Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young recently spoke to Busted Open Radio about his TNA departure, what his future holds and more. You can listen to the full interview here and read some highlights below.
Why he left TNA:
“For me, it’s twelve years and, sometimes, it’s time to move on. I’m not saying it’s because I wasn’t fulfilled with what I was doing there or the people I was working with. It just became time. I’m not a ‘dirt’ guy or ‘drag people through the mud’. TNA’s been my home for twelve years. They allowed me to make a pretty good living in professional wrestling for twelve years and I wish them all the luck. Things don’t end because they’re good. People don’t get divorced because they’re having an amazing love life and still love each other and things are great. Things end because they’re not the way they’re supposed to be. Things weren’t the way they’re supposed to be for me in my opinion, so it was time for me to step away and do something else. What that’s going to be, I don’t have any idea. It’s terrifying and exciting and there’s lots of stuff up in the air with wrestling. There’s some big stuff kind of in the works for television stuff for me right now that I can’t talk about contractually. It’s terrifying – I’m 36 years old and I’m unemployed for the first time in my life. It’s pretty crazy.”
Bobby Roode saying TNA has become stale:
“I think what he was trying to say, I don’t know exactly, but what he’s trying to say is he’s a guy that’s done all of it… He’s done everything and is feeling stale himself. I don’t think he meant the brand. If it maybe came across that way, you’d have to ask him himself… For me, I was excited with what I was doing. I liked doing the heel thing. That was completely new to me. It has nothing to do with feeling stale for me. It was just time, professionally, to move on. It had nothing to do with in-ring. Often, the problems of the wrestling business get in the way of wrestling. That’s what it comes down to. The wrestling business got in the way of me being happy and things being right so it’s time for me to go do something else.”
Being able to work anywhere on the card:
“For me, going through in the future, I don’t know. It’s terrifying – I said that already once – terrifying and exciting to be unemployed… But there’s a lot of options and for me, I may not have the shiniest tool chest or maybe the newest tool chest or the fastest tool chest, but one thing I know for sure is I’ve got the f***ing biggest tool chest. And I’ve proven it. There’s not a single thing in wrestling that I can’t do and I’ve proven it. That’s not words. I’m not saying that because I haven’t done it. I’ve seen the card from every single angle. I’ve done tag, I can work X Division or cruiserweight or whatever you want to say, I’ve been world heavyweight champion and did well at that. I can make you laugh, I can make you hate me, I can make you cry, I can make you do a pile of things with wrestling. I’m terrible at life. I’m terrible at most things, but pro wrestling I can do and I’ve proven it. I’m not worried. Something’s going to happen and I can’t wait to see what that’s going to be.”
If there’s a possibility he will go to WWE:
“Obviously, it’s a definite possibility. From the second that something was put up, of course, the parallels are being drawn and it’s something that’s definitely an option for me. The book is wide open and never in my career have I had that. I’ve always been a TNA guy… It’s exciting to say that I’m going to open another chapter. I’ve got a good foothold in pro wrestling and it’s cool to kind of be able to choose and have that ability because not everyone gets the choice. It’s a very cool thing, very flattering.”
