Tyler Rust may have been released from WWE but the former NXT star is happy for some of his colleagues currently flourishing. In a new interview with Chris Deez of It’s My Wrestling Podcast, Rust spoke about being let go from the company right as it started its re-brand of NXT 2.0. The former Diamond Mine member gives his thoughts on that change in direction.
“Now the image for NXT that they want is the next generation of young people to come in to mould and to be the next veterans in like 10 more years. Unfortunately I’m not a part of that group. So they’ve kind of just changed the vibe. I think what they were really wanting on one hand was the black and gold brand and one hand was NXT 2.0. And I think in the end, the one that wanted NXT 2.0 was the one that kind of won. And that’s where we are now.”
While Rust was disappointed with the decision he finds solace in seeing friends make the most of opportunities. That includes Joe Gacy.
“There’s a few people on there that I’m really close friends with and I’m absolutely loving seeing how much they’re being used right now. Like Joe Gacy, for example. We got signed at the exact same time but he was sat around just not doing TV things. And I would always talk like man, when are they going to put you on? What are they doing? What’s happening? Because Joe is a phenomenal guy. He’s been doing wrestling for a long time and he’s earned his stripes and he deserves a moment too. But he’s had to wait for a long time to be there. And it wasn’t until after I was gone he started getting that TV time because of the change that they did with NXT 2.0. They gave him more of a stage and more mouthpiece, like here’s the ball, see if you can run with it. Joe’s done amazing things and now seeing Joe Gacy being a big player on NXT 2.0, that really brightens me up.”
You can watch the full interview with Rust below.
Transcription credit should go to Chris Deez
