Tyler Breeze Was Ready for WWE Release Years Before it Happened: "You're Never Safe"

Tyler Breeze Expected to Be Released

In 2021, after over a decade under contract, Breeze was released alongside his tag-team partner Fandango. While appearing on the Insight podcast, Breeze explained that from his very first days with WWE, he expected he would be shown the door soon enough. 

"When I got hired it was 2010 so a way different time. Pre-NXT, this was FCW. FCW was kind of like 'You're part of WWE, but WWE is here and FCW is right over there.' Around the corner and you don't really see it. Even looking at the hiring cycles [made me think I'd be cut.] When I came in, it was right at the end of when they wanted everybody to be really big and really jacked. Me, obviously, had never been a gigantic guy so I got hired and I came in and I thought 'Oh my God! There's no way I'm going to last here, these guys are huge!' How am I supposed to compete with this?"

Fortunately for Breeze, he was able to remind himself that WWE signed him, meaning they saw something in him, and it wasn't long before the image of your typical WWE Superstar began to change. 

"You're hired for a reason and all of a sudden you see those people and they're going. They drop off here or they go up and they do whatever they're doing. And now all of a sudden they started to hire guys who knew how to wrestle and they wanted to wrestle and that is when all of a sudden you see the Cesaros come in, Bryan Danielson come in, the Moxleys, the Seths. All those guys kind of got away from that 'look' and more into the work kind of hiring cycle."

Tyler Breeze Was Never Safe

Breeze was pleased that the expectation of a new WWE signing was no longer the muscle-bound 6-foot-6 ideal WWE had once had, but knew it wouldn't last forever. In the interview, Breeze said talent should be aware that these hiring processes are a cycle, and should never 'delude' themselves into thinking they are safe.

"That lasts for a while, and then they go 'Man we should probably get some big guys in here' and all of a sudden they're back in. I saw that cycle go a bunch of times. So when that happens, you have to kind of be realistic with yourself and not live in the delusion of 'Oh, I'm here. I'm safe.' You're never safe and the second that you think you are, you're out."

For Tyler Breeze, it was fellow Canadian Lance Storm who clued him in as to how brief a WWE career can last, and encouraged him to make sure he was ready to be released. 

"The average person's [career] I think he told me was five years. A five-year career of actually making good money. Even if you make astronomical money, five years is not a long time. It goes very quickly. So even getting into it, you have to have that mindset of 'What am I going to do after this? What am I going to do when the money stops?' When all of a sudden your monthly income goes to zero dollars, that's terrifying.I was with WWE for eleven years so I long made it past my five-year average. But I was ready to go way before my eleven years. I was putting little things in place and everything else was a bonus at that point."

Breeze has since returned to WWE, where he is part of the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel. His unique contract with WWE means he is still able to appear for independent promotions. 

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