Interview: Tye Dillinger on His WWE Release

A recent episode of the E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness podcast had Tye Dillinger as the guest and one of the topics discussed included Dillinger revealing the issues leading up to his release from WWE.

As noted before, Tye Dillinger requested his release from WWE earlier this year, which was granted by the company. Dillinger stated that the reason for his request was due to him wanting to go in a new direction for his career.

“The decision had been in my mind…it was a six-month process. I got injured in October but before that, I was going to ask for a couple weeks off to clear my head and figure out what I wanted to do. But then I got injured, so that gave me three months to think. I changed my look, I changed my gear, and I pitched half a dozen ideas. I (talked to Vince McMahon) and I might have put my foot in my mouth, but I needed to say what I needed to say and I stand by what I said. I did feel that when I came back, things were going to be different. They were not. I had a conversation and was told to wait and give it a few weeks. Weeks passed and it was it. It put me in a bad place because my performance was suffering. I was dreading it. I was praying that (the audience) would acknowledge that I still existed because it felt like I didn’t at the time. When you’re not giving it your all, they could see it and it wasn’t fair to them. It was time to go. I was probably late in leaving, actually.

A month before, I had made the decision that I was going to go into television and (ask for my release) on (my birthday). It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I didn’t ask many peoples opinion about it because I didn’t want to be influenced. It needed to be on me. My family had no idea. My mother had no idea. My wife [Peyton Royce] knew. As you guys know, right now is a good time for wrestling overall. I walked in and I said to talent relations, ‘I need to go.’ They said, ‘we’re about to offer you a substantial raise.’ I put my hands up. I’m not close to a millionaire but for me, it wasn’t about the money. I didn’t let him get the offer out of his mouth. I found out what it was a couple of weeks later but it wasn’t going to change anything. I was still going to feel the same way. They said they would run it up the ladder and I gave them the day to do so. I messaged Hunter and said, ‘Please talk to talent relations when you can.’ To Hunter’s credit, every time I’ve asked to talk to him, he’s always given me the time of day. I didn’t hear anything by the end of the day and I couldn’t let them fire me twice. That’s why I put out that statement.”