Tye Dillinger Explains Why He Left WWE

When “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger made the jump from NXT to the main roster in April 2017, he was one of the most promising underdog babyfaces to make the jump from developmental in recent memory. But just two years later all of his momentum was gone as he wallowed in the midcard. Back in February the Canada native publicly requested his release from the company, and was granted it three days later.

On a new episode of The E&C Pod of Awesomeness, Dillinger explained to Edge and Christian his reasoning behind leaving the company.

“I was dreading it,” he said, describing the final months of his time on the main roster. “I was back there going, ‘Please respond; please make noise; please cheer.’ I was pleading, not to the audience, but whoever would hear me. I was praying, essentially, that they would still acknowledge that I existed. I was spiralling. And when your performance is suffering, and when you’re not giving it your all, they see it and they can feel it. And it’s not fair to them. So I couldn’t place myself in that position anymore. I would take it home with me. Instead of enjoying the two days I had off, I was dreading the third day when I’d have to leave already. It was time to go. I was probably late in leaving, actually.”

Dillenger added that the WWE attempted to keep him under contract by offering a substantial raise, but he turned it down.

“I just said to Talent Relations at the time that I needed to go and they said, ‘Well, we’re about to offer you a pretty substantial raise’ Now, I am by no means a millionaire,” he said. “I’m not even close. I’ve been very lucky. I have everything I could possibly need and I wouldn’t have that without WWE. But for me, personally, it wasn’t about the money, so I didn’t even let him get the offer out of his mouth. Later I found out what it was, a couple of weeks later, but I just said, “It wouldn’t change anything tomorrow morning when I wake up — I’m still going to feel the same way that I do right now and the way I’ve felt for the last six months.”

Dillinger’s last match with the WWE came out a house show on Feb. 18. The 90-day no-complete clause in his contract will allow him to start working independent wrestling shows starting on Monday.

H/T Wrestling Inc.