Former WWE Star Came Close To Retirement After Being Released

WWE

Former NXT Tag Team Champion Martin Stone (Danny Burch) was let go from WWE in January 2022 following a relatively successful five-year stint in the company’s NXT brand.

Despite being mostly known for this particular run from 2017 to 2022, it was actually Stone’s second in the company, first being signed to WWE between 2011 and 2014.

As a result, his 2022 release would be his second time being let go from the company.

Whilst this would obviously seem very unfortunate, according to Stone his first release was more of a blessing than something to be upset about.

Speaking on The Undisputed Podcast with Bobby Fish, the 41-year-old would detail his mindset ahead of the end of his first WWE run.

Stone explained:

“It just wasn’t working.

“Because of my mindset and how unhappy I was… I was relieved.

“At that point, I was so unhappy, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I even want to do this anymore.'”

Thankfully Stone would regain his passion for the wrestling industry, returning to the UK independent scene and rebuilding his career.

This would lead to sporadic appearances for WWE between 2015-2017 before he would eventually re-sign with the company full time for NXT.

He won the NXT Tag Team Championship with Oney Lorcan in October 2020 and aligned with Pat McAfee for that year’s WarGames match against Undisputed Era, but their tag title reign ended prematurely due to an injury to Lorcan.

Stone recently opened up about his main regrets regarding his second WWE run, to find out more click here.

Transcript courtesy of WrestlingInc

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