Among the surprising releases made by WWE this year, Bronson Reed's name is near the top of the list.
Reed was coming off an NXT North American Title run and seemed prime to join the main roster. Instead, Reed was released on August 6.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Reed shared the message Shawn Michaels sent to him following his release.
"I got to speak with Shawn right after my release. He actually texted me. Very shocked. He just said, 'You have to show them it was a mistake. Keep working. Not something we saw coming.' I was speaking with him at the previous tapings about future storylines and where we were headed. In my mind, creative already had plans for me until the end of the year. I got to speak with him, I didn't get to speak with Hunter, who was obviously big in my development. He's obviously going through things. All the other producers and coaches did reach out, which was nice," he said.
NXT underwent a big change on September 14 with the launch of NXT 2.0. Ahead of the revamp, it was reported that NXT would change its focus.
Speaking about the changes, Reed said, "We were told a few weeks prior that there was going to be a change. What it was going to be, we weren't too sure. We were told the direction is that they are looking for younger talent. Myself, I only just had my birthday, I'm only 33. We were told they were looking for younger talent and athletes rather than Independent wrestlers. A bunch of main TV guys were brought into a room and given that discussion, but that was from Hunter and Shawn. They did seem taken aback that obviously, Vince is going to take more control over NXT. That's all we were told. I didn't think it'd be a whole overhaul of how the show looks and everything."
Reed has launched his own podcast since his release entitled JONAHDROME.
On his podcast, he opened up about his release. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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