Ricardo Rodriguez: WWE made me hate wrestling

Back on July 30, Ricardo Rodriguez revealed he came to terms with WWE on a release and he would be moving on from the company. His reasoning, at the time at least, was "I miss wrestling". Not long after, WWE confirmed his departure.

Now, a couple months later, Rodriguez is openly discussing what led him to request a release. From his interview with Busted Open Radio on SiriusXM 92:

"Well, it wasn't just one thing. It was a serious of events that I was like ah, just screw it. A lot of it was A) they had nothing for me. (Alberto) Del Rio and I kept pitching ideas to bring us back together. We thought we did pretty well together and we eventually knew they were going to split us up. One day they came up to us and told us ‘Okay, this is what we are doing'. We're like 'oh okay, thank you.' It wasn't just that, though, they had issues with money. I wasn't making money anymore. If you talk to anyone from WWE they will tell you that you make your money on house shows and not on TV, your money is on the house show. I got unofficially sent down and I got hurt by one of their football players and I got punished for it, which is weird and I took all these things into consideration and I realized this is not fun for me. I have been an extra for WWE and they know what I do backstage. (William) Regal and I were running the tryouts for the extras so there is nobody in the world who can tell me I never had passion for wrestling. I was always the first person in the ring. WWE, in a weird way, made me hate wrestling so I got very bitter and I realized I got to stop this and I realized it was the company. So I woke up and said I am not coming in. Yeah, I called the office and told them I am not coming in; I want a release."

The split from Alberto Del Rio was perhaps the most damaging. While it was always an inevitability, Rodriguez admits it was hugely detrimental to both their careers, as he later goes on to say that their split was effectively the end for the both of them within WWE.

Del Rio, you'll remember, was fired just a week after Rodriguez was officially released, though the two had broken up on screen roughly a year prior.

Rodriguez is now working the independent scene and is much happier for it.