Viktor Says He Got Burned Out After WWE Release & COVID, Hasn’t Kept in Touch With Konnor

Viktor is best known for his time as part of The Ascension in WWE, and the now-NWA star talked about getting burned out following his release and the pandemic. Viktor, who recently appeared in the NWA as Zyon, spoke with PWMania for a new interview that you can check out highlights from below:

On his relationship with Konnor: “We don’t keep in touch at all as of late. We haven’t spoken to each other in quite a while. There’s no bad blood there by any means. I think, when we got released we had a bunch of conversations about what we wanted to do, and I think it was kind of like, I looked at it this way. You know, it seemed to me where I was like, well, we’ve still got opportunity and there’s things going. So we both were like, ‘Yeah, you know, I think there’s still something left to do.’ COVID hit, and just nothing. Nothing seemed to work out for us. So it’s like, you know, just constant stumbling blocks that we couldn’t seem to overcome.

“And I think I just kind of got really burnt out. Like, I think the first little while we enjoyed what we did. And then after a while there was so much hassle with things that I think it just started to take its toll on us. And I know, he just kind of went to do his separate thing. And I kind of didn’t want to do anything for a while. Like, I was like, you know, I just need to chill, I really was bitter. Bitter is the best way to put it, kind of, but I was just burned out, super burned out. Like when I think about all the teachers that I’ve seen and worked with who have sat and watched with and worked with a million different wrestlers and all the hours of wrestling that they’ve ever seen when it’s like, just in my time, I know how much I’ve seen. And it’s just like, wow, I just needed to take a really big break.”

On a if he’d be open to a WWE return: “return Only even recently have I been able to even start watching certain wrestling again. But I mean, I’ve thought about that [returning to WWE] before I used to say no. I don’t have any desire to go back to WWE. I mean, the money would always be great. But I think of what cost that comes with. It’s one of those things like I saw that the Headbangers recently got a Legends deal, or that something along those lines is what they signed. And I was like, that’s really awesome. I was really happy for them. I don’t ever expect Konnor and me to get something like that from WWE, because we’re just forgotten about. After our NXT run, they did everything to make people forget that we were the longest-reigning NXT champions. And so I think they just want to leave it that way.

“But would I ever go back for a singles run or something like that? I don’t know. I mean, I don’t really have any desire to go back there and work under those circumstances, is the best way I can put it. I think, especially now, I mean, I think if it was just, you know, Paul, Triple H running the company, maybe. I always really liked Paul and Stephanie. I mean, I don’t really personally have anything against Vince, that he would have done to me or something like that. But there’s just something about it. I got turned off by a lot that happened with Brody’s death, and how it was handled by certain people within that company. It just really showed me that like, they don’t give a s**t. Like no matter what. And that’s not saying everybody there doesn’t give a s**t about it. It’s a very small minority. It just turned me off too much. So like, I can’t even watch the product now. I mean, I’ve tried here and there, but it’s not the product that I guess I grew up watching. It’s not the product that makes me want to get back in the ring. I can’t say I want to, I mean, if they were to say ‘Hey, We’ll give you a pile of money to come and hang out for a little bit again,’ I’d probably be like, alright, you know, let’s see, let’s see how awful it goes this time. But I don’t, I don’t foresee that happening.”