Released WWE Star Tony Nese Talks Conflict Over Vision for 205 Live

By Matthew Aguilar

WWE released several talented wrestlers from the roster earlier this year, and those releases included Tony Nese, who was a frequent star on 205 Live and NXT. He would go on to win the Cruiserweight Championship and have stellar matches during his time with WWE, but it seems he and the other stars of 205 Live were caught in between two different visions for the show that left them in limbo. In a new interview, Nese spoke about what it was like being in the middle of those two visions, which he speculates as the differing visions between Vince McMahon and Triple (via Wrestling News).

"We would always say that we were in this wrestling purgatory. Even though I was there, when it comes to the company's decisions, I'm on the outside looking in. This is all speculation, but it seemed like they had an idea for the show. It was Triple H's idea, it was his baby. He wanted to have a yearly tournament, win/loss records, all that stuff," Nese said. "He wanted it to have. different feel."

"As soon as it was announced that the cruiserweight would be. apart of Raw, that was where Vince was like, 'no, it's my show now.' All that other stuff went out the window. We even joked about it. We said, 'This is RAW lite.' We got our backs against the wall after all the stars competed," Nese said.

"So Vince had control, but after a while, he was like, I'm done playing with this toy. He gave it back to Triple H, who was like, you're Vince's boys now. You are tainted to me," Nese said. "This is my speculation, but it feels like Triple H didn't care about it either. We were in this limbo of the show, it had to be booked, but they were just like, whatever, put whatever on and just move on. No matter how much we would fight, they were just like, have a good match and that's it."

If that first part about Triple H's vision for the show is true, it sounds a bit more like AEW, with the win-loss records being an important element.

What do you think of Nese's comments? Let us know!

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