AEW Star Tay Conti recently appeared as a guest on AEW’s Unrestricted podcast with AEW announcer Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards. During the podcast, Tay Conti discussed asking for her release from the WWE, but it was initially denied as she was told by them that no, she is not gonna go to AEW and they put a lot of money on her and that she is a star, then she was eventually released due to the ongoing global pandemic.
This is what Tay Conti said:
“I was asking for my release for a couple months. I was not happy.” “I was so unhappy there that I didn’t have any plans. I was just like, I want to get out of here. I’m not happy, and I never thought about, oh, what am I gonna do if they give me my release? I never thought about it. I was like, I just need to be done with them, and of course, they said no a couple times. We were having a bunch of meetings. I was like, nope, I’m just done. Please let me go. So at the last one, they told me, ‘No, you’re not going,’ and they mentioned AEW.
“I remember they told me, ‘No, you’re not gonna go to AEW. ‘We put a lot of money on you. You are star blah, blah, blah.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, you guys don’t use me here. So I gotta go somewhere, but it’s not there. I know nobody there. I have no plans to go to AEW.’ I had no plans because I had no contacts at all. At end of the day, we figured it out. They said, no, and I still had two years in my contract. And I was like, well, what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna be here. They told me, ‘Okay, you can be at home. We’re going to pay you. You can be at home.’ I’m like, ‘No, because I know everybody’s going to forget about me, and I won’t be able to work.’ And I was like, no, it’s okay. I’m going to make it two more years.”
“I’m going to keep working, I have no choice right? We decided to keep working, and everything was good. We got in good terms, and then something had to change because I was not with training the schedule, whatever. I was back to work normally. Out of nowhere, they called me because of — I mean, not out of nowhere. Everybody knew was what was going on because of COVID, but I was not expecting the call since we were okay. They told me ‘we are finally letting you go’ not in a really good, I don’t how to explain it without being too mean, they’re not too nice.”
Conti then talked about being grateful to WWE for their help when she first came to the U.S. and what she did after she was given her WWE release.
This is what Tay Conti said:
“I’m so grateful for them because honestly, they changed my life.” “I came to the U.S. They bet on me, and they helped me a lot. They really changed my life, and I’m grateful for it, but the last year, I was not happy. I gotta go. So that was super hard. That was one of the worst days of my life to be honest. I was lost, sad, upset and everything.”
“It was like, damn, what am I gonna do now? It turns out that was the best thing that ever happened to me because after this, I had no job, and I bought a house. How did I do that? I don’t know. After a couple weeks, I was like, damn, I’m happy. That’s what I want. I was figuring out my life. ‘What I can do with the money that I saved?’ I came from a really poor neighborhood. My family was really poor. So having a house and a car was something that was not a thing for me to be honest.”
“I had those dreams, but they were so far from me that when I did them, I was like, damn, I have no job, I’m happy, I just bought a house and I bought the car that I always wanted, what a good life! And then after this, I got my contract at AEW. I was like, oh my god, I have nothing to complain about. I live a good life. I’m just so grateful.”
Conti then talked about improving so rapidly in AEW compared to her time in the WWE PC because she is 100% happy.
This is what Tay Conti said:
“Because I’m happy. 100%. That’s the most important thing. Of course, I have a great trainer like Dustin doing great work with me and I’m grateful for him. I have more time to watch matches. But, all of this is happening because I’m happy with myself. I can be who I am without being judged. I can try things. I feel that people trust me. I don’t have that pressure on my back every single time, like, should I hi? Should I walk with my right foot or with my left. I don’t have that. That’s why I’m happy, and then I can do better. I feel like every time you’re happy, everything is better. You can do your best.”
