Dabba-Kato On His WWE Release: I Kind Of Sensed It, My Contract Was Coming Up Anyway

Dabba-Kato, also once known as Commander Azeez, discusses his WWE release.

Dabba-Kato joined WWE in 2016 and spent a few years in the developmental system. He moved to the main roster in 2020. The powerhouse was later repackaged as Commander Azeez in 2021. He was paired up with Apollo Crews, but he later returned to NXT. WWE released Dabba-Kato in a wave of cuts in September 2023.

In an interview with Developmentally Speaking, Dabba-Kato commented on his WWE release. When asked whether he was surprised, he noted that his contract was coming up anyway. (H/t Jeremy Lambert of Fightful for the transcription)

“I think I kind of sensed it. My contract was coming to an end anyway,” he said. “We already had conversations long before it was close to that. Now, we came pretty close, I started pushing stuff and I could feel there was nothing great planned for me. You get that feeling and I had that feeling the day was going to come. I lived through so many cuts. It happened to so many guys before me. You can prepare yourself a little bit for it. You can prepare yourself financially and mentally, which I didn’t think would be as hard as it was.”

Dabba-Kato competed at the Prime Time Wrestling event on February 4, 2024.