Here’s Why WWE’s Recent Release Happened

July 16, 2023, 1:20pm

Eric Young quietly re-signed with WWE back in November 2022 after being written off Impact Wrestling and bringing his three-year run with the promotion to an end. However, Young never actually made it back to WWE TV or so much as stepped back inside of a ring before requesting his release in April. He officially returned to Impact at Slammiversary on Saturday night, being revealed as Scott D’Amore’s surprise tag team partner in a match against Bully Ray & Deaner, which they won. Fightful Select added some context to Young’s brief WWE tenure in a new post on Saturday.

According to Sean Ross Sapp, Young approached Paul Levesque about returning to WWE last year in an in-ring capacity. At the time, Levesque had officially taken over WWE’s booking while Vince McMahon was gone from the company after announcing his retirement last July. That proved to be false, as McMahon approached WWE’s Board of Directors in December demanding to be reinstated as the company’s executive chairman. While the board initially rejected his demands, he threatened to use to voting power he still held through stock ownership to prevent any WWE sale or future media rights deals. He was named executive chairman in January and has reportedly been involved with WWE’s booking since April when he announced WWE’s merger with the UFC under Endeavor. It was around then that Young wanted out of the company.

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Why Did Eric Young Want to Leave WWE Again?

“…Eric Young didn’t want to work with Vince McMahon after the Endeavor deal was announced and it was evident McMahon was back in the fold in an official capacity,” Sapp wrote. “WWE sources confirmed to Fightful that Young had cited moral, creative and personal reasons as why he didn’t want to work with Vince McMahon. So far he’s the only talent we’ve confirmed asked for his release due to McMahon’s return.”

Young initially joined WWE in 2016 and found success on the NXT brand as the leader of the Sanity faction. Unfortunately, the group floundered when called up to the main roster without the inclusion of Nikki Cross and Young was released in April 2020 after barely being used as a singles competitor on Raw for a full year. Cross is now the only member of Sanity to still be in WWE.