Anthony Henry on Nearly Being Done With Wrestling Last Year After Initial WWE Tryout

– During a recent appearance on PWPonderings podcast, former WWE talent Anthony Henry (aka Asher Hale) discussed his WWE tryout process and undergoing a physical where WWE doctors told him he had previously suffered undiagnosed concussions. He nearly walked away from wrestling as a result last year during the pandemic. He stated the following (via Fightful):

“I went through a tryout initially, had a physical with their doctors before an NXT taping I was at and they basically diagnosed me with these undiagnosed concussions that I had in the past that made them say that I was now a liability and they no longer had interest in me. That led to EVOLVE, because of their relationship with WWE at the time, deciding to part ways with me. Basically, I went from potentially being signed and also wrestling to a place where I made a second home in EVOLVE to having neither option available to me. Then, the pandemic hit. My mindset was definitely, ‘I think I’m done. I don’t think I can do this anymore.’ I wasn’t in a place mentally to do it anymore. I couldn’t even watch wrestling at the time, it kind of made me sick to my stomach because I had given so much to this and then it was taken away from me. You can call it bitter or jade, whatever you want. Everyone has their stories and other people can tell you these crazy things they’ve gone through. That was where I was at personally. Things ended up turning around, but at the time, I was dead set on being done.”

WWE released Anthony Henry last August. He had signed with the company in January and would make his TV debut in May.