Various: Eric Young on Reason for Leaving WWE, Kyle Fletcher on Aussie Open Leaving NJPW, Indies

Jul 21, 2023

Eric Young Comments on His Reason for Leaving WWE & Returning to Impact

As noted before, Eric Young made his surprise return to Impact Wrestling at their Slammiversary 2023 event this past Saturday in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Young had requested and was granted his release from WWE this past April due to issues related to Vince McMahon’s return to the company.

PWInsider held a recent interview with Young. One of the topics discussed included Young’s thoughts on his reasons for leaving WWE and confirming that it was due to moral-related issues over McMahon’s return to the company.

“The (tweet) with me in front of the laptop with the keyboard is definitely a side project that I’m working on… I’ve never not worked for Anthem since leaving IMPACT. I’ve been appearing once, twice or sometimes four times a week on Game Plus Network for the last three years, so I was still linked to them when I was under contract at the other place (WWE)… I signed up for one thing and it turned into something completely different, and personally, professionally and more importantly for me, morally, I just couldn’t work there anymore. If you’re a wrestling fan, you know what’s going on, and I know that you’re a smart guy, Mike (Johnson), and you’re well aware of what I’m saying and what’s going on.
It was not a super difficult choice for me to be honest. I know it was a dream come true, going back, for sure. The contract was fantastic and all this other stuff and what I was poised to do on the TV show was excellent, but in the end, I would’ve had to answer to somebody that I’m just not willing to. That’s where we ended up now. Like I said earlier, I’m a believer in fate and everything happens for a reason, and I’m not mad about it. I’m not bitter about it, just like I wasn’t last time. Obviously, it’s a massive mistake on one person’s part, but a huge gain for wrestling.
I’m still very good at this, and it’s something that I’m very passionate about. Something that I work myself to the bone trying to make the best possible outcome of each thing that I’m handed to do. So, I’m excited for the future, and I’m always working on other stuff. The reality is, wrestling, you can’t do it forever. I’ve got tons of other interests outside of wrestling, but wrestling is my first love. It will always be one of my biggest passions in my life and I think it’s the perfect creative medium for anybody that loves sport and loves cinema, and those are the two things that I love most in the world.”

Young also gave his thoughts on if he had any regrets over leaving Impact in late 2022.

“No (I don’t regret leaving IMPACT in 2022). Yeah, I don’t. I can say that I don’t really regret anything that I’ve done. I’ve said this in other interviews before, as I’m a very experiential person. Even Scott (D’Amore) would say, he would tell me… he told me himself, I would be a fool to not go. That’s just the reality of the business side of it. The truth is-is anybody close to me, my wife and a bunch of guys on the IMPACT roster that are some of my best friends in the world. I said it and I said it to Scott, ‘I don’t want to leave.’ Like there was part of me that was really not wanting to, and I’ve never had that where I felt this weird regret of leaving because I felt we were doing something very special.
I think IMPACT Wrestling (is) for people that love pro wrestling… it’s a very special place to work. You could ask almost anybody that’s on the roster and they’re gonna tell you the same thing to varying degrees. But, to me it’s the best minute-for-minute pro wrestling show in the world. That’s biased because I work there, but, I would’ve told you that at any point because it’s written for pro wrestling fans by pro wrestlers, so it’s minute-for-minute, the best one. I’m proud to be part of it, but (do I have) regrets? No, but I didn’t want to leave. That’s the truth. It was what it was business-wise. It totally made sense to me. I can’t do this forever and, uh, I’m hoping to not work when I’m 55.”

Kyle Fletcher Comments on Reason for Departure from NJPW & Signing with AEW

As noted before, Aussie Open, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis, left New Japan Pro Wrestling and signed official contracts with AEW this past May.

A recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast featured Fletcher as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Fletcher’s thoughts on Aussie Open’s decision to sign with AEW and reason for leaving NJPW.

