m totally willing to do what I can do get anyone else get over and for the last few months there, I tried my damndest to do so with everyone I worked with. I just wanted to be excited about going to work again and I felt like I left a ton on the table with New Japan and then here, I know there is a good relationship with New Japan. It seemed like a new frontier. There are so many talented guys, so many exciting matchups, so many exciting tag matches because the tag division is stacked and I love tag team wrestling and my tag team partner, the company released and now he’s (in AEW). My deal was done, it was coming up in December, and I ended up doing a week extension just to finish up and do good business by them and finish with WarGames and TV to put Von Wagner over and do business right. I’m happy to do so. The opportunity came to come here, sorting a deal out with Tony (Khan) a day or two before my debut and here we are,”

O’Reilly was asked about how the members of the NXT backstage reacted to his decision to not re-sign with WWE. O’Reilly admitted that the staff were pretty positive, saying:

“Everyone was very encouraging of, ‘go where your heart is leading you.’ That’s what got me into WWE in the first place. They were all very supportive of doing what’s best for me and my family. Everyone was cool about it all.”

transcription via Fightful

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