Earlier this week, former WWE 205 Live talent Ari Sterling spoke with WrestlingInc., and shared some of the details surrounding his WWE release. Ari also reflected on his time performing as a member of the 205 Live roster, and more. Check out the highlights below.
On finding out he had been released from WWE:
“It definitely came as a shock, of course, when I got the call. I think, especially in such a strange climate we’re in right now, especially with WWE, it was shocking, but at the same time, there’s always that thing in the back of your mind, like, oh, that’s a possibility, and it’s always a possibility. I mean, job security in general, for anyone, especially in these crazy times that we live in, it’s not as sure of a thing. It came as a shock, but within five minutes, I was on the phone with anyone who would answer. I was like, ‘Okay, thanks,’ hung up. First of all, called William Regal, told him thank you. He was who brought me in. I immediately just started calling promoter after promoter and getting things going, hit the ground running. Brett Lauderdale (GCW owner) was definitely on the shortlist.”
On making his WWE debut on 205 Live instead of in NXT:
“You see some of the people like Trey Baxter, formerly known as Blake Christian, you see Carmelo Hayes formerly known as Christian Casanova, they get these great opportunities. They both wrestled Kushida in their debuts as opposed to their final match with the company, and I thought, that’s really cool, but I didn’t envy them in any way being put in that position. ‘Hey, you’ve not worked with our system of nine different cameras, and the ref is telling you this camera, that camera. Do this, do that. Here’s your time cues.’ You haven’t worked that system and so getting on 205 and getting my feet wet and getting to work with so many people that had done it. The Tony Nese’s, the Ariya Daiviari’s, the Bollywood Boys, all these guys, they just really helped me sort of ease transitionally from ‘okay, I’m just this indie guy’ to ‘okay, here’s how you do a larger production. I thought the 205 thing was really cool. I think a lot of people were like, ‘Oh, they’re misusing him.’ People have their opinions on anything, but I thought it was really cool. I was talking a lot with writers. I was talking a lot with the coaches, and I was coming up with my own ideas. It’s not nearly as much as like, oh, you’re given this, and oh my God, I can’t believe they would do that with that person. A lot of stuff is the idea of the person kind of being put through the filter of the producers and the coaches. It’s so funny because so many of us are just harped on by the internet. ‘Oh, my God, such a stupid name. They gave you a stupid name,’ and I’m like, I picked it dude. You’re making fun of me right now. They didn’t give me anything. Of course, even in picking a name, there’s legalities and red tape. Yes, I picked. It wasn’t necessarily my first choice but the copyright issues.”
Sterling received his release from WWE on August 6th.