“The beginning of this year was very much like a ‘let’s assess where we are with everything, let’s look at what is happening, and let’s weigh our options.’ We were pretty happy in Japan, but not to say too much, we wanted a contract. We wanted stability. We had been independent wrestlers for…I’ve been wrestling ten years, Davis has been wrestling longer than that, we’ve been independent wrestlers for that whole time. We’ve never had stability and that’s what we wanted. We told New Japan this and it was very much a ‘yes, but not now’ type thing. Okay, whatever. We were doing the New Japan stuff, and that was a big goal of mine, to get there, and I love the style of wrestling there, I love the culture, I love immersing myself in the culture and exploring the country. It got to a point where it was like, if they’re not going to give us that stability that we want and have asked for, let’s see what else is going on. We work with Tony quite a lot, we worked with AEW, we really enjoyed the environment, the backstage environment, we really enjoyed the people and there are a lot of people on the roster that I would love to wrestle. That was a big thing.
There is also the fact that there is still a New Japan relationship, that was also a big deal. The fact that AEW guys have been able to do New Japan stuff and because we already have that connection, it was very much, when we were in discussion, ‘how do you feel about still doing New Japan stuff?’ We spoke to both sides and they’re like, ‘of course, that’s not an issue. That’s still something you can do.’ That was a big part of the decision. We love the environment in AEW, there is a lot of exciting matchups there and the nationwide TV exposure is a big deal as well. A lot of different thinking went into it, but very happy with the decision.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Revolution Pro Wrestling recently announced that Mickie James will be making an appearance for the company at their 11 Year Anniversary Show on August 26th in London, England.

Major League Wrestling recently announced that Love Doug is the next official draft pick selection for this year’s MLW Open Draft.

MLW also recently announced that Matt Cardona and Kevin Blackwood will be making their official debuts for the company at their Fury Road 2023 event on September 3rd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that Eric Young and Breeze will be making appearances for the company at their Redacted 4Ever event on September 2nd in Clive, Iowa.

Indies wrestler Aria Blake announced on Twitter that she and New Japan pro Wrestling talent TJP recently got married.

As noted before, Nick Aldis’ contract with Impact Wrestling expired this past weekend and could be heading to WWE as early as next month for a producer tryout. Aldis’ recently reflected on Twitter about his match with Alex Shelley at Impact’s Slammiversary 2023. Aldis stated “#Slammiversary was a fantastic ppv start to finish and I was honored to be in the main event. It was a huge challenge following all the great matches on the card, and I felt we offered something totally different and unique. The future of @IMPACTWRESTLING is in good hands.“

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that those spoken to within Impact praised Aldis for his work during his recent run in the company. Those spoken to reportedly stated that Aldis’ entire run in the company featured a storyline specifically designed to have a beginning, a middle and an end and that Aldis “nailed” everything that was asked of him by Impact officials.

As noted before, Steve Maclin has been out of action for Impact Wrestling since earlier this month due to a groin tear injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Impact officials are currently hopeful that Maclin will be able to medically cleared sooner than initially expected.

Impact commentator Matthew Rehwoldt announced on Twitter that he will be coming out of retirement and resuming his in-ring career on a limited basis for the remainder of this year.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Dragon Kid will be making his official debut for the company at their Homecoming 2023 Part 2 event on August 20th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Athena recently reflected on Twitter about breaking the record for longest ever reign as ROH Women’s World Champion as of Thursday. Athena stated “Today I became the longest reigning .@ringofhonor women’s world champion. I am truly honored to uphold the legacy of those that came before and set the standard for all those that come after! Minions unite it’s time to break more #porcelain ! #AthenaVsWillowMainEvent#AndForever“

As noted before, Don Callis was the victim of a legitimate attack following this past Saturday’s Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event in Tijuana, Mexico. This incident revolved around a member of the media being unaware that Callis and Konosuke Takeshita’s attack on Kenny Omega during the post-show press conference was only for storyline purposes and had attacked Callis to protect Omega. In a recent interview with Haus of Wrestling, AAA head booker Konnan stated that this person was not a member of the media but instead a former security guard who was visiting his friends who were working as security for the event. Konnan also stated that this person was not supposed to have gotten involved but “marked out” and intervened by choking out Callis when it happened. Konnan also stated that Callis had suffered a busted lip, a potential ankle injury, and torn suit as a result of the attack.