ACH was the talk of the wrestling world in October 2019 when he accused WWE of being racist and attacked the company on Twitter over a shirt that depicted blackface and Sambo imagery. Everything came to a head in November when ACH "quit" the company via a social media video. One week later, he was officially released.
Having time to reflect on the incidents, ACH opened up about his mindset at the time and how he feels looking back on what went down.
"It wasn't even a wrestling matter. 'ACH is upset because he wasn't booked right.' This was some serious shit," ACH told Submission Squad. "I honestly wish I did things differently. I had people trying to tell me to use 'mental issues,' not as an excuse, but say it was the thing. 'You're depressed right, that's why you're out lashing out.' I was angry. I'm not gonna be like, 'Sorry, mental illness.' That's a serious issue. I'm not gonna say things like that to smooth things over. I had a meltdown in front of the entire world. I broke down in front of the entire world. I said so much stuff and if I was to go back and take it all back...it really sticks to me. I went from working my dream job, providing for myself. I was finally at a space in my life that I worked for to where I was starting to feel comfortable. I've sacrificed a lot of pro wrestling, and I don't expect anything back, but I made a lot of sacrifices. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm embarrassed. This is something that I'll never be able to shake. I know I embarrassed a lot of people. Most importantly, I embarrassed myself. I'm just not used to this type of negativity and attention. Waking up angry for no reason, mad at the world. Truth be told, it's all my fault. I'll take the blame for this. I could have put the phone down and deleted my Twitter app."
Many believed ACH's mental health played a role in why he lashed out online, but as he explained he doesn't want to use that as an excuse.
"It took my passion away from what I love. I don't have passion for anything else but this. Once it got taken away, to the point where I don't even want to watch wrestling, I wake up like, 'what is my life's purpose?' Without my passion, what do I do? It's going to be a stain on my career forever."
ACH worked a handful of Independent dates following his WWE release, said he was quitting pro wrestling in December 2019, and then worked more Independent dates into 2020. He continued to note that his passion wasn't the same and that during quarantine, he's barely watched any wrestling.
He ended by saying, "I want to apologize. I know I could have handled myself correctly toward all of that. I could have been more intelligent and I could have stopped myself. I'm sorry. I feel like I let a lot of fans and people down that supported me. I know I let a lot of people down. That hurts the most. I'm truly sorry."
Elsewhere during the interview, ACH addressed his comments directed towards Jay Lethal. You can find his comments by clicking here.
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