Former WWE star Joe Coffey appeared on the Refinโ It Up podcast and discussed various topics, including Gallus’s release by WWE.
Coffey said, โI mean, itโs unfortunate. It happens and itโs the nature of the business. Iโd literally just finished a (workout) on the stairmaster so I was delighted that that was finished, and then I got the number from Connecticut and I just โ you know, you know, and youโre just like, โAh well,โ and it was pretty short in the conversation because I was just frustrated about it. My brother was sitting outside. He just finished a tan session and he was in the car and the door opened and I went, โWell, Iโve just been released so, if you get released, Iโm sorry. If not, good luck and stay out and smash itโ so, I was a bit angry about it.โ
On being thankful for the opportunity:
โWent homeโฆ Frustrated about the way it panned out because moving your life over here from overseas isnโt an easy task, and you know, Iโm always thankful for WWE and NXT for the opportunity. Learned so much, it was great. All the staff there are fantastic, the coaches are top-notch. I canโt say enough good things. I just wish things had panned out a little bit differently and we heard for a long time we may be going to the main roster and doing something with Drew (McIntyre). Who knows? I understand Drew is on the run of a career and heโs doing some amazing stuff. But, we had little teases of it. Weโre brought in to Survivor Series program and the Royal Rumble program as Gallus, the only NXT people and like, thatโs really strange, and a lot of people were talking about it and we thought, oh, maybe itโs gonna happen soon. But it didnโt happen.โ
On what was frustrating about their time in WWE:
โIt was just a little bit frustrating. For myself, I feel a little bit personally frustrated because I feel as if I didnโt get to scratch the surface of what I can do in NXT. We were holding a lot of hands at times, which is totally fine and thereโs a lot of people who arenโt from this world who are trying to learn and we were essentially helping teach them in the ring and so it was just a little bit frustrating, especially the body of work I had done up until then from NXT U.K. and Iโve been on TakeOvers and featured on TV quite a lot to my independent career where all over Europe, I was doing main events after main event and you know, was very much comfortable with that, and so it was a little bit frustrating that way but, itโs one of these things and itโs just on to the next chapter. If I ever make my way back there โ Iโd like to think weโre on great terms. I was always very professional. Sometimes maybe a bit too professional and not being selfish enough. But, unfortunately, that falls under the good little soldierโฆ which is a shame. But, even throwing it back to the WrestleMania weekend with The Rock, we were seen as very professional. We have done this job, weโre very mature and I think thatโs one of the reasons why we got sent there because weโre very reliable, weโre very safe and we know what weโre doing.โ
On if he was surprised about their release:
โ50/50 to be honest (Coffey said when asked if he was surprised by WWE release). Weโd been off NXT TV since December and we were doing EVOLVE which is like another kind of an offshoot show of NXT to help younger talent and weโd been asked, โHey, we need some experience on the showโ and weโre like, โYeah. No problem. More than happy to. We just wanna work.โ Iโd work every show, every night if I could, twice on Sunday and so we kind of cooled off on TV for a little bit and weโd been brought back and it was really goodโฆ but then weโre kicked off and you just start to think, could get released here. So itโs always in the back of your mind. But, knowing what I can offer, I was not shocked but just disappointed. I was like, hmm, youโve maybe missed the trick here.โ
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)