Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins Open Up About Their WWE Release

During this week’s edition of The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, hosts Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) and Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) spoke publicly for the first time about their release from WWE last week. Though used sporadically on television for the last several months, the former tag team champions have one of the most die-hard fan followings on the roster due to the success of their podcast and YouTube channel. That fact, plus all of the leg work they do in promoting the company’s action figures, made their release a little bit surprising.

At the start of the show, both men addressed the release right off the bat and joked about how they didn’t have to introduce themselves by their WWE names any longer. As they talked about coming to grips with what happened, both agreed that they are excited about the opportunity of wrestling elsewhere and taking up some new opportunities once the pandemic ends.

“The support you guys have given us is overwhelming and we love you, so thank you,” Cardona said. “I’m very excited. It feels like it’s Christmas morning to me and I can see all the gifts, but I can’t go open ’em yet. I’m just so excited to get out there. I’m just so pumped.”

They talked about being thankful for all of the fans of their podcast and having this outlet to fall back on. A story was told about how they originally pitched it to WWE, and WWE turned them down on the idea. Someone told them to do it on their own anyway, which they obviously did, and they talked about being so thankful they did so now. They also talked about it being a blessing WWE turned them down, otherwise they would have lost everything upon leaving the company.

They also joked about how now they can book guests from other wrestling promotions more easily, including AEW’s Chris Jericho who guested later on in the show. They talked about how impressed they are with AEW’s upcoming figure line, which was admitedly something they were hesitant to do earlier while under WWE contracts. They went into a story about how while they attended the New York Toy Fair earlier this year when the AEW figures were unveiled, they weren’t allowed to personally go film the booth and had to send their producer “Smart” Mark Sterling to do it instead.

You can check out the full episode below, including the interview with Jericho where he talks about his own experience collecting action figures over the years and talks about some funny stories of seeing his first figures while part of WCW in the 1990s.