Brian James, better known as Road Dogg, broke his silence on his exit from WWE in early March, saying the pace of the job had simply become too much and that spending more time with his family was the driving factor behind his decision to step away.
James, who served as co-lead writer of Friday Night SmackDown before his departure, addressed the situation publicly for the first time during a virtual signing with Signed By Superstars. He kept his explanation simple and personal rather than framing it as a creative or professional dispute.
“It was just moving too fast for me. We talked about my brothers and their grandkids and I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with mine, so I’m gonna do more of that now.”
James was also asked about his appearance in the WWE Unreal series on Netflix, which featured him in a creative writing meeting and raised questions about whether the show goes too far in pulling back the curtain on the wrestling business. He acknowledged the instinct to feel that way while also framing the series as a strategic tool for WWE rather than a traditional breaking of kayfabe.
“As an old timer, I think we always feel that way,” James said. “The idea behind it, in my opinion, is it’s an on-ramp or an exit ramp into the actual episodic television show, and I don’t know if there’s a metric that can tell you whether that works or not.”
James was also asked during the signing about the possibility of joining AEW following his WWE departure. No details on what he said in response to that question were included in the available reporting. James had previously worked for WWE across multiple stints, including a lengthy run in creative under both the Vince McMahon and Triple H eras.
