Scotty 2 Hotty opens up about the gradual change of heart he faced leading up to his decision to leave WWE.
When you think of Scotty 2 Hotty, you may think of the worm. You may think of the Attitude Era and his tag team with Brian Christopher and Rikishi. You may think of the light heavyweight Division and under-the-radar classic matches with Dean Malenko, but one thing is for sure, Scotty always gave his all to the professional wrestling industry.
Recently, Scott Garland, the performer’s real name, left WWE after being one of the integral parts of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
As one of the coaches, Scott helped mold the current era of WWE performers and couldn't be more proud of the work he did in WWE.
In a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Scott opens up about what all led to his decision to leave WWE and how, as he alluded to in his exit statement, it just wasn't fun anymore.
Scott began, “It wasn’t an immediate thing. Well, it was building over the last six months. It all started during the pandemic and everything started to change. Moreso over the last six months, I started having thoughts come into my mind. I saw people outside of WWE independent wise, AEW wise, international wise out there having fun. I just wasn’t having fun anymore. I had a great thirty years working for them and I’m so thankful for everything they did.”
Forever a fan of the industry, Scott still shows nothing but gratitude to WWE for the platform that they provided for him for two-and-a-half decades.
“They gave me a platform. You and I probably wouldn’t even be talking if it wasn’t for my time that. So, that’s why I say I have to be thankful for that, but I just wasn’t having fun there anymore. I’d be driving to work at the Performance Center every day and I’d have my stomach in knots. I blame a lot of it on the pandemic because that started, which seems like it started the releases and all of these people that I had coached and been friends with. Some of them became like my kids and all of a sudden they’re getting released and I’m finding out about it on Twitter. I’m their coach, I’m encouraged to build a relationship.”
“I was finding out from you,” the former WWE Tag Team Champion told Sean Ross Sapp. “I would literally be sitting in class with somebody and then three hours later—there was one person, in particular, I’m having a heart to heart talk with and I’ve earned that person’s trust over the last couple of years and I’m giving them the best advice I can and then three hours later my buddy from Nashville texts me and he says, ‘Hey, looks like releases are happening again.’ So I jump on Twitter and see this guy was just released. I always said, ‘I don’t ever want to know that one of my talents was getting a release before they know,’ but I feel like the coaches deserve the respect of being told as soon as the talent knows. I shouldn’t be finding out on Twitter. That was, really, my biggest beef, if anything.”
He continued, “C’mon, man. Give me a little bit of respect. Give me a heads-up before I’m finding out on Twitter and it goes back to the same thing as a guy like Otis and Tucker, who I had worked with. When Otis came to me and asked if he could do the Worm and I told him to hold off, go out there and get over first, and then add the Worm in. That’s what they did. Heavy Machinery went out there, had maybe six months, they started to get over and I pulled him aside one day. I said, ‘Hey, go ahead. Add the Worm in now.’ So he started doing the Worm and I had this relationship with him and I love the dude. I find out that they’re going to RAW watching the show with everybody else. Like, dude. C’mon, man. Just a bit of a lack of communication there. I understand it’s a big machine, it’s running a hundred miles an hour and they’re probably not worried about my feelings. It’s an oversight. I don’t believe it’s a deliberate thing. It’s just an oversight.”
Speaking about some of the positives concerning releases, Scott would say that a lot of people who weren't getting used were now free to ply their trade elsewhere. However, he would say that he thinks it would be only proper to give some of the coaches a heads up as they are encouraged to build relationships with the wrestlers.
Regarding competition in the ring, Scott spoke about the unfortunate nature of having to use inexperienced superstars on live television against one another when they don't have the time to build their comfortability inside the squared circle.
“Maybe it was necessary. I heard recently like 181 people since the pandemic started. That’s a lot of people that weren’t being used, maybe. So I understand it from a business perspective. If you have a lot of people that you’re not doing anything with, you have to just let go. That’s part of what we do. But at the same time, just give us a bit of a heads-up. A guy like Maclin, him, and Wesley Blake, two of the best there are. We used to open a lot of the NXT road shows with Street Profits versus the Forgotten Sons. It was a perfect opening match and they understood how to go out there and work an opening match. Those are guys you can really use right now, in my opinion, when you have so many green people that you’re just throwing out there. Once you start throwing green people versus green it gets a little bit scary and dangerous, especially when it’s on live television.”
Now, Scott Garland looks to relive his dream all over again as he begins a new on the independent circuit. Scott already has dates booked with GCW and ISPW. Scott recently open the YouTube channel and posted a video reflecting on his 30-year Journey. You can view the video here.
