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What’s the story?
On his personal Instagram account, Tyrus directly addressed his followers to explain that he will not be attending the current round of tapings for Global Force Wrestling due to his unhappiness with the lack of creative direction for his character. Comparing himself to NFL player Colin Kaepernick, he referred to himself as being in "holdout status."
In case you didn’t know…
Formerly known as Brodus Clay in WWE, Tyrus joined Impact Wrestling in late 2014. He enjoyed initial success by aligning himself with Ethan Carter III and then Matt Hardy while each respectively held the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. His screen time has increasingly waned since his early prominence. According to his Instagram video, the past four or five tapings particularly have caused Tyrus to sour on his employer.
The heart of the matter
Tyrus started his message with a story from his mentor, Dusty Rhodes. The American Dream once told them that professional wrestling is like a canvas and he's the artist. It's his job to paint the canvas, which was something he didn't feel like he was getting the opportunity to do in the current incarnation of Impact Wrestling.
Stating that he'd been playing phone tag that day, Tyrus made it clear that he'd not been able to get into contact with his superiors. He made the case that he's worked hard to become a star in more than just wrestling, yet GFW wasn't recognizing his value.
"We've worked too hard to become a crossover star to be treated like we're not. So, I'm not happy creatively the way Impact's been treating me."
Tyrus made sure to tag Impact Wrestling, Matt Hardy, EC3, and several other important accounts in an effort to get his message out to as many people as possible. He also added several hashtags to make his point, including #nohandcuffs and #freetyrus.
What’s next?
Tyrus was correct when he called himself a crossover star, so his schedule will likely stay full even without the GFW tapings. He's a regular panellist on Fox News' The Greg Gutfeld Show and he's also landed roles recently on Netflix's GLOW as well as AMC's Preacher.
Author’s take
Anyone who watches Impact regularly can testify that Tyrus is horribly underutilized. Other than a recent run-in with Kongo Kong and a short alliance earlier this year with Eli Drake, he's been a non-entity on the brand. It's strange that GFW doesn't try to make more of an attempt to utilize him since he does such a good job of getting his face onto so many other shows outside of wrestling.
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