Eric Young gave some interesting insight into the system that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has created now that he’s no longer under contract with the company.
He did so while making an appearance on SiriusXM’s Busted Open. Although he felt like he had a part in the creative direction of his character in NXT while working with Triple H, that quickly changed once he moved to the main roster.
He talked about how his transition to the main roster didn’t go very well and part of that is due to him not wanting to be a political person in pro wrestling. He admitted that might be a bit of a hindrance to his career.
“We don’t need to go on and on about it, but the system is broken. It’s hard to get a word in.”
He stated that even when a wrestler isn’t doing anything, it feels like your trying to fix the mistakes made by other people.
“There is no creativity. They want everyone to do things the same and be the same and bump the same and sell the same. There’s millions of rules, which I’m sure you guys have all heard and talked about on the show at length, and people talk about on the internet. The secret rules. Those change daily and it’s just really hard to understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. The system is flawed. And I would say that to anyone there. I would say it to Vince himself.”
He stated that he’s not the first person that McMahon has made a mistake on and he won’t be the last person.
“I don’t think it’s anything personal. Anytime me and him were in a room together, or we spoke, he was always respectful. We had two pretty decently long conversations and I thought they went well and he understood where I was coming from.”
Young stated that as a man, he refuses to stand around and wait on McMahon to talk to him. While he thinks that could be wrong or stubborn on his part, but he just won’t do it.
“I’m a forty-year-old man and I’m not gonna wait in the hallway like a child to maybe get five minutes to talk to him. I said my peace to him. He seemed to be responsive to it. And nothing ever came from it. I don’t take it personally. He made a mistake and, as a leader of the company and the person that decides everything, it’s a massive mistake to pass on somebody with me.”
He added, “You have a three-hour television show and you can’t find five minutes for Eric Young? Your show is broken. It’s as simple as that. I’ve proven that I can do whatever. Any role. I’m not saying I can do it. I’ve already done it and I’ve proven that I can do it and do it very well.”
He considers that a huge miss and mistake. He now sees it as a gain for somebody else. Young stated that his soul hadn’t felt good in a long time and that he didn’t exist for two years while on the main roster.
He stated that everyone in wrestling is creative and to have your hard work be discarded is hard to deal with and a huge blow to the psyche.
“I never thought, ‘Oh, this is my fault.’ The system is just broken. It’s flawed. All the flaws are created by one person and that’s not gonna change, unfortunately.”
Young stated that a lot of people who are creative and talented are never going to be able to fully do what they can do because of the way the system is organized.
He called it super frustrating when you’re in it. He added that he can smile now because he doesn’t have to deal with that anymore.
Eric Young Is Excited To “Right Others Wrongs” Following WWE Release