Eric Young clears the air about his IMPACT Wrestling return — and why he couldn’t stay in WWE.
PWInsider.com spoke with Eric Young about his decision to ask for his release from WWE and how it came together. Fightful first reported Young cited issues working for Vince McMahon as a reason for leaving. Young left because he signed up for one thing, and it ended up being something he didn’t agree to.
“The [Tweet] with me in front of the laptop with the keyboard is definitely a side project that I’m working on,” Young said. “I’ve never not worked for Anthem since leaving IMPACT. I’ve been appearing once, twice or sometimes four times a week on Game Plus Network for the last three years. I was still linked to them when I was under contract at the other place.
“I signed up for one thing and it turned into something completely different. Personally, professionally, and more importantly for me, morally, I just couldn’t work there anymore,” he explained. “If you’re a wrestling fan, you know what’s going on. I know that you’re a smart guy, Mike, and you’re well aware of what I’m saying and what’s going on.
“It was not a super difficult choice to be honest. I know [going back] was a dream come true. The contract was fantastic and all this other stuff,” Young said. “What I was poised to do on the TV show was excellent. But in the end, I would’ve had to answer to somebody that I’m just not willing to do. That’s where we ended up now. Like I said earlier, I’m a believer in fate. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m not mad about it. I’m not bitter about it, just like I wasn’t last time. Obviously it was, it’s a massive mistake on one person’s part, but a huge gain for wrestling.”
Young said he still loves professional wrestling and he’s excited for his future. Young knows he can’t wrestle forever. It might be his first love but he does have other projects in the works.
No Regrets
Young said he did not have any regrets about leaving IMPACT to go back to WWE in 2022. Young didn’t want to leave, but it made sense business-wise for him at the time.
“I can say that I don’t really regret anything that I’ve done. I’ve said this in other interviews before, as I’m a very experiential person. Even Scott [D’Amore] would say, he would tell me…he told me himself I would be a fool to not go. That’s just the reality of the business side of it,” Young noted. “The truth is, is anybody close to me, my wife and, and a bunch of guys on the IMPACT roster that are some of my best friends in the world. I said it and I said it to Scott, I don’t want to leave. Like there was part of me that was really, not wanting to. I’ve never had that where I felt like this weird regret of leaving because I felt we were doing something very special.
“I think IMPACT Wrestling for people that love pro wrestling…it’s a very special place to work. You could ask almost anybody that’s on the roster and they’re gonna tell you the same thing to varying degrees. But, to me, it’s the best minute-for-minute pro wrestling show in the world. That’s biased because I work there,” he added. “But I would’ve told you that at any point because it’s written for pro wrestling fans by pro wrestlers, so it’s for the minute for minute, the best one. ‘m proud to be part of it, but [do I have] regrets, no, but I didn’t want to leave. That’s, that’s the truth. It just was, it was what it was business-wise. It totally made sense to me. I can’t do this forever and, uh, I’m hoping to not work when I’m 55.”
PWInsider.com’s full interview with Eric Young is available in the Elite section of its website.
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