wrestling / News

WWE Rumored to Have Influenced David Starr Exit From wXw, Starr Says He ‘Won’t Go Into Further Details’ on Departure

March 9, 2020 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Progress Chapter 88 David Starr

As previously reported, David Starr lost his career vs. title match against Bobby Gunns at wXw 16 Carat Gold in Germany. As a result, he said farewell to wXw after the match. Earlier on today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that Starr’s exit from the promotion is the result of WWE’s influence on the promotion.

Meltzer commented on the Starr/wXw situation, “WWE made it so they cannot work together anymore.” He added, “It was pressure from WWE. They did not want David Starr in any company that they can control David Star not being in.” Meltzer noted that this is the first time he was aware of WWE influencing an independent promotion not to use an independent wrestler. He went on that the match from last weekend was apparently a “mutual decision” between Starr and wXw “based on outside forces,” which apparently was “outside pressure from WWE.”

Starr has been an outspoken critic of WWE in the past and claimed WWE has “ruined” independent wrestling and called out independent promotions for allowing WWE to “hijack” them. Also, he’s criticized WWE for not allowing wrestlers to unionize. Additionally, there was an incident where he stomped on the WWE UK Championship after his match with WALTER at OTT WrestleRama 3, and this angered WWE officials.

Since the start of NXT and NXT UK, WWE has grown its affiliation with independent wrestling groups, such as EVOLVE and wXw. In turn, those promotions have been able to book NXT or NXT UK talent at their shows. Another promotion WWE still works with overseas is Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling in Ireland, where Starr is also the current champion.

Meanwhile, Starr is set to defend his OTT title against AEW’s Jon Moxley, a former WWE Superstar, at OTT ScrapperMania in March. Meltzer noted it will be interesting to see if this situation will affect Starr’s standing in other independent promotions, where he’s a prominent player. Also, Meltzer explained that the independent promotions who have affiliations with WWE have a problem because if they go against WWE’s wishes, they would lose the option to book WWE talent.

Earlier today, Starr shared another tweet on his wXw exit, stating he won’t go into further details on what happened on Twitter, adding he’s knot sure when and if he will in a “public setting.”

David Starr wrote, “I won’t go into further details regarding wXw on this platform and idk when/if I will in any public setting. Like I said, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences and that this mutual decision was one that neither of us wanted to make. I love wXw & always will.” You can check out that tweet below.

article topics :

David Starr, WWE, wXw, Jeffrey Harris