A former WWE champion just confirmed that he won't be returning to the Stamford-based promotion. He left the company four years ago.
Mojo Rawley joined WWE in 2012 and was part of NXT for a few years. He even formed Hype Bros with Zack Ryder. After being called up to the main roster, he initially found success by winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy. However, he was soon relegated to chasing the 24/7 Championship, a title he won seven times. He departed the promotion in 2021 and went on to start Paragon Talent Group, a talent agency focused on professional wrestlers. So far, wrestlers like Blake Monroe and Darby Allin have signed with his agency.
During a recent appearance on The Rule Breakers podcast, Rawley confirmed that he won't be returning to WWE. He also explained that he couldn't leave his company, and there was no way he could commit himself to running his own organisation as well as work for the Stamford-based promotion.
"No. No.....One, I couldn’t leave my company, and I don’t think there’s any way that I could do both. I mean, I could probably do something where I wrestled one day a week, but even with that, like how much training then goes into that one day a week and what I’d have to give up with my company? And I feel like there’s—you know, whether they are or they’re not—I feel like there’s a lot of people that are counting on me right now financially and professionally. So to take that time away, I don’t know if my conscience would allow it, to be honest with you."
He continued to say that he makes more money now due to his business than the sports entertainment juggernaut would be able to pay him. He finally added that returning to World Wrestling Entertainment would require a level of commitment that he could not do justice to at present.
"Two, I make more money now doing this than I did that. And for WWE to beat that, I don’t think that would make sense for them professionally. I mean, maybe, you know—especially if it came with outside sponsorships—that would pay itself off. But as far as what they would have to pay me from a talent contract for what I would need to go back, I don’t think that makes sense for anybody. And the last thing is, I would have to really commit to putting myself at a pace where I felt like I could go back and be competitive and not have a huge drop-off five years later from doing something different. So with those three things, I don’t see it happening." [34:05 - 35:21]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
Former WWE star Mojo Rawley still doesn't rule out a rare indie appearance
Mojo Rawley might be a busy man running his talent agency. However, he still has a huge love for the wrestling business that isn't allowing him to rule out a return to the ring for a rare indie appearance.
Speaking on the same podcast episode with Saraya, Mojo Rawley said that he wouldn't rule out making rare indie appearances or wrestling a fun match:
“I probably would only want to do an indie here and there. I want to go to Italy and wrestle a fun match there and take a vacation or whatever. And that’s—I don’t even need payment. I’ll go do it for the trip. Something like that.” [37:21 - 37-32]
It's good to see that Mojo Rawley is doing well in his life after his WWE release.
If you use the quotes from this article, then link back to the source with an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
Big name returning at Evolution? More details HERE