5 months ago
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Dijak opens up about his WWE contract expiring.
Dijak had been with WWE since 2017. He had a memorable run in NXT before he moved up to the main roster as a member of Retribution in 2020. After Retribution broke up, Dijak’s prominence on the main roster tailed off, and he returned to NXT in November 2022. He reinvented himself there, and he had several acclaimed matches. Dijak was selected by RAW in the 2024 Supplemental Draft, but he never appeared on the brand. On June 27, Dijak announced that WWE would not be renewing his contract.
Speaking with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Dijak was asked to comment on when he was told that his contract would not be getting renewed.
“I don’t want to get specific into the dates, but it was not that long ago,” Dijak said. “For one reason or another, I was told not to get into the specifics of the dates. I don’t know whether it matters or not. It was somewhat recently.
“Let’s put it this way, I’ve been trying to renegotiate with WWE because when I started, and even as recently as maybe two years ago, contracts were renegotiated years in advance. I’ve had probably five or six contracts with WWE. This, right now, because I’m still under contract. Right now, this is the deepest into a contract by two years that I’ve ever gotten. The closest I’ve ever got on another deal before it was renewed was two years out.”
Dijak On Not Having A 90-Day Non-Compete
When asked, Dijak confirmed that he does not have a 90-day because his contract would be expiring.
“That’s correct, yeah. I can do whatever I want on Saturday. It’s a double-edged sword,” Dijak said. “The pros are, I can do what I did today, which is save everything for a couple days in advance and say, ‘Hey, I’m free tomorrow,’ and then everybody goes, ‘Oh shit, tomorrow,’ and then all of a sudden, I’m the fun new toy right away.
“Whereas other people, they’re like, this guy’s been released, they make their fun cool video and everyone has to wait three months to book them. So that’s the pro, and it’s a big pro. I was on WWE programming eight days ago on Speed, which is like, ‘Haha Speed, whatever.’ It’s still viewed by 2.3 million people.”
Dijak On Being Told About His Contract
Dijak then stated that people could figure out when he was told that his contract was not being renewed, as he promoted his match with Xavier Woods on WWE Speed.
“Yes. I mean, there’s your window right there,” Dijak said. “You can kind of figure out one of seven days that it was because I found out after I wrestled Xavier Woods. But I found out before everybody publicly advertised their match and it got posted and everything.”
Later in the interview, Dijak discussed how he knew that he was “f**ked” when he was selected in the Supplemental Draft.
“The second I heard those words, everything clicked together for me,” he said. “My brain connected all the dots, and I go, ‘I am so screwed right now. I am so f**king screwed.’ I even texted my wife or maybe my friends, or maybe all of them, and said something to the effect of, because it was funny, I was texting the whole night, I was like, ‘I had Taco Bell, I have to go to the bathroom.’ I’m live-tweeting everyone, and I’m texting everyone, I’m saying, I think I’m completely screwed right now. I’m connecting all these dots, I’m going, my contract is up in one month, they’re gonna call me up in the supplemental draft.
“That means they don’t have anything for me, that means I’m gonna come down to the wire, that means they’re gonna either try to bend me over the barrel or just fire me altogether. Meanwhile, there’s cameras on me and I have to play pretend like I’m all f**king happy, which in a sense, I am because yeah, it’s cool that you’re all cheering for me, and all my friends are supporting me, and Shawn [Michaels] is there. I’m like, none of these people know what I know. Maybe they did, I don’t know, but certainly not the talent.”
Dijak On Not Being Used On WWE RAW
Dijak continued by noting that while his friends were happy for him, he believed that he was “f**ked”. He then recalled going to the first RAW after the draft and seeing that there were no planned segments for him.
“The talent are just happy because we’re all friends and these people respect me and I had been around them,” Dijak said. “I didn’t just go to NXT, I went back to the Performance Center. We’re all friends and we’re all comrades and stuff. So they’re all shoot happy for me. But in the back of my head, I’m like, I’m f**ked. I’m f**cked. [Laughs] Then I’m like, okay, try to stay positive. You’re on Raw, try to, maybe there’s a plan, maybe there’s something.
“So I’m going to Raw, I go to the first Raw, there’s nothing on the sheet. I’m like, ah, f**k. Then you start playing the game again, the WWE game, where maybe it’s this, maybe it’s this, they’re waiting for the next pay-per-view. The more you try to justify, the more it goes deeper in your brain. You go, ‘Yup, you’re f**ked.’”
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