Ex-WWE Star Was Given No Reason For Release
A former WWE Superstar was left confused by their release.
On July 8th, NXT star Damon Kemp surprisingly announced his immediate departure from WWE. The star whose real name is Bobby Steveson is the brother of Gable Steveson who was released by WWE two months earlier.
Bobby’s departure caught many by surprise as several reports had suggested the company was happy with his progress, and he was a regular on NXT TV, most recently with the No Quarter Catch Crew.
In a new interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Steveson reflected on being told his contract wouldn’t be renewed and whether he had any inkling his run was coming to an end. The star said he was informed of his exit over the phone having previously been told by a “heavily influential person” that things were going well.
“It was a phone call. So, I don’t know, it was leading up to it. I think wrestling kind of has his way of telling you that things aren’t going the best without people being direct to you. So it kind of got a little weird with the guys getting to go to TNA, and I was getting left behind that, or without even being told what was going on…
Then I was trying to have a conversation. I won’t say any names, just a heavily influential person the part of the show. So I asked the person a few times, ‘Am I still part of the group? What are we doing? Are we still moving forward?’ …
I was just told everything was great, doing great things. We were pitched multiple stories that were gonna happen down the road and stuff like that. But I didn’t have anyone to talk to about when it came to the contract. Cause I guess there was just no one in that category to reach out, and then I asked the person, I was like, ‘I’d like to stay.’
I was open, I wanted to stay, it wasn’t my choice, like, ‘No, I’m going to UFC, I’m gonna go do this.’ No, actually I wanted to re-sign and be there. I enjoyed it, loved it. It was fun, too,”
Bobby Steveson Left Stunned By WWE Exit
Steveson went on to say that he’d never wrestled before moving to NXT so that system was all he knew. When reflecting on getting the call that he was being let go, the star said he was blindsided and as such, never thought to ask for a reason.
“No, I don’t think they really give a reason, but I was like kind of taken off-guard. So I didn’t know what to really ask. Because I knew just from basketball, I have friends that get released, and they don’t really get an answer either.
So I was like, I don’t really want to waste my breath, and at the time, I was just sitting at home by myself. So I was trying to gather everything, like, ‘What happened?’
The weeks before, everything was going great, you know? Then it feels like the conversation you have with the person, and then things go like that. I’m like, ‘Dang, that was doing good.’ No hard feelings. I said it before, no hard feelings. I’d go back, but it was just like, ‘Oh, like, okay,'”
In a recent post on social media, Bobby Steveson hinted that he’s ready to get back in the ring, although he gave little away about his next move. Meanwhile, his brother Gable Steveson was cut from the Buffalo Bills active roster ahead of the start of the NFL season.
H/t to Fightful