WWE News: Former Superstar rejects big WWE offer to return
What's the story?
PJ Black, better known as Justin Gabriel to the WWE faithful, was recently interviewed by CBS Sports during which he spoke about signing with ROH, his concern with NXT and a recent WWE deal that came his way.
In case you didn't know...
The South African talent signed with WWE in 2008 and was incorporated into Florida Championship Wrestling's (WWE's earlier developmental system) roster. Under the name Justin Angel, he would go on to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship and the FCW Florida Heavyweight title.
He changed his name to Justin Gabriel and was part of the first season of NXT under the mentorship of Matt Hardy. He would make his main roster debut as part of the Nexus.
Despite winning the WWE Tag Team titles thrice, after Nexus disbanded, Black's career underwent a downward spiral which ended with his release in January 2015. He would go on to wrestle for Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground and a host of other independent promotions before signing an exclusive deal with Ring of Honor in February this year.
The heart of the matter
Black, who signed a one-year contract with ROH, revealed that WWE had approached him earlier this year with an offer to return to the company.
He assessed his options and turned down the deal owing to creative as well as monetary reasons. He spoke about the void in ROH at the top as many top talents have jumped ships to AEW and WWE. Black stated that it's an exciting time to be a pro wrestler because AEW is offering serious money to bolster their roster. He mentioned that the WWE is trying their best to tie down talents by offering them big money contracts.
Another major concern of his regarding a return to WWE was a move to NXT. He claimed that the WWE typically brings in superstars and promises them a main roster call-up and a pay hike in six to seven months.
However, the initial hype fizzles out and many talents end up lingering at the bottom of the card. He spoke about how most of his friends still work for WWE and NXT. While many of them weren't necessarily happy with their position on the card, he asserted that they were still content at being featured on TV. He added that at the end of the day, most of them still consider the WWE gig to be their dream job.
Black even spoke about his love for Skydiving and how he pitched Vince McMahon an idea where he would have made his entrance with a parachute. The boss expectedly shot down the pitch.
What's next?
The former WWE superstar will surely be a major player at ROH for the year to come. While the 38-year-old wrestler may not be in high on the idea of a WWE return right now, you never know what may happen in the future when his current deal expires.
For now, we wish him all the very best for his ROH journey.