The big news last weekend was about the dozens of former WWE stars who became free agents. They are all free to sign elsewhere and are free to speak. Most of the released WWE stars have remained silent and refrained from saying anything bad about the company. However, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had a lot to say about their WWE departure.
As noted last weekend, Gallows and Anderson put the blame on Paul Heyman for putting their name on a list to be released. Gallows and Anderson acknowledged that Vince McMahon makes the final call on who to fire but they were upset with Heyman for allegedly lying to them.
Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that a lot of the reaction to their comments was about how naive they could be to think that it was Heyman and not Vince that made the call to fire them.
Meltzer noted that internally in WWE, two stories have gone around. One story being told within the company is that it was Vince’s call but Heyman didn’t fight to keep them. Another story that is going around in WWE is that Vince had a list of people to cut and Gallows and Anderson were not on the list but after a discussion with Heyman about storyline plans for the future, Vince decided to put them on the list. Presumably, if this story is true, then it means that Heyman told Vince that he did not have any significant plans for them.
Styles has claimed that someone in the company who he trusts told him that Heyman was responsible for Gallows and Anderson being fired and Vince McMahon supposedly told Styles that it was Heyman’s call to let go of his friends. Styles also said that he questioned Heyman about this but Heyman lied to him.
Whatever the case may be, the fact is that there was a 90-day non-compete so if Vince really wanted Gallows and Anderson to stay, he could have changed his mind during those 90 days and he could have moved them to SmackDown with AJ if Heyman didn’t have anything for them on Raw.
You can click here to listen to what Styles said about Heyman this week and click here to read and hear everything that Gallows and Anderson said about Heyman and their WWE departure.
