Grizzled Young Veterans Open Up About Their Time in WWE

One of the teams that made a splash going from WWE NXT UK to NXT proper was that of James Drake and Zack Gibson – aka the Grizzled Young Veterans. Unfortunately, as happens sometimes in the business of pro wrestling, things didn’t quite work out between them and the promotion. After requesting their release this past April, being denied said release, and then joining Joe Gacy in the Schism faction, Drake and Gibson were finally free to go on their own.

While speaking to Metro UK, the team opened up about a number of factors that led to their departure.

Gibson on being bored in NXT: “In a nutshell, this is one of the big driving forces as to why we wanted to leave and get out because without going into too much, we just weren’t particularly happy with how things were going. It all felt a bit boring.”

Gibson on how there was no animosity in their exit from WWE: “When company objectives shifts, sometimes you find yourself not lining up with what it is that they want at that current time. Our decision to move on wasn’t necessarily like, ‘We don’t like that company anymore!’ It’s not a big middle finger to the company, the company is doing great business, it’s just we felt that as a product, we weren’t doing the best business.”

Gibson and Drake are now on the independent scene and excited for what the future holds.