Former WWE Superstar Donovan Dijak recently sat down with Chris Van Vliet to reflect on his journey in wrestling and his abrupt release from WWE earlier this year. Dijak was with the promotion for seven years and had runs in NXT and on the main roster. Dijak never held gold in WWE but has already won a championship now he’s back on the indies.
On Leaving WWE
When sharing that he’d be exiting WWE in a letter, Dijak claimed that the promotion had “stonewalled” attempts to negotiate a new deal. Now out of the company, Dijak is looking forward to what’s to come.
“[I’m feeling] Excited. Yeah, it took a little bit of time to get over the initial waves of emotions, mostly disappointment, frustration and fear. But now I’m in a really good spot because I’ve had a good solid week of let’s call it return on investment.”
On If He’s Burned Bridges With WWE
With his letter, Dijak made his views on WWE ‘stonewalling’ his attempts to sign a new deal crystal clear. When asked if his very public display may have hurt his chances at a return, Dijak argued that nothing he wrote was dishonest.
“If that letter burned a bridge with WWE, then they need to take a long hard look at themselves because everything in that letter is true and it’s what they did. So if me telling the truth about their actions, burns a bridge, then maybe they should consider changing their actions because that doesn’t reflect well on them. All I did was say what you did to me.”
Dijak pointed out that he didn’t scorn or badmouth anyone in WWE or throw out wild allegations against the company. Instead, he simply said “these are the facts” of what happened to him in the company.
On Being At Forbidden Door
Mere days after his WWE exit, Dijak teased appearing at AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door and whilst he wasn’t shown on-screen, he was backstage at the event.
Dijak: “I did not talk to Tony [Khan]… some phone calls were made, we saw where we could go and Steve [from Paragon] has enough connections at AEW where it was, I don’t know who’s in charge of green lighting who goes backstage, but in some capacity, I was approved to be backstage.
Dijak added that he was welcomed with “open arms” at Forbidden Door and he had great conversations with old friend. Dijak name-dropped reigning AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland as one of the individuals he spoke to.
On Retribution
During his WWE run, Dijak worked as Retribution T-Bar though the group struggled to make an impact on the main roster. According to the ex-Superstar, the idea for the group was agreed upon long before the wrestlers were picked.
“Retribution existed before the members of it were selected in any capacity. The original group of Retribution that you saw on Monday Night Raw was a bunch of writers and extras all wearing those head-to-toe blacks and throwing Molotov cocktails at a generator.
Dijak filmed a brief vignette in his basement and presented it to Vince McMahon who after watching spoke about the importance of professionalism to the Superstar.
“I made the pitch about Retribution. He was like ‘You need to have more respect you know for these board members, these CEOs’… it’s just a very confusing message and I’m like yes sir. Sounds good. Yeah, I’ll be more professional next time.
On If FOX Had An Issue With Retribution
Following his own release from WWE, fellow Retribution member Mace said Retribution was scrapped as many saw it as too similar to Antifa. On the podcast, Dijak addressed the rumor that FOX, the broadcaster of SmackDown, had an issue with the group.
“I never heard that in an official capacity. I never saw a report that said that. But yes, that is the rumor I heard that Fox did not like Retribution, which for the record they had every right.”
