Tyler Breeze has revealed why he stopped wrestling for two years, after being released by WWE.
The former NXT tag team champion was let go by WWE in 2021, putting an end to an 11-year career in WWE.
Breeze had many highlights in his WWE career, with the main ones being tagging with Fandango as “Breezeango”, and facing Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn.
He also became famous as “Prince Pretty”, starring alongside Xavier Woods on the “UpUpDownDown” Youtube channel.
After his release, Tyler Breeze stayed out of the ring for two years, hinting at a retirement from professional wrestling to focus on his wrestling school.
However, a recent return put an end to the rumours, and he looks to return to a full-time wrestling schedule in the near future.
Speaking on A2D Radio, Tyler Breeze revealed that he never planned to take two-years off from wrestling, but he was just simply enjoying being home too much to go back on the road.
“I never really planned on taking two years off, but after doing this for 15 years and being in WWE for 11 years to where I really didn’t take any time off, I was lucky I didn’t have any surgeries.” Tyler Breeze said.
“I took care of myself pretty good, but I was on the road and going. When I finally got that call (to be released), I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to shoot the shit for a little bit.’”
“Then, I really liked it, and I liked to be home, and I went, ‘Huh, I’m going to keep doing this.’ A year turned into two years. I got the scratch the wrestling itch a little bit with Flatbacks [his wrestling school] and training people, but I wasn’t missing the road at all.”
“I liked being home and waking up in my bed, typical stuff that people take for granted that I never got to do. I was in no real hurry”
However, he always said that he wouldn’t rule out taking bookings, and once he eventually began to accept matches in local promotion, he received more and more bookings to wrestling.
The catalyst for his return was his friend and co-owner of Flatbacks, AEW’s Shawn Spears, needing an opponent for a match and asking Breeze to face him.
‘If something happens, if something pops up that could be fun, maybe I’ll do,’ but for the most part, I wasn’t against it, but I wasn’t missing it.”
“It just so happens that (Shawn) Spears was like, ‘I need an opponent for a match, do you want to do it?’ ‘Sure. I’ll do one.’ That same promoter was like, ‘Would you like to do this show?’ ‘Yeah, might as well.’”
“Somebody saw that, they offered me something, and all of a sudden I have some bookings. ‘I guess I’m back.’ Then it was get new gear, new music, get in shape, all that stuff.”
“My first booking was two weeks ago, and it was fun. The thing you always (miss) and the reason why we do this is the crowd. The crowd is so fun. Wrestling is never the problem.”
“The wrestling and the crowd is why we do it, and it’s so fun. Being back in front of them, very cool, I’m excited to take more bookings and get back out there. It’s been two years. Jumping back in there feels fresh and feels fun and I’m enjoying it.”
Tyler Breeze recently defeat Matt Cross to win the NGW Championship, marking his return to the ring for the first time in two years.