Donovan Dijak gives his perspective on the recent wave of WWE releases and tries to offer advice that isn't overused cliches.
WWE released Cedric Alexander, Isla Dawn, Akam, Rezar, Paul Ellering, Blair Davenport, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Giovanni Vinci, and Elektra Lopez in early February 2025. Sonya Deville also learned that her contract would not be renewed. These performers now have to consider the next phase of their careers. Donovan Dijak recently went through the same process in 2024.
Recently, Dijak appeared on Wrestlesphere and was asked if he had any advice for these performers. In response, he explained that he understood what most people would say about the opportunities these released wrestlers will have outside of that system. Still, he also understands that there are no magic words to alleviate the difficulty of the moment they all have to go through.
"I'll say this: when those releases started happening, that was the first time in a very long time that I didn't have to experience that other end of it," he began. "Which is kind of like a bittersweet sort of moment, right? Because, again, nothing sweet about it, right? Just the fact that that's the first time where I started seeing that, like that thing, 'So and so has been released,' and then another name keeps coming every so often. Usually, what happens when I get that, and I still have PTSD about it, which is all my friends start texting me, and then we start staring at our phones, and we're looking at it, and you're waiting for a phone call, right? You're waiting for the dreaded phone call to come, which is odd because, in a sense, I never got that because I just found out what, like, my phone call was from my friend, my rep, Mojo, and I thought I was getting a good phone call. I was like, 'Oh, he's gonna tell me about my contract. It was not a good phone call. I was like, 'Oh, this is a bad phone call.' So, I never had that day, which I don't want, by the way, I don't want that day. I don't want that day for anybody. I don't want anyone to experience that awful feeling. It fills your gut with dread. It's a horrible feeling."
He continued, "My advice to people in that situation -- it's hard to offer something new because there's 100 people who are going to tell you, 'This is a great opportunity. Keep your head up,' and all this stuff, because everybody told me, right? I heard the same thing over and over again, which I'm thankful for; by the way, I'm thankful for everybody who reached out to me and every single person who contacted me, independent of what they said. It was a comfort to know that people were thinking about me and caring about me. Yeah, so I don't want to just be another voice, just saying the same stuff."
He would continue to struggle with the difficulties of not wanting to repeat the same cliches, but he said there would come a point where time would heal the wounds, and once the ball starts rolling on life outside of WWE, you begin to feel better.
"There's nothing that anyone could say to me at that time, or for the first few weeks after that, that could change how I felt, right? It was a difficult time in my life because I cared a lot about that stuff, right? I still care a lot about that, but I've had time to experience life outside," he said. "Ultimately, the advice is the advice they're going to hear from other people, which is, like, 'You'll feel better in six months,' in that moment, there's not much that helps. I can't snap my fingers and take it away. I can just give the advice that everyone else gives, which is, 'If you do what you've been doing, you will have more of an opportunity to control your future. Once you do that, 'You will feel a lot better about the situation that you're in,' right? That's it. I know that's similar to what other people say, and it's not comforting in the moment... Time heals all wounds. Control what you can control, and do your best not to worry about the things that you can't control. I know that's easier said than done. I know nobody wants to hear that, but that's that's the truth, and that's reality."
Fans can read JBL's thoughts on these recent releases here.
Read Jeff Jarrett's thoughts on the releases here.
Keep up with a list of free agents in wrestling at this link.
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