Curt Hawkins’ wife explained the human cost of her husband’s WWE release

Sure, we know it sucks when someone loses their job - especially when it’s one we think of as a “dream job” like being a WWE Superstar.

Usually, it’s pretty easy to think a wrestler released by WWE - and their family - will be okay, though? Book some independent shows, start a podcast, call Impact or AEW. Losing that paycheck from Vince McMahon sucks, but it’s not the end of the road.

That’s not quite as true for the folks who were let go last Wednesday (April 15). Mike Bennett discussed why this is different even for people who wanted to leave the company as recently as the beginning of this year. And in blog post she published on Saturday, Liz Meyers really drove the point home.

Myers is Brian’s wife. You probably know Brian better as Curt Hawkins, former Edgehead and two-time Tag champ.

In “How the Coronavirus has impacted my family” on her blog, the redheadedmom, Myers starts by saying that a year ago, she left her job at an advertising to be a stay-at-home mom. But that was back when staying at home wasn’t mandated for public health, and when it seemed WWE would never release a wrestler again.

As we all know, the world’s changed over the last month. Liz explains what that means for the Myers family, and it really drives home how many different ways the loss of one job can impact people.

“On Wednesday April 15th, Brian was released from his WWE contract. There was notice that morning that layoffs would begin and our anxiety kicked into full gear. Not just for ourselves, but friends and loved ones that this could potentially happen to. Brian just needed to know if it was happening to him or not and I was praying the phone didn’t ring. Well, the phone rang and I broke down. You can’t really break down for long when your almost 3 year old is running around chasing bubbles, but I cried. There is so much uncertainty in the world, it’s terrifying. One week prior, they had wanted him to fly to Orlando to film for RAW and the next week they are getting rid of people. I went from being scared of my husband coming home from work with the Coronavirus to days later him getting fired.

One thing I can say, I’m so proud of how he held it together. The first time this happen it was almost a matter of when, this time it was just out of nowhere given the current state of the world. Since he can’t wrestle anywhere right now, he did exactly what he needed to do to help himself cleanse of the past 4 years which was basically get rid of everything he was holding onto. He also guided other wrestlers that have never been through this before of what they needed to do to set themselves up for success. Basically anything would make me cry the past few days, from him making me proud to me being sad, to even watching him still be in full Dad mode on a day that could have been a very dark one. He handles everything with grace which just reassures me that we will be OK. I feel so lucky to be his wife.

Why do I feel helpless? For starters, I am 30 weeks pregnant. It’s not the most satisfying feeling when your husband loses his job and you don’t have one for you both to fall back on. I always said the past year, if I needed to get back into work I could and would get back into my field(thinking like 4-5 years if his contract didn’t renew), not expecting him to lose his job when I’m 2 months away from having our child let alone during a pandemic. Though I don’t regret my time at home, I do feel guilt and anxiety about the decision I made last year with a new baby on the way but this is something I just have to deal with right now.”

She closes her post with gratitude - that her family is healthy, and that her husband’s talents have given him fans who’ve supported them & that will make it easy for him to make money wrestling again whenever the industry starts back up.

I’m grateful Liz Myers honestly shared her experience on her blog, and gave us a different perspective on something it can be easy to see in cut-and-dry terms from our screens.

The Myers, and most of us, will likely be alright on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis. But it never hurts to share our struggles.