Eric Young made a promise to himself and he kept it.
In December 2022, Eric Young was "killed" on IMPACT Wrestling TV, as he was set to return to WWE. Young went on to sign with the company, but he never appeared on television. Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported that Young cited moral reasons for not wanting to work with Vince McMahon and leaving WWE. Young then returned to IMPACT/TNA at Slammiversary in July 2023.
Speaking on Sunday Night's Main Event, Eric Young looked back on getting "killed off" as he was wrapping up with the company.
“Murder does seem to be a real problem there. But I think it was kind of a brainchild of Eric Tompkins. How it ended is, we’re shooting in this kind of jailhouse set, where we shot a lot of the promos, and Cody [Deaner] definitely, one, you can’t show him stabbing me because it’s cable television, and also, there’s no thought or even idea that I’m going to come back. I’m leaving, I signed this four-year deal, and that’s gonna be it. But they still leave it open-ended because he’s an artist, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t have the forethought, to be honest. But when I said I think that this is happening and I’m coming back, he goes, ‘Oh, we can do this, and we can do that.’ He had it in his head before I’d even signed my name on my contract. I’ve talked about him 100 times, but people aren’t talking about Eric Tompkins enough in the pro wrestling world. They’re just not. He’s one of the best at what he does," Young said.
Young was then asked whether he "worked" when he went back to WWE, and he stated that he did not. He noted that he never even left his house. Young stated that he had to sign an NDA when he left WWE, and he discussed his decision to do so.
“I didn’t, no. I actually never left my house. The whole story’s wild. I had to sign an NDA, and I’m not allowed to say names. The truth is, I don’t need to talk badly on it. It is what it is. I talked to Hunter, and he hired me back and wanted me back there, and I was. Another person came back, and I won’t work for that person. I won’t be around that person. I said that when I left there the first time, when I got fired, and I meant it. For me, there’s tons of professional reasons, but mostly it’s a personal and moral decision. I don’t have to be there. I have a very good life outside of there. There’s no doubt it’s the pinnacle of sports entertainment. We just saw [with WrestleMania XL]. I don’t know if it could be more perfect, to be honest. It’s the big fish in the pond, and no one will say that, I will never change my mind on it. That was my goal. I did, I went there, I had a bunch of cool things. I was hired back there to do something very cool, and it just didn’t work out. In the end, I was gonna be forced to compromise who I am as a person and as a man, and I’m not willing to do that. It’s not lost on me that I was able to make that choice because a lot of people aren’t going to get that choice. You’re going to make decisions and you’re going to be forced to do what you gotta to do. If this was 10 or 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to make that choice," Young said.
After noting that every person had their own journey, Young emphasized that he did it for selfish reasons, as he made a promise to himself. He made it clear that he is still on good terms with Triple H, and he still respects him.
“I’m doing it out of completely selfish reasons, for myself and myself only. I’m not doing it to punish somebody, I’m not doing it to prove a point. I’m doing it because that’s what I said when I got fired. That was not the case when I re-signed, because I wouldn’t have, and then everything changed. I mean, in the end, I guess you could say the joke’s on me because that person’s not around anymore. I can give you 1000% guarantee, if I wanted to work there, I could. It’s just at this point in my life, I’m not interested. I believe in that I’m doing, and that’s worth more than almost anything to me right now. It has nothing to do with disparaging anything that’s going on there. I still talk to Hunter to this day, we’re still buddies. I still have utmost respect for him and 95% of the people that work there, especially the people that make the show go, and that’s the people in the ring. If that’s what you want to do and that’s your decision, then that’s your decision. It was never about being a leader or proving a point. Some people took it that way. In the end, it was a selfish reason because I couldn’t live with myself. It’s just as simple as that. I made a promise to myself, and I kept it," Young said.
In July 2023, Eric Young opened up about his decision to leave WWE. Click here to see what he had to say.
Eric Young previously said that people in WWE thanked him for being a leader in response to his decision. Check out his comments here.
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