Matt Camp had been with WWE for years while serving as the host of WWE’s The Bump, and now he has opened up about his exit.
Before joining the company, he worked as the lead announcer for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion and as the lead fantasy football analyst for Bleacher Report. Camp previously worked on various WWE shows, including Raw Talk and Smackdown Lowdown. He was on the WWE NXT Vengeance Day kickoff before his exit.
His departure was in February, and the reaction internally shocked several people at WWE. While speaking on The Wrestling Matt, Camp learned of his release from an HR rep.
Camp said, “I don’t work for WWE anymore, have not since early February. I was told by Michael Cole when that happened, and he was not the one who let me go. It was an HR representative. I was told it had nothing to do with anything I did. It was a cost-cutting measure; whatever you want to do, call it, we’re tightening the budget. I reached out to Michael Cole, and I said, ‘Hey, anything you can tell me?’ He was basically saying, ‘Okay, I guess you heard,’ and more changes coming to the team. I think McKenzie [Mitchell] had been let go a little bit before; Kevin Patrick would move on after that.”
Camp was told more changes would be coming, and that has been the case with cuts to talent and employees. The news of his departure was a week after it actually happened, as he wanted to keep it quiet and admitted that he was mentally shell-shocked.
Camp continued, “That’s when I started to get the messages and all that stuff. That included talent within the company. They didn’t know. That’s how I chose to handle it. WWE did not put any announcement out, and I just disappeared. I disappeared off The Bump; I disappeared off the shows; they made no mention of it, which, admittedly, I thought was pretty shitty. I’m not asking for a future endeavors thing or anything like that. But that tells you what family means when you work for a company. It doesn’t mean sh*t. You’re a number, and that’s what I was. I understand that. But that whole family and ‘we’re family,’ it’s total horseshit. I had three weeks prior to my release, The Rock showed up at headquarters, telling me what a big family this is, and shaking hands, and we’re so happy to have you all aboard. I went though these town hall meetings after a bunch of cuts happened, and it was very, ‘You’re still here for a reason.’ Then you’re gone, and people get let go, and that’s part of the business. I get that. But that whole family bullshit, and Rock’s like, ‘Let’s take a picture with everybody in it because I want to show that I was here.’ I’m in that picture, and then I’m not there a couple weeks later. It’s all who’s making the money. What’s the bottom line? It’s a business; I get that. I’m not mad about that. That happens, but people move on, and they go along.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Wrestling Matt with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
