Tino Sabbatelli worked for WWE from 2014 to 2020, making various appearances on NXT TV before he was released in April 2020.
Following his release, he worked one match for AEW in July 2020 before re-signing with WWE in October 2020. Chris Jericho accused an "NXT reject" of leaking AEW spoilers during the summer and several in AEW believed Sabbatelli to be behind the leaks.
Speaking to Chris Van Vleit on Insight, Sabbatelli commented on the accusations that he leaked AEW spoilers, most notably an appearance by Eric Bischoff.
"I had to laugh. If anybody knows me...I'm internet dummy. I don't know what a dirt sheet is. I don't even use Twitter. I don't go on Instagram or the internet or any of those things. I'm not even one of those people who talks about that. I heard the rumor came out and I was getting tagged, but wasn't paying attention. Somebody approached me and said, 'Did you hear what Chris Jericho said about you?' I ignored it and wasn't going to get involved, I didn't know where he was coming from. People started bringing it up to me more and more and I looked into it. I'm like, 'What is this dude talking about?' I read something where somebody leaked that there was a legend at AEW. I might sound stupid saying this, but I probably would have walked right by him and not even noticed him. For me to go to the internet and speak on something I know nothing about, no disrespect, I don't care that much. I'm not that dude. That was mind blowing to me. IMPACT called Terry Taylor and asked them about that. Terry called me and I said, 'Coach, I don't know what he's talking about. This is nonsense.' I never got to the bottom of it. Supposedly, my name was involved because there was a couple of NXT guys there the same week or month I was there. I can tell you, the God's honest truth, I don't even know what I would type in to put that out there. I don't even know how I would do it. I don't even know what I would say. Where do I even go? Maybe that's why Tony Khan doesn't like me. I don't know," he said.
Before commenting on the rumors that he leaked spoilers, Sabbatelli was asked about the possibility of returning to AEW following his second release from WWE.
He replied, "I don't know what happened and what went wrong, but that bridge was burnt and I don't know how because Tony Khan, who has known me from football, I met with him even when I was in NXT and saw him when I went to AEW. When Triple H and WWE offered me a contract, I actually text Billy Gunn about it and they didn't put anything on paper. They didn't offer me anything. It wasn't like I took their offer, threw it to the side, and went back to WWE, Triple H was the first one to throw a number and opportunity at me and I wanted to go back to where I got my first opportunity. I went back, didn't think anything of it, and sent a very nice text to Billy Gunn and thanking him for the opportunity and getting me in the door. I told him I was signing back with WWE, he congratulated me, everything I thought was good."
He continued by revealing that Andrade El Idolo reached out to him and wanted him to be part of a new group and that they had shot a vignette together.
"The funny thing is, the day I got released again, I had someone reach out to Tony Khan personally and said, 'Tino is a free agent, the kid is going to be a star.' He said to him, I'm paraphrasing, basically that Tony was upset that I went back to WWE. I didn't even believe it the first time I heard it," he said. "About three months ago, Andrade approached me and said he wants me to be in a group with him. Me and Andrade always had a tremendous relationship, he's one of the best workers I've ever seen in the ring, by far. He text me personally and we actually shot a vignette together, he wanted me in his group. He wanted to bring back a group like the Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Triple H days, like Evolution. We shot the video and spent the whole day in Miami together, we had nice three piece suits, nice cars, a whole video. This is where I heard it the second time and now I know it's true, he text me back and said, 'Tony Khan loves the idea, love everything about it, but he can't saying no Tino. No Sabby. 'What do you mean no Tino?' 'He wouldn't tell me. He just said let's find somebody else.' I thought that was weird because I would love to sit and talk with Tony personally because I don't know if there was a disconnect between me and him, if somebody told him something they didn't tell me, but I think he might have got upset that I went there, did one match, and signed back with WWE. I just wanted to wrestle and wanted an opportunity."
Sabbatelli did not return to NXT television when he re-signed with WWE in October 2020 and was released again in June 2021.
He has not wrestled since AEW Dark in July 2020.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
