Bronson Reed opens up about his return to WWE.
Reed made his WWE debut in 2019, and he had a successful run in NXT; he captured the NXT North American Championship and faced some of the brand’s top stars. WWE released Reed in a wave of cuts on August 6, 2021, and he went on to compete for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and IMPACT Wrestling. He memorably defeated Kazuchika Okada during the G1 Climax 32 tournament and later lost a rematch against Okada at NJPW Declaration of Power in October 2022. Reed then returned to WWE on the December 19 episode of WWE RAW, where he helped The Miz best Dexter Lumis in a Ladder Match.
Speaking on WWE After The Bell, Reed detailed how his return came about. He noted that he reached out to WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H because they had a great relationship, and he felt like he had to choose between signing with NJPW or coming back to WWE. Reed stated that he wanted to return to WWE because he wanted to compete at WrestleMania and get the chance to wrestle at some of the company’s marquee shows.
“I was actually here at home and it was Triple H that called me,” Reed said. “So I always had a great relationship with him. At the time, I was working with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and it looked like I could do one of two things. I could have signed on with them to stay longer or I could have came back to WWE. I sent a text to Hunter just to see if he was interested. He was, so he set up a time to call me.
“He called me and we had a great chat about everything, not just coming back to WWE, but wrestling in general what I’ve been doing, and yet it just felt right. It felt like, ‘Okay, this is the move that I need to make.’ I said to Hunter, ‘I didn’t get to do those things like Royal Rumble or WrestleMania or an Elimination Chamber. These are the things that I wanted to be able to do.’ So I’m very happy that I’m back to be able to do those things.” (Transcription credit of Robert DeFelice of Fightful.)
Reed will challenge for the United Sates Championship in an Elimination Chamber match at WWE Elimination Chamber. More information is available here.
