Darren Young recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet all about his WWE career, coming out as a gay man, Vince McMahon’s reaction and more.
Chris sent the following transcribed highlights from the episode to eWrestlingNews. You can hear the full episode on YouTube, embedded above.
Darren on his WWE release “breaking him”:
“I’m going to be honest with you 2017 broke me, 2018 really opened my eyes and in 2019 I’ve just been making moves. Taking an acting class, getting those reps in out here in LA. I’ve been out here almost 2 years now. When I got released, nothing last forever. It was a little weird how I got released, I was doing media at an LA Clippers game with Enzo and Miz and the next day I got a call from Mark Carrano that I was going to be released. Life goes on.”
Darren Young on Triple H making him cry by taking away the Crossface Chickenwing:
“It’s unfortunate that someone didn’t have my back because when I was having my last feud with The Miz, I was told I couldn’t use the crossface chicken wing because it was a dangerous hold. Legit. I said I know what I’m doing, I’m not going to kill anyone. Fast forward and I found out the move was being saved for Asuka. The Miz pointed that out to me in the locker room weeks later and I was like ‘I f*cking knew it!’ It broke my heart. I’ve got pictures of him on my wall in my childhood room. It broke my heart. I cried like a baby backstage and he came over and was like ‘Darren, why are you crying?'”
Darren says Finn Balor’s LGBT entrance at WrestleMania 34 hurt him:
“I’ll be honest with you, the release wasn’t that hurtful it was more hurtful at last year’s WrestleMania seeing Finn Balor in the opening match and the LGBTQ colors were embraced under his umbrella. I love Finn, I love Finn to death but I was like ‘Man, you just released me a few months ago. Give a dog a bone. Let me embrace it.’ I want to be able to go out there and show people that being gay comes in all different sizes and shapes. I don’t celebrate being gay, I celebrate living my life free from hate and free from judgment.”
Darren on Vince McMahon’s reaction to him coming out:
“It was Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon who really embraced me and let me know that everything would be ok. Vince genuinely talked to me for 20 minutes about his best friend Pat Patterson being gay. Pat’s a great guy. I’m not a bitter wrestler and I’ll never be a bitter wrestler. Vince gave me a shot and I’m grateful that he gave me a shot.”
Darren Young on AEW:
