Former champion requested to leave WWE three times but Vince McMahon convinced him to stay
Former Intercontinental Champion Carlito recently revealed that he requested his release to WWE three times during his seven-year run.
Carlito joined the Stamford-based company in 2003. About a year later, he made his main roster debut. The 44-year-old then went on to compete for nearly six years on Monday Night RAW and SmackDown, during which he held the Intercontinental Championship, the United States Title, the WWE Tag Team Championship, and the World Tag Team Title. However, Carlito was released from his contract in May 2010.
In a recent interview with Attitude Era Podcast, Carlito confirmed that he requested to leave the company thrice but Vince McMahon convinced him to stay.
"Yeah, I requested to leave three times. No, it just shows you why Vince is a genius. You go in there with a mindset, 'yeah, I'll get out of here' or whatever, and you leave there, you know, you just, you know, everything they're doing is wrong, everything I'm saying is right, you know, they'd sell you this thing and then as soon as you walk out the office and close the door you're like, 'Oh, wait a minute. Oh, man, they got me.' Yeah, you're going to some kind of mental twilight zone, you know what I mean? I mean this shows you what a genius Vince McMahon is," he said. [14:34 - 15:06]
John Cena once got into a "drunken fight" with Carlito. Check out the story here.
Carlito reportedly re-signed with WWE
Since his departure in 2010, Carlito has made a few sporadic appearances in the Stamford-based company. He participated in the 2021 Royal Rumble match and also competed on Monday Night RAW the following night.
Earlier this year, the 44-year-old made a one-off return at Backlash to help Bad Bunny in his match against The Judgment Day's Damian Priest. Reports later suggested that the former Intercontinental Champion has re-signed with WWE.
Carlito could be returning to WWE after more than 13 years, speculates former manager Teddy Long. Check out his comments here.
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