A former WWE star has detailed their conversations with Vince McMahon after their main roster call-up did not go according to plan.
On June 19th 2018, Eric Young, Killian Dane and Alexander Wolfe, known collectively as Sanity, arrived on SmackDown and attacked The Usos to leave a lasting impression. Although the all-up itself was exciting, many were disappointed to see that Nikki Cross was not a part of the faction and remained in NXT.
One week later and things would go from bad to worse for the group. With Jeff Hardy without a challenger for the United States Championship, as Shinsuke Nakamura had been bitten by a bomb-sniffing dog and required medical attention earlier in the day, Young was put in the match as a replacement.
The match itself would end in a DQ and lead to a 6 man that saw Hardy and The Usos defeat Sanity. Struggling to gain momentum, the trio only won one match in between their call-up and the group splitting up just under a year later.
While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Young at first stated that while he has no issues losing to Jeff Hardy, he felt that the main roster debut was the time for him to be established as a threat along with the rest of the group. While not naming McMahon explicitly, Young blamed “The person in charge” and someone who “we all know who it is” as the cause for the lack of momentum:
“I don’t really know what happened. Nobody can tell me, the person in charge, we all know who that is, not allowed to say the name, just kind of didn’t like it. Although it was his choice to bring us up in the first place. But at that point, like this is what would happen. There’s just no rhyme or reason to any of it, and just a victim of circumstance. The fans liked us, the boys liked us, the internet was a buzz about Sanity coming up. Everyone liked us. The unfortunate truth is there’s one person that didn’t get it and he’s the only person that mattered.”
Eric Young Recalls “Frustrating” WWE Experience And Talking With Vince McMahon
Continuing, Young confirmed that he interrupted a meeting to talk to McMahon and pitched ideas, which seemed to go well. However, shortly after WrestleMania 35, the group was split up with Wolfe and Dain sent back to NXT and Young was drafted over to draw, predominantly seen in the 24/7 Championship picture, squash matches or competing on Main Event:
“I talked to him like I talked to anybody. I interrupted [him], and I was told to do it by people there, and I went and interrupted a meeting he was in. We had a very good conversation, and he said, Do you have ideas? I said, Yep, sure do. Came in the next week, pitched ideas. He was very open and very complimentary. Thank you for bringing this in, and thank you for showing initiative.
Then they sent Damo and Wolfe back to NXT, and then I got sent over to Raw and it got worse. I mean, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t make him mad. I didn’t have a bad match, there’s nothing I did. He just decided that I was no good at whatever I was that I was doing, I wasn’t doing anything.
I don’t know how you came to that decision, and I’ve said this before too, I’m not the first person that he’s missed out on. Won’t be the last, right? Well, hopefully I’m one of the last. But Kenny Omega was there and didn’t last eight months, so the one of the best bell-to-bell ever in the universe, and he couldn’t survive. So it’s frustrating more than anything. I’m not mad about it. I moved on, for sure, with my life and very fulfilled, very happy person. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. But it’s a very disappointing thing, yeah, very disappointing.”
Eric Young was first released from his WWE contract in 2020 but returned in late 2022 after McMahon retired for the first time. However, shortly after McMahon made his way back into the company in early 2023, Young requested his release.
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