Former WWE Tag Team Champion and Spirit Squad member Johnny Jeter was recently interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter. You can see the full interview at this link, and highlights below.
His personal struggles and how he chose to leave WWE and the business:
"You know, I've thought about that. I know it has been reported as to why I left, at least, I think it has. My wikipedia has something that is completely wrong. But, it really was my choice to leave WWE. At the time, I think I got hurt and I had some time off. At the time, and a lot of guys were doing this, you get caught up doing things you shouldn't do. You want to play wrestler. Guys are doing pills, drinking, and even with the drug policy, it seemed like guys had ways around it. As a 19 year old kid, you kind of get caught up in it. For me, I was hooked on pain pills. I woke up one day and I was like, "I've got to get the f*** out of here! I'm going to kill myself." So, I went home and got cleaned up. When Johnny Ace called me, he was like, "Hey, we need you back on the road." I pretty much told him everything. He was like, "Why didn't you tell us this? We could have sent you to one of the best places in the US." I said, "I'm an adult. I should own it." And, I kind of wanted to keep it out of the news... I don't even know if I was a big enough star to be in the news. But, I know all the wrestling dirt sheets report on that. I didn't want that. He was like, "Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to go back on the road? Do you want to go to developmental? You tell me, man!" I said, "At this point of my career, I'm passed developmental." This was when they had just moved to Florida. I said, "I don't trust myself to be on the road and I feel the best thing for me is to be around friends and family right now. I know I'm of no regard to you in that role. So, I think it is best we go on our separate ways." He said, "The door is always open to you." That is how it happened."
On never getting to be himself in WWE:
"They changed my name to Jayden Jeter when I was in ECW... I totally wanted to do that. When I look back at my wrestling career, while I loved what I did with the Spirit Squad, I just feel I had so much more that I had to offer that I wasn't able to portray when I was there. Yeah, I would have loved to have done that. And, it would be cool to go back and still do that. But, I'm at a point in my career and my life now where I have a wife, I got my degree... Wrestling for fun on the side is cool but I think it would completely change my life if I ever was to go back wrestling on the road again."
