Tyrus has worked for Global Force Wrestling (formerly TNA Wrestling) for the past three years and he made it clear recently on Instagram and Twitter that he’s not happy with how things are going there. The former Brodus Clay in WWE has been a good supporting character in GFW, but he hasn’t been happy of late.
Tyrus posted a message on his social media this week and said he’s tired of being treated like a “second class citizen” by the company. He also made the announcement that he won’t be at the next tapings because he’s on holdout status. Here’s some of what he said:
“I’ve been with Impact for three years now and 99% of it has been mostly positive and I’ve enjoyed my time there, but the last 4 or 5 tapings for me and my fans has been terrible. I’ve been handcuffed and treated like a second class citizen. We’ve worked too hard to become a crossover star to be treated like we’re not. So I’m not happy creatively the way Impact has been treating me, I’ve been playing phone tag all day with them and I just ain’t got time for it. So you don’t want to use me the way I have earned the right to be used, that’s cool. I’m about to get my Kaepernick on and I’m taking a knee.”
The next tapings start tonight with a “live” Destination X show that will air about an hour later on Pop TV. The GFW team will tape 12 episodes of Impact in the next several days.
If you don’t know what the Kaepernick mention is, it’s a reference to the NFL player Colin Kaepernick that took a knee during the national anthem last year. Kaepernick has not been signed to a NFL team so far this year largely because of his anthem protest rather than his play on the field.
You can view the message from Tyrus here:
Could it be a work? Sure. They could have him show up at the show tonight and argue with management to make it seem like what he said was legit. It’s pro wrestling, so you can never count out something being part of the show.
If it is legit then it’s likely a case of the new creative team led by Jeff Jarrett not having as much interest in using Tyrus as the previous regime. At 44 years of age, he is one of the oldest guys in the company, and it makes sense for GFW to want to focus on younger stars.
