Road Dogg on His Departure From WWE Being Due To It Stopped Being Fun For Him, His Belief Wrestling Booking Is Now About The Money and “WWE Feels Like A Money Grab,” & If WWE Ever Felt Like They Were In A War Against AEW

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured WWE Hall of Famer and former WWE SmackDown co-lead writer Brian” Road Dogg” James as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Road Dogg’s thoughts about his decision to leave WWE this past March.

“I wasn’t having any fun. It got to be so much work, that it stopped being fun. I actually stayed longer than I wanted to just out of fear of unemployment. I didn’t do well with my money. I’m a drug addict and recovering alcoholic. I didn’t manage my money well. That fear of the unknown kept me for a long time. I was about to go into a meeting, and my y wife told me on the phone, “I lived with you in a tent.’ I said, ‘I’m coming home right now.’ If you lived with me in a tent, I don’t need to pay the mortgage.”

Road Dogg also gave his thoughts about his belief that wrestling booking is now being all about the money and WWE feeling like a “money grab over how things have changed in WWE since AEW has been around.

“It’s definitely a thing. When it comes to renegotiation time, you’re going to lock some people down that you don’t want to go there. Truth me told, there is such a wide range of talent. I don’t watch shows for one talent. The rosters are such that you’re going to see a range of talent, male and female. It’s definitely a think you’re going to talk about. If Santos Escobar is going to go there to make a difference, maye you say, ‘We’ll re-sign you for three years.’ The difference is, I think the booking used to be about wrestling and maybe it’s always been about the money, and I just thought it was about the wrestling. It feels like it’s all about the money now. They can go over there and make some money too, so the money is deciding everything. It feels like WWE, for me, was a money grab. It didn’t feel right.”

Road Dogg also gave his thoughts about how much of the business influenced certain booking decisions in WWE.

“I really don’t know. It seems like the later it got, the more decisions were made above the writing room’s head and the inner circle’s head. They are business people, and they do good business. Record-setting everything. The facts don’t give an F about your feelings, and that’s the facts. I don’t know how you argue with that. To argue with that would be business stupid. No business wants to be business stupid. It gets down to, ‘How business do you want to be?’ It felt like it turned into the business wrestling instead of the wrestling business, and in my mind, that’s backward. In my wallet, it makes perfect sense. It felt weird and I wanted to get out there.”

Road Dogg also gave his thoughts about if WWE ever felt like they were in a battle with AEW.

“No, we didn’t, and we probably should have. Instead, I think it was looked at like, ‘Oh that’s this other little money mark’s company.’ I honestly think that’s how it was looked at. I would argue that, however long we are into their tenure, that was wrong to be looking at it that way. They’re still here, they’re still strong, they’re getting stronger. Adding Mike Masury was a huge step in the right direction. He’s a smart guy with good instincts.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3