WWE Superstar Mike Kanellis recently appeared on The Smarks & Stripes podcast. The former 24/7 Champion discussed his current role in WWE and requesting his release from the company.

“For me, it was all personal”

Kanellis revealed that the major reason for requesting his release from WWE was more for personal goals rather than displeasure with the company. “For me, it was all personal,” Kanellis stated. “It had nothing to do with the company. Since the minute I got to WWE, they’ve treated me great; they’ve treated my wife great, they’ve treated my daughter great. They’ve treated me great. When I came out and said that I had an addiction, there was no negativity from anybody – it was just constant support.”

“… it got to the point where I started reflecting on my past”

Kanellis elaborated further, saying “for me personally having been almost two-and-a-half years sober, it got to the point where I started reflecting on my past and what I did and it became very hard for me to almost sit and reflect on the fact that I blew four years of my life doing drugs and now I felt like my mind is clear, my head is clear, and I just wanted to work. I just wanted to wrestle. I just want to work. Like, I feel like I could do and have my best matches right now and it’s extremely difficult when there [are] so many people on the roster and you just don’t get that opportunity.”

“I’m not mad at anybody and if WWE called me tomorrow and said, ‘we’re going to put you on TV,’ I’d do it,” Kanellis claimed. “I’m not mad. I just want to work and I just want to work a lot. I want to be able to go home and tell my daughter that ‘daddy put in the time, daddy put in the effort,’ and it’s incredibly difficult for me to go on social media and preach that you have to work hard,’ ‘you have to work your ass off,’ and then not do it myself. I’m a worker and I’ve always been a worker. And I’m at a point where I just want to work, and work, and work. I’ll go wherever that opportunity exists.”