Rick Boogs Doesn’t Think He’s Done With Wrestling, Reveals Why He Expected His WWE Release

Former WWE Superstar Rick Boogs (aka Eric Bugenhagen) recently joined Insight With Chris Van Vliet to discuss his WWE career, joining the cast of the American Gladiators reboot, and more. Boogs also voiced his belief that he doesn’t see himself being done with wrestling, and he also spoke on his WWE release. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Rick Boogs on Whether He Saw His WWE Release Coming

“Getting fired? Absolutely.”

On Why He Expected It To Happen

“Well, all right. I mean, I can only speak from [my perspective], nothing factual, we’ll just put that out first. But when I was brought back, the day of TV, people were like, ‘Where’s his guitar? Where’s all this?’ Brother, I didn’t know that either, until the day of. I had a double guitar! I was like, This is gonna be the sickest return ever. Double, like freaking Jimmy Page. But this one was way more heavy metal and stuff. I was like, this thing’s gonna be so sick. Then that was stripped and I’m like, well what’s my gimmick? Because that was my gimmick. It was cut a promo on the mic, rip a little tune, because I had my own theme song, but I made sure to learn that sucker. Because I’m like, I’m just gonna play that little diddly on the guitar when I go to the ring and stuff. So then after that, it’s just like, alright, well, back to square one on the day of TV. I mean, where do you want to go? LA Knight, Boogalicious Knights. Man, that would be freaking awesome.”

On How He Was Supposed To Team With LA Knight

“Well, for that little bit. But then when we did the filming it’s like, ‘All right, he’s gonna eat the pin, then you’re gonna beat him up afterwards, and then the next match, you’re gonna eat the pin again.’ Where does it go then? It’s done? Oh ok.”

On If He’s Done With Wrestling

“I don’t think so, man.”

On Not Wrestling in Three Years

“I was a little soiled, sour flavor in my mouth.”

Rick Boogs on Being More Open To Getting Back in the Ring

“Yeah. I mean, as I get older and wiser. 3 years, you’ve almost graduated high school. That’s a freshman to a senior. Look at how much you’ve developed in that point in time. Or in college, baby-faced freshman to, like, grizzled, a real man. I’m going out to the real world. But I’m also glad, though, because if anything would have happened, it’s hard, man, pro wrestling is tough. What if I had a kink in my shoulder, I can’t do the tryout, I can’t do any push-ups. So I missed the tryout for American Gladiators because of that. Or what if I can go but I got a kink in my shoulder, and I can only do 6 push-ups instead of 100.”

Following his WWE release, Boogs previously stated in 2024 that he had no plans to return to wrestling. So, it appears he’s softened his earlier stance. The first season of the American Gladiators reboot, featuring Bugenhagen, is streaming now on Prime Video.