Former champions set to appear at major event post-WWE release
WWE Superstars released under Triple H's regime are emerging from their break as the non-compete clause has expired. Recently, two former champions announced they would appear at a major event following their release from the Stamford-based promotion.
Earlier this year, Zack Gibson and James Drake of the Grizzled Young Veterans were released from WWE after the duo asked the promotion to release them due to creative issues. The two are popular amongst the fans and have held gold in the promotion before their departure.
TNA Wrestling returned with a bang in 2024 as the company decided to rebrand itself after successfully gaining momentum over the past few years. The company on X announced that Grizzled Young Veterans will appear at their first event, Hard To Kill 2024:
"BREAKING: @JamesDrakePro and @ZackGibsonGYV will make their TNA debut at #HardToKill on January 13 LIVE on PPV from the Palms in Las Vegas!"
Grizzled Young Veterans fired shots at WWE's creative following their release
Grizzled Young Veterans were at the top of their game when assigned to WWE NXT UK. The duo became the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions and dominated the division for a while before moving to the United States.
However, they struggled on NXT for years but couldn't be at the top of the division. Later, the magnet repackaged them into The Dyads as they aligned with Joe Gacy and Ava Raine to form Schism.
Sadly, it didn't work for the duo, and the creative differences led to them asking for their release. After a Steel Cage match with the Creed Brothers, the team disappeared from weekly television and were released from WWE.
Later, they uploaded a video on X where they spoke about their time with WWE and fired shots at the management and their creativity. Gibson also recalled how a famous wrestler asked him to keep their heads down and follow orders:
"You've got soulless wrestlers with heartless gimmicks. And then you've got the death of creativity. We took a long look around us and we said to ourselves if this is the big life, then we're not looking to live it. We're sick of taking safe options, we're sick of reading the same old boring scripts that go absolutely nowhere." [From 0:20 to 0:43]
It will be interesting to see if the two join the promotion or if it is a one-off appearance for the event.
What are your thoughts on Grizzled Young Veterans?