Darren Young Discusses Talent Being Unhappy In WWE

– Darren Young was a recent guest on Wrestling Inc’s WINCLY podcast. Below are some highlights.

On WWE Talent Being Unhappy: “They sit in catering. They sit in catering all day at TV… Live events, the matches are a little bit longer. When you get to TV it’s survival of the fittest. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. There are only a certain amount of spots that can be filled, and the one thing I learned from Titus O’Neil is how to be a businessman. So anytime we didn’t have anything on TV we would do backstage skits, get those reps together on camera. Do a backstage skit. Do something for the WWE app that was just being put on the map. So we’d say, ‘PTP didn’t land on the WWE app, the app landed on PTP!’ So we were hustling and bustling backstage, Titus and I, when we weren’t having any matches. You just gotta keep yourself busy, you know? You can get a little down on yourself, you could get depressed and all that stuff. But that’s the nature of the business.”

On Paying His Dues: “One thing I learned from my metor, Dr. Tom Pritchard, is that sometimes you’re going to have to eat s–t and like the taste of it. And that’s just how it is. And it’s unfortunate, but… Like I said, I’ve been able to achieve my dreams, grinding on the independents from 2002-2009, getting signed in 2009 from 75 guys and girls from all over the world. I paid to do a tryout. I paid hard-earned money, $2000, to do a tryout. Nowadays in WWE you get invited to a tryout, they take care of you and all that stuff. When I got signed it wasn’t like that. So I know what it’s like to grind, and I know what it’s like to cut your teeth and all that stuff.”

On His WWE Release: “When I got released from WWE in 2017 it broke me. 2018 opened my eyes, and 2019 I had laser-like focus, just like I had when I was chasing the dream of becoming a WWE Superstar. I’ve been out here in LA taking acting classes, trying to do whatever I have to do to be seen on the big screen. I’m not bitter over my release from WWE. I had no hard feelings with WWE.”