Before he was a top star in NXT, Ricky Saints was working at Microsoft and chasing a dream, a combination that once led him to tell a hilarious lie to save his job. Speaking on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Want to Talk About? podcast, Saints shared the story of how a premature celebration almost cost him his day job.
Quitting in a Blaze of Glory
Saints explained that back in 2012, while working at Microsoft, he got his first call from WWE to come in for extra work. Confident that this was his big break, he decided to quit his job in spectacular fashion, specifically telling a co-worker he disliked that he was leaving for the big time.
“I literally tell this girl, ‘Hey, I’m about to get signed to WWE. See you. Bye. I don’t need this anymore. See ya.’ And I left,” Saints recalled. “I left. I didn’t come back after my break.”
“My Dog Died”
Unfortunately, the WWE opportunity did not immediately lead to a full-time contract, and Saints found himself in a difficult position. “I went and did the extra work with Jinder [Mahal]… and I had to go back to work,” he said. Faced with having to explain his sudden absence, Saints came up with a creative, if dishonest, excuse.
“I had to really tell them like I was having a rough day… My dog died,” he confessed with a laugh. When asked by Rhodes if that was a lie, Saints confirmed it was. “Didn’t have a dog at the time, so you lied,” Rhodes asked. “I definitely lied to save my own ass,” Saints responded. “Absolutely. I will always lie to save my ass.” He added that his bosses believed the story, and he was able to get his job back selling Xboxes on the floor.
That early struggle is now a distant memory for Saints. After successful runs in NWA and AEW, he finally signed a WWE contract and is now a featured superstar and locker room leader on the NXT brand, where he is currently involved in a main event storyline.
