Former WWE star Eric Young continues to make the rounds doing interviews in various places. This week he spoke with Chris Van Vliet to talk about his run with WWE, singing with Impact Wrestling, WWE’s “broken system,” Sanity, shaving his beard and much more.
Here are some highlights and scroll down to watch the full interview:
Eric Young talked about COVID-19, Impact releases, signings and Triple H: “A huge chunk of people being released all at the same time because of the virus and cutbacks, us becoming available gave them a huge opportunity and they didn’t wait. I can tell you now Scott D’Amore was the second person I heard from when the news came out. This is going to sound weird, but Triple H was the very first. He was unaware that it was happening. He’s in a different position in the company now. Me and him have always had a very good relationship. The original plan after WrestleMania was for me to go back to NXT. We had been talking a lot about ideas and what might happen. When they said they were going to release talent, I knew for sure I was going to be on that list. It’s nothing personal. I don’t take it personally. I’m not bitter in any way. One person made a massive mistake. I’m not the first person he made a mistake on and I won’t be the last. It’s a weird thing. I’m sure people are curious and I talked about it on Busted Open (in the last week).
Young discussed his call up from NXT to the main roster: “Sanity and Eric Young were a big part of what went on and we were one of the top acts in NXT. We got called up per his (Vince McMahon’s) request. He asked for us to come. A bunch of stuff happened. It was a lot of victim of circumstance and we ended up in a very weird spot. They sent those two guys down and it was his request for me to move over to RAW and he was going to figure something out for me because at that point, he still liked me. Then somewhere along the line, he didn’t like me and didn’t care for my work and I was lost in obscurity for about a year and a half. That’s tough to deal with after all the work you put in. I’m a short chubby kid from Florence, Ontario. I can tell you I grinded and I made a lot of sacrifices along the road in 20 years to put myself in that position and build my career to where it was. It was basically thrown away haphazardly. That’s hard to deal with.”
What made you leave TNA in the first place?: “For me, at that point it was different management. Yes, Impact, it was TNA Impact when I left. Now it’s just Impact wrestling. We were not on AXS TV. I could see where the company was heading and where it went, I was right. I saw it going this way. It was dwindling. The numbers were going down. We were not doing house shows. We were not making money. We were on Destination America then they lost that. Then we were on Pop. I had it on my satellite but I had no idea what it was. It kept getting smaller and smaller. Eventually, they weren’t going to be able to afford me which was a big part of it and the other part was I knew that there was going to be an opportunity with NXT. There was nothing official but I had a very good idea of where I was at in my career and who I was in the wrestling world that there would be interest from them. I didn’t know for sure, but, it was like I bet on myself. I don’t think you are ever wrong when you do that. That’s what I did.”
When do you think TNA was at its height?: “Personally there are a bunch of different answers to that. Company-wise, when Kurt (Angle) first came. From 2006-2010, it really felt like something was happening. These guys can choose more money and more exposure but they are choosing to come there because they see it could be an alternative.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
