"I felt like they were rubbing my nose in it" - Murphy on WWE making him attend tapings but not using him
It's no secret that former WWE Superstar Murphy wasn't happy with how WWE used him in the promotion. He recently opened up about what he underwent emotionally, going as far as saying he felt like WWE were 'rubbing his nose in it.'
The former Cruiserweight Champion opened up about his frustrations during an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, where he compared his situation to Aleister Black's.
"When you're in that system, you break it down into ways that you take a lot of that stuff personally. So, I don't know how much I should say, but Aleister Black wasn't on television for a while, and he came back with his new character and his vignettes started playing. But, he wasn't showing up at TV, he didn't have to be present at TV," Murphy said.
Murphy also revealed that wasn't the case for him, as he wasn't being used but was still required to attend SmackDown Live's tapings every week.
"So once my storyline with the Mysterios got dropped overnight without me being told, I was showing up at TV, every week I was there. So you have two guys in a similar position, one gets to stay home, and then I have to come in, and... I felt like they were rubbing my nose in it, 'you love wrestling, you can't do it!' All I wanted to do was perform, I want to contribute, I want to earn my paycheck, I want to do what I've honed for fifteen years," Murphy rued.
Murphy doesn't know whether WWE did it intentionally, but it felt like they were implying that he was not allowed to perform in the ring for the biggest wrestling company in the world even though he loved it.
Did WWE make Murphy lose his passion?
Whilst he wasn't enjoying his time with WWE, particularly towards the end of his run with the company, Murphy admitted that the ups and downs of his career severely affected his passion for wrestling.
He's now seeing out the remainder of his no-compete clause and will hopefully find new work for himself soon. In the meantime, he's using the 90 day no-compete clause in his contract to sort out his visa.
What did you think of Murphy's situation? How should WWE have used him? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!