WWE Star Recalls ‘Bursting Into Tears’ After Being Released

A WWE star has recalled bursting into tears after being released along with several others this past April, because he was in such a unique position.

The story of Drake Maverick has been well-documented. He was legitimately released by WWE on April 15, but because of the 90-day clause he was still a part of the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship tournament.

After impressing during the tournament, he signed a new deal with NXT, with the whole thing being played out on TV and turned into a storyline.

Speaking with Gorilla Position, Maverick has described how difficult this was because he was accused of being insensitive by a lot of people who took offence to the fact that WWE was playing out his release as a storyline when there were others who had lost their jobs during a pandemic.

He said:

“Nobody else was in a situation like I was. Nobody else had three prior engagements with the company that they still needed to be fulfilled. Mental health-wise, when I’d pick up the phone or read the news, you’d see people saying, ‘What about these other people? You’re disgusting for doing this.’ Some days, that would weigh on me because the people they are thinking about, every one of them are my colleagues and friends that I deeply care about. Everyone that I interacted with said, ‘You turned a negative into a positive and you haven’t done what any of us wouldn’t. In fact, what you’ve done is an incredible thing.’ It’s very easy to pick what you perceive as a negative, but our job as a pro wrestler is to get as many eyes as possible and I don’t think it’s anything that a creative guy like Heath Slater or EC3 or Matt Cardona wouldn’t have done. Matt Cardona, I wouldn’t be going on social media doing that video without him. Every one of them knows they’re capable of creating their own stuff. What I did was create and see and hope if something could happen. That hope drove me forward.”

Maverick also spoke about his close friend EC3, who was released on the same day, saying:

“He wasn’t put in the best position to succeed. Just give the guy a microphone. What he’s done now and created since his release is incredible. What he’s created without a creative team behind it, without a budget behind it, without a global company behind it is masterful. I really wish he was staying. On top of him being one of the best people I’ve ever been in the ring with, he’s also my best friend. He’s also the person I went to and said, ‘I want to stay with WWE.’ I burst into tears when I told him. If I wasn’t staying with WWE, there’s no other person I want to be on the same track with than him. That day was really hard, saying, ‘I’m gonna bust my ass because I want to stay.’ He was a person who wasn’t in the same situation as me.”

Stay tuned to the WrestleTalk Interviews YouTube channel as we have an exclusive interview with Maverick dropping on there soon.

Transcription via Fightful

• Drake Maverick
• released
• nxt
• wwe

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