Despite being part of Diamond Mine on NXT television, Taylor Rust (Tyler Rust in WWE) was released by the company on August 6.
Rust was quickly scooped up by Ring of Honor, appearing on Death Before Dishonor.
Speaking on ROH Strong, Rust opened up about his WWE release.
"It's well known that when you sign a contract with WWE, it can be a three-year deal or a five-year deal, but on their end it can end any time," he said about his release. "You think to yourself that there are safety nets. If you're being used, if you have a storyline, a championship, if you just main evented NXT the week before like Bronson (Reed), there are always different thoughts. Of course guys are going to get cut, it's usually guys they don't have plans for or they ran their time. It's generally not the idea that guys like myself, Bronson, Alex Zayne. There is so much potential in the guys they decided to release. There are no hard feelings because, at the end of the day, it's just business and we all know that this is part of wrestling and it can go that way. It's unfortunate, surprising, and can be a little shocking at first."
Rust continued by saying, "When I started, my goal was WWE. That's why I started. You get told at that age (17) that you're too small and it's a pipe dream. I was dead set on it. I'm in my 17th year now in this business, doing the job that I wanted to do when I was 17. It always felt surreal and I was happy with it. At the same time, I was content the entire time. I said that if they release me the day after they signed me; I move there, get settled, show up the first day and they go, 'You know what, we changed our mind, we're going to cut you.' I would say, 'Thank you for your time, I'm glad I got to prove to everybody that I can do it and I can get signed by WWE.' The fact that I not only got signed, but got to TV right away, got used very well the entire time I was there -- they put me with Malcolm, who is a tremendous mouthpiece, I recommend him so much. Got paired up with Roderick Strong and Hideki (Suzuki), two amazing wrestlers, they painted me in a very good light and I can't complain about a single thing while I was there. It's just out of nowhere, it was going great, and they let me go. It's still very baffling, but I don't dwell on the negative things."
Triple H and Shawn Michaels produce NXT and have often been praised by talent for their communication and hands on approach.
Rust had very complimentary things to say about Michaels in particular.
"Shawn and Hunter are very hands on. I worked with Shawn more so, he was the reason I started TV right away. He took notice of me while I was there, looked up my matches online, pulled me into a meeting in his office and we had a great talk. He told me, 'I looked up your stuff. I love your work, I love your look, I think you can be something really big here and I want to use you right away,'" he said.
Though Rust competed at ROH Death Before Dishonor, he has yet to sign a contract, which is his goal.
"My goal is to obtain a contract. My goal is to get a signed deal in professional wrestling again, sooner than later. I'm an adult, I have bills. I have life to take care of outside of this business. While I don't mind the free agency, I know after a year or so of free agency, the uncertainty of income will be quite annoying," he said.
Elsewhere during the interview, Rust recalled nearly quitting wrestling after his 2012 WWE tryout.
You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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