Posted By James Walsh on 04/14/24
As previously noted, former WWE star Eric Young asked for his release in April of 2023 and it was granted. At the time, it was reported that Young cited “moral conflicts” working with Vince McMahon in addition to creative concerns.
During an interview with the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast, Young commented on signing a four-year deal in 2022 but not being used…
“I actually never left my house. I mean, the whole story’s wild. Again, I had to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), and I’m not allowed to say names… (Host asked if Young’s NDA is as ironclad as Janel Grant’s NDA) I don’t know. It depends if it goes federal or not. I mean, I might be able to say everything here within a few months but, the truth is, I don’t need to talk badly on it. It is what it is and I talked to Hunter [Triple H] and he hired me back and wanted me back there and I was and another person came back and I won’t work for that person, I won’t be around that person and I said that when I left there the first time when I got fired and I meant it and you know, for me, there was tons of professional reasons. But mostly, it’s a personal and moral decision. I don’t have to be there. I have a very good life outside of there and there’s no doubt, it’s the pinnacle of sports entertainment. We just saw this weekend. I mean, I don’t know if it could be more perfect, to be honest. It’s the big fish in the pond and no one will say that, I will never change my mind on it. That was my goal. I went there and I had a bunch of cool things. I was hired back there to do something very cool and it just didn’t work out and in the end, I was gonna be forced to compromise who I am as a person and as a man and I’m not willing to do that and it’s not lost on me that I was able to make that choice because a lot of people aren’t gonna get that choice. You’re gonna make decisions and you’re gonna be forced to do what you gotta do. If this was 10 or 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to make that choice.
In the end, I guess you can say joke’s on me, because that person is not around anymore… I can give you 1,000 percent guarantee, (if) I wanted to work there, I could. It’s just at this point in my life, I’m just not interested. I believe in what I’m doing and that’s worth more than almost anything to me right now and it has nothing to do with disparaging anything that goes on there. I still talk to Hunter (to) this day. We’re still buddies. I still have utmost respect for him and 95 percent of the people that work there, and especially the people that make that show go and that’s the people in the ring and if that’s what you wanna do and that’s your decision then that’s your decision. It was never about being a leadership or proving a point or anything like that. I think some people took it that way and some people went, ‘Man, it’s really cool.’ In the end, it was a selfish reason, because I couldn’t live with myself. It’s just as simple as that. I made a promise to myself and I kept it. So, that was that.” (quote courtesy of PostWrestling.com)