Alex Zayne, formerly known as Ari Sterling in WWE, was one of the many NXT Superstars the company released on August 6.
These cuts shocked the wrestling world, as several of the affected names, like Bronson Reed and Tyler Rust, were actively involved in storylines on WWE programming.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Zayne shined some light on the surprising nature of these releases by saying that not even NXT general manager William Regal knew about them ahead of time.
“It went, hey we’re gonna go ahead and give you your release,” said Zayne. “I said, ‘Okay, thank you for everything.’ Got off the phone, called William Regal because he’s who brought me in. He’s like a mentor to me, and so I called him, I was like, ‘Hey, thank you for everything,’ you know, whatever. He was like, ‘I had no idea.'”
Zayne elaborated by stating that Regal was seemingly “in shock” when he told the NXT general manager about his release. Zayne noted that Regal was the first person he called because he wanted to contact the man who helped bring him to WWE in the first place.
“It’s pretty strange, and I think they’re just kinda going through a strange time right now,” said Zayne. “They’re just getting their ducks in a row for whatever it is that they need to align the ducks for. And William Regal like, I mean, he was either a good actor or truly in shock when I told him. But I told him literally seconds after getting the call, like he’s the first call I made. Don’t tell my girlfriend. I actually gave it time before even calling her because I had to register it first.”
Though his immediate reaction to the news was one of “dread”, Zayne described how he realized that he’d be okay because he didn’t lose himself when he got released. He also stated that he’s never put too much weight o job security, and this mindset turned out to be beneficial when his WWE run abruptly ended.
“It was just interesting to me that like I felt that immediate like just, whoosh, dread for all of five, ten seconds,”said Zayne. “It was like if it went down to the pit of my stomach and bounced back up. And then it was just like, oh I’m good. I’m still Alex Zayne, ‘The Sauce’, like we’re good. It’s not like I lost who I was.
“And I’ve never, not once in my life, attached myself to any sort of job. I always thought kinda job security was always a myth. Probably not the best mentality to have overall, but I think it helps me on the back end when and if things go awry. Like I’m always gonna bet on myself, that’s what I did when I took the contract, and that’s what I’m doing now.”
Zayne has certainly hit the ground running following his release; he has already returned to Ring of Honor and Game Changer Wrestling, and he recently stated that he’s booked to compete throughout the country throughout the rest of the year.
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The full interview is available here:
