Released WWE star thinks he lost his push after a 2-word text message from Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon's retirement from WWE in 2022 caused a lot of ripple effects and affected more careers than fans realize. While there's often more emphasis on the positive side of things, one released star believes that his push was derailed after he received a text from the boss.
In an interview with Wrestlingnews.co, Mace, formerly ma.çé of the Maximum Male Models, looked to be getting his break alongside Mansoor/mån.sôör. LA Knight, then known just as Max Dupri, was their manager, and it was an idea that Vince McMahon was reportedly very fond of.
Mace would detail how thrilled Vince McMahon was at the idea of the Maximum Male Models. He even admitted that he lost his push after McMahon's retirement, revealing that the boss himself sent a text message stating he was retiring from WWE:
"We go to SmackDown. I do a dark match and we talked to Vince. He explains, 'Hey listen. You guys are two good looking guys. I want you to do this male model thing and if you commit to it, then it's really gonna work out for you.' We're like, 'Great, we will commit to anything.' It was a very avant-garde presentation. I think the first couple of weeks, which was the only time I had been pushed in my entire life where they tell everybody to clear the ring. We need to work on these model segments. Money in the Bank was happening. It was like the go home show for Money in the Bank and there's Money in the Bank ladders all over the entrance way. Vince comes out and he's like, 'Get this crap out of here. We need to work on the Runway show.' Me and Manny looked at each other. We were like, 'This is it. This is it for us'. Two weeks later, text message. 'I'm retiring.'"
Another superstar believes that Vince McMahon's retirement killed his career
There was another superstar who believed that his career was entirely derailed by McMahon's retirement. The superstar is none other than Rick Boogs, who enjoyed a great deal of popularity when he was aligned with Shinsuke Nakamura.
Unfortunately for Boogs, McMahon's retirement would spell the end of his run, and he was released in the summer of 2023. In a video that he posted on his YouTube channel, Rick Boogs stated that it was a backstage political power play that led to his release.
Not only this, but he added in the comments that he believes Vince McMahon's retirement was directly responsible for killing his career:
"I can say with 100% certainty, the removal of Vince killed my career," wrote Rick Boogs in response to a comment on his YouTube video.
Boogs told Chris Van Vliet in an interview that he no longer has the desire to wrestle after his WWE release.