Bomb-sniffing dog's sudden attack on top WWE name allowed Eric Young to make his singles debut
Eric Young had a short stint at WWE, and the veteran was barely utilized under the old regime. Recently, Young opened up about his debut and stated that a bomb-sniffing dog's attack on Shinsuke Nakamura gave him the opportunity to make his singles debut.
In 2018, Sanity made its main roster move but didn't appear on television for a while. However, Eric Young replaced Shinsuke Nakamura in a match against Jeff Hardy, which became his singles debut for WWE SmackDown.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Young details how a bomb-sniffing dog's sudden attack on Shinsuke Nakamura allowed him to replace the star. The former leader of Sanity also said Brian James suggested his name as Nakamura's replacement.
"I think SmackDown is in Ontario, here in California, and Shinsuke gets attacked by one of the bomb-sniffing dogs during the day. He's in the changing room, and this professionally trained dog, they are going around looking for explosives, and it just attacks him, bites his leg, and he has to go to the hospital. So it's supposed to be Shinsuke versus Jeff Hardy."
He added:
"Jeff Hardy's the Intercontinental Champion that night. And they're like, 'Well someone's got to wrestle Jeff.' I think Brian James said thinking he's doing me a favor. We're still buddies, he's a very good friend of mine. He says, 'Eric Young's great, he could do it well,' not fully thinking that through, that means the first time you see Eric Young on television he's going to get beat," Young said. [H/T: CVV]
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Eric Young had two runs with WWE
In 2016, Eric Young signed with the Stamford-based promotion and worked under Triple H's creative leadership for the coming years. He created Sanity and dominated the tag team division of the former Black and Gold brand.
The 44-year-old star won the NXT Tag Team Championship alongside Alexander Wolfe and had a short run with the belt. The faction became popular amongst fans in the coming months.
However, the faction's increase in popularity eventually led them to move to WWE's main roster. Unfortunately, Nikki Cross didn't join them on the main roster, and the group went to SmackDown as a trio.
In the coming years, Young was eventually released by the Stamford-based promotion. From 2022 to 2023, he returned to WWE briefly and worked behind the scenes before leaving the company again.