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Justin Gabriel talks Quitting WWE, Possible Return, Relationships with Vince and Hunter


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Global Force Wrestling star PJ Black/Justin Gabriel spoke with Cult of Whatever recently about his WWE career, and several other topics. You can check out the highlights below, or the full interviewat this link.

Why he quit WWE

"I see myself as more of an artist, I don't really care about how much money I make, for me it's more about the art of professional wrestling. There are a lot of guys that will just hang around because Vince will give everyone a shot and some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by. One year went by and I realized it wasn't going to happen and I couldn't wait any longer and that is the reason I quit. There are guys there that will just hang around waiting for their shots, who knows if it's going to happen, it's all a timing thing."

Being the Bunny

"I wasn't too keen at the beginning but I wasn't doing anything so I thought oh cool it could be fun. The first few times I went out there it was fine and I was taking bumps in the suit, then it stopped becoming fun and they wanted a bunny reveal.

"I had so many ideas for this and they had a lot of ideas as well, but none of their ideas made much sense. My ideas were cooler and funnier and everyone liked it but they just never went in that direction."

If he'd return to WWE

"Quite possibly, in two or three years who knows, I don't plan that far ahead. Vince actually called me and said he knew I wanted to do my own thing and have more wrestling time so he told me go away for two or three years and go do my thing and possibly come back. Hunter on the other hand didn't like the way I did it because I quit over the phone and told me he's going to make me wait ages before I'm allowed to come back to WWE."

 

Source: http://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/justin-gabriel-why-he-left-wwe-return

 

 

I know there's some pretty mixed feelings for Gabriel on these forums, but I've always been a big fan and would like to see him back down the road. He could make for a fun midcard champion, or even work as a veteran either in a tag team or down in NXT. Also interesting seeing that it's his relationship with Vince that's stronger than his relationship with Trips, considering the usual reports from talent.

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I got to see him win a local championship a few weeks back now and chat with him briefly. He cut a promo basically saying that on why he quit, seemed down to earth and honest that its why he wanted. He seems very happy doing what he's up to now and even though I'm not the biggest fan I can definitely understand the love he has for being free to do what he wants with the sport.

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Always enjoyed watching him in the ring. His main drawback was that he was way too... dry. Like, all the flash he used to bring into the ring couldn't compensate for how much of a boring character he was and I never held him in high regards because of that. With some performers it's perfectly fine because they're able to let their action do the talking and get over on that itself, Gabriel just couldn't connect to that level.

 

Nevertheless, I hope he's enjoying doing his own thing now and hopefully he's much more of a complete performer if he ever returns.

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Didn't he not show up for TV when they were working on something for him and thats the way he quit?

He showed up, left to do some bungee jumping and came back to prove nobody would notice he was gone. That's when he went home and quit.

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Didn't he not show up for TV when they were working on something for him and thats the way he quit?

He showed up, left to do some bungee jumping and came back to prove nobody would notice he was gone. That's when he went home and quit.

 

Yeah, after that he told someone he was leaving, then it was on his way home (I think he was boarding the plane when he got the call) that someone said that Vince 'suddenly' had a spot for him (was never specified if they meant as a push or just as a jobber spot on RAW), and he impulsively said that he quits.

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I loved it when he was booked as a threat. After a Nexus beat down it was him that delivered the killing blow with the 450 Splash. During those days I thought he could've gone to a Midcard Championship but once Nexus dissolved he just got lost in the shuffle and had no character to fall back on.

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Work up his gimmick on nxt then move him up to raw for a ic title run.

He tried shooting vignettes for his Darewolf character, but Vince just didn't get it. And the time he spent on NXT last year, he pretty much sent himself down there.

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some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by.

 

Heath and Zack came out in my mind.haha.

Lol. Did HHH actually say ages? If I were PJ Black I'd return as soon as possible since Vince is still in-charge.

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some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by.

 

Heath and Zack came out in my mind.haha.

Lol. Did HHH actually say ages? If I were PJ Black I'd return as soon as possible since Vince is still in-charge.

 

Even with Vince, he has no guaranteed spot though. I mean, Gabriel was around at a time when the only other highfliers were Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd and Hunico. Rey would only wrestle for 2 months at a time before getting injured, and he was arguably the most over of the bunch after that, and they still didn't consistently push him (or any of them, to be honest). It looked like they were considering giving him and Kidd a big tag push in late 2012 (Gabriel said on TIJ that Michael Hayes was really big on them getting a push and Vince wanted a high flying tag team in the division) but Kidd got injured just after they looked to be cementing themselves.

 

Now, Neville, Kalisto and Zayn are all faster and more over than Gabriel, so even though I'm a big fan and would like him back, he really needs to find a new niche for himself, because being a highflier in WWE has become more difficult. If he were to let his technical side shine more, then he could become a Tyson Kidd style hybrid athlete, which I'd be down for, but then he'd still need a character that Vince would 'get' and Trips would be interested in. IMO, he should definitely take his time on the indy's and reassess what it is he wants to be before even considering a return.

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some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by.

 

Heath and Zack came out in my mind.haha.

Lol. Did HHH actually say ages? If I were PJ Black I'd return as soon as possible since Vince is still in-charge.

Even with Vince, he has no guaranteed spot though. I mean, Gabriel was around at a time whïen the only other highfliers were Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd and Hunico. Rey would only wrestle for 2 months at a time before getting injured, and he was arguably the most over of the bunch after that, and they still didn't consistently push him (or any of them, to be honest). It looked like they were considering giving him and Kidd a big tag push in late 2012 (Gabriel said on TIJ that Michael Hayes was really big on them getting a push and Vince wanted a high flying tag team in the division) but Kidd got injured just after they looked to be cementing themselves.

 

Now, Neville, Kalisto and Zayn are all faster and more over than Gabriel, so even though I'm a big fan and would like him back, he really needs to find a new niche for himself, because being a highflier in WWE has become more difficult. If he were to let his technical side shine more, then he could become a Tyson Kidd style hybrid athlete, which I'd be down for, but then he'd still need a character that Vince would 'get' and Trips would be interested in. IMO, he should definitely take his time on the indy's and reassess what it is he wants to be before even considering a return.

That's all true. Too bad Tyson got injured at that time. It could be a good opportunity for the both of them. I could picture them having a rivalry with the Usos.
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