During the latest edition of their Talk’n Shop podcast, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows discussed their release from WWE, putting the blame on Paul Heyman. Both were extremely surprised to be cut, especially after talking part in a very high-profile match in WrestleMania like the Boneyard Match where the Undertaker beat AJ Styles.
According to Anderson and Gallows, Raw Executive Director at the time, Paul Heyman was the person who put their names on the release list, and that it was confirmed to AJ Styles by Vince McMahon. They also called Heyman a liar and also confirmed that he was the reason why Styles asked to be moved to SmackDown.
Check out the highlights or watch the full video below.
Karl Anderson on their early interactions with Paul Heyman in creative:
“We’d just formed the OC, right? We’d just beat the f**k out of Ricochet. Got a nice f**king pop, we’d just turned heel. It was pretty cool. I mean, the very next week, Creative sent us an email of what we were gonna do. And it had, Ricochet beat me in two seconds, Gallows comes in and gets beats in two seconds. And I remember reading it and going, ‘What?’ And I texted Triple H and I forwarded him this because I don’t know where he is with Creative. And I go, ‘I thought they would at least wait until three months in to kill us off.’ And that was he asked, ‘Well, did you talk to Paul Heyman?’ And I had not even — we had been so checked out from giving a f**k about what was going on on Raw because I thought we were leaving, I didn’t even realize Paul was now in charge of writing Raw. And I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Paul’s calling you now.’ And then Paul Heyman called.”
“I’ll just go ahead and say it, we had a f**king great talk. I would have considered myself almost — I would have even said, I wouldn’t call myself a Paul Heyman guy, but I thought Paul Heyman was a big fan of mine. And I remember a couple times, Gallows said ‘F**k, Paul Heyman loves you.’”
Doc Gallows on dealings with Paul Heyman at the time:
“It’s great to be a good charmer, but when you’re just 100% full of bulls**t. And we had this conversation in a rental car in a parking lot before we got on the phone with him. And I was like, ‘Man, all you ever read and all these guys that came before us say that he’s a great charmer but the biggest bulls**ter in the history of the business. And we’re both going, ‘We hope the f**k he’s not bulls**ting us.’
“But we have these big contracts, we’re rolling with AJ. You’ve got to think positive, right? Because to the end he’s putting us over and telling us how good we are, and ‘We were gonna put the straps on you a month down the line, but you guys deserve them now. And now you’re gonna go to Saudi, and I know it’s Saudi but you’ll be the best tag team in the world. And if you ever have a problem with Creative, ever. Or if I ever lie to you’ — this is a quote. ‘If I ever lie to you, go on social media and f**king bury me. F**king put me under the dirt, cause I f*cking deserve it, and I want those guys in the locker room to know that I can’t f**king be trusted.’ So guys in the locker room? He can’t f**king be trusted and we’re online, and I just f**king buried him. Those are my words, not Karl’s.”
Karl Anderson on being surprised by their release after the Boneyard Match:
“We got text messages from Michael Hayes right before [the match] happened [on air]. He said, ‘Boys, I saw some of it already, and it’s — it’s incredible. Be ready.’ Triple H [texted] thanking us and saying, ‘What you guys did was special.’ And as soon as it was over, a text from Triple H, and a text from Michael saying, ‘That was unbelievable, you guys made history. And so you gotta understand, when we got fired two weeks later, it was like, ‘What the f**k?!?’”
Karl Anderson on finding out they were being released by WWE:
“We’re in a text group with people and they were a little worried. And I literally looked at my wife and I go, ‘Vince sent us all a video and was saying they are going to lay people off. But I mean, I’m going to be honest, I feel highly confident about anything.’ And I was feeding my baby, about to put him down for his nap … and I look at my phone and I see Mark Carano calling me. And I go, ‘…no!’
So Mark calls me and says, ‘Hey, bud.’ And I go, ‘F**k. You busy today?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, and I’ve unfortunately got bad news for you.’ And I was like, It’s just business, bro.’ I was ready, I just wanted him off the phone. And he was very nice, I’m cool with Mark, you know. It is what it is. But I just wanted him off the phone. And he goes, ‘Well, I gotta call your partner now’ and I just hung up. He calls Gallows … Gallows says hello, Mark goes, ‘I just got off the phone with your partner.’ and Gallows goes, ‘For what?’”
Doc Gallows on his release from WWE:
“I go, ‘For what?’ And he goes, ‘Bad news.’ And I go, ‘Are you f**king kidding me? Us?’ And he goes, ‘I’m sorry, buddy.’ And I go, ‘…Jesus Christ, all right.’”
Karl Anderson on finding out Paul Heyman was involved:
“You know, trying to get to the bottom of it then, because it did feel f**king weird. And so we started kind of asking around, like, ‘What the f**k happened.’ And then we heard ‘Well, it was Paul Heyman-inspired.’ And it was like, ”Really?’ So then we told f**kin’ AJ that. And AJ goes in, and he asked somebody what they think of it … He went to somebody and asked, is that what happened? And that person said ‘Yes.’
“So AJ goes into Vince, and he says, ‘You gotta tell me the truth, is Paul the one that f**king said fire these guys?’ And Vince told AJ, ‘Listen, they weren’t on my list but yes, it was a Heyman thing … [Between the first person and Vince] AJ went to Paul Heyman and said, ‘Did you fire these guys or did you put the word in to fire them?’ And Paul said, ‘No, you have my word that I did not do this. If I would have known, I would have gone to bat for them.’ And AJ went ‘Okay.’ He back to the same guy, asked again, and AJ went to Vince, and that’s when Vince told the story right.”
Doc Gallows on why Paul Heyman targeted them:
“Apparently he thought we were making too much money for what we were doing, and he’s a f**king liar and he’s a piece of shit.”
Doc Gallows on AJ Styles reportedly asking to be moved away from Paul Heyman:
“Listen, I have permission to speak freely on this. And he said f**king bury Paul and tell the truth about it. And that’s why he said he couldn’t work with him and that he had to be moved. Because Paul’s a f**king liar. So it doesn’t matter that he lied to us. For his friends, yes. But probably career-wise, he can’t trust the guy either, if you’re AJ still in that spot and you don’t want to work with a guy that you know is a f**king liar.”
Transcription provided by 411mania.com
https://youtu.be/n5KM97k_ch0
