ACH On His Public Reaction to Criticism Following WWE Exit, Says He Didn’t Want to Hide Behind Mental Issues

Speaking with the Submission Squad podcast, ACH talked about his public “meltdown,” as he put it, following his exit from WWE. As noted, ACH talked about the whole controversy and why he left; he also discussed why he went on the attack, including calling Jay Lethal an “Uncle Tom” and attacking fans who went after him.

ACH noted that he was simply “so angry” and felt like he wasn’t being heard amid all the responses he was getting. He added that despite people telling him to use his anxieties and the like as an explanation, he didn’t want to do that because it minimizes what people with mental health issues have to go through. You can see highlights and the audio below:

On his public reaction to the whole situation: “I always do my best to be a positive person, and I always try my best to be a good person. And man, being attacked by people you don’t know coming from all angles, all cities, states, countries, telling you you’re wrong. It’s like, f**k, dude. It broke me. It really rocked me to my core. And I’ll be honest. I wish I could’ve did things differently. I wish I would have just turned my phone off and just kinda let things die down but being so in the moment and angry, and feeling like no one’s listening to you. I felt like I was trying to tell everybody something, my side or like, trying to be heard. And I was just constantly being ignored. So I would pick up my phone and say ‘You’re not listening!’ And I would just start texting and going off, and ‘This guy, blah blah blah.’ And I remember sitting back and thinking, ‘Man, this is not me’…but I was so angry, and I felt like I was not being heard, and I was constantly being attacked.”

On not wanting to use mental issues as an explanation: “I feel like I had people trying to tell me to use like ‘mental issues’ as — not as an excuse, but say that’s the thing. Your anxiety, or your depression. ‘You’re depressed right?! That’s why you’re outlashing.’ To help smooth things over. And it’s like man, I’m not one of those people. I don’t come up with excuses for myself. I was angry. I mean, what was I gonna say? I was angry. I’m not gonna go out and be like, ‘Sorry, guys, like, mental health issues.’ Because people deal with that stuff in serious ways. People, like that’s a serious issue. I’m not gonna publicly say things like that to help smooth things over. That’s just not the type of person I am. I had a real life situation. I had a freaking meltdown in front of the entire world. That’s really what happened. I had a meltdown. I broke down in front of the entire world. The only thing is the people didn’t see me cry.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Submission Squad with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.