Not every independent standout, such as former Steve Corino, Abyss Adam Pearce, and Jimmy Jacobs, makes it to WWE.
All four names have previously worked for the company, but not in the ring. Instead, Abyss, Pearce, and Corino work behind the scenes, while Jacobs was once a member of the WWE creative team.
Jacobs rose to prominence in Ring of Honor, where he faced off against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Roderick Strong. Jacobs put his ring career on hold in 2015 to join WWE.
Jacobs’ tenure, however, ended in October 2017 when he was fired for posting a photo with then-Bullet Club members The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll, who were leading a “invasion” of RAW outside the arena that day.
Jacobs reflected on his WWE firing during an interview with AdFreeShows.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be received well, that’s for sure. I was in the arena and I think Kevin Owens texted me, ‘Are the Bucks there?’ I hadn’t heard anything about it from inside the arena. He goes, ‘I think they’re outside shooting something.’ I went out there, ‘Holy crap, the Bucks are here.’ I saw them, we exchanged pleasantries, it was good to see them. Right as I was leaving, ‘hey guys, let’s take a picture.’ I took a picture, never intended to post it. I was in Gorilla position during segment three or four, and I go, ‘Screw it,’ and I posted it. I knew there was a chance that people wouldn’t like it. I didn’t care. I look back at it and I really see it almost as a child acting out. ‘I want to get in trouble.’ Part of me wanted to get in trouble, but I wanted the Michael Hayes treatment. I’m not Michael Hayes, so I don’t get it. I wanted to be judged by my work. I wanted to get in trouble and them being, ‘He’s good at his job, so let’s keep him around.’ I want to expand my wings. Let me be like I am, however weird that is. I took the picture and 25 minutes later, Michael Hayes, Road Dogg, Dave Kapoor come to the room, kick everyone else out, Dave is like, ‘Why the hell am I seeing this?’ ‘I wasn’t thinking.’ ‘Hunter [Triple H] is pissed about it.’ I went to Hunter’s office and talked to Hunter. He was cool about it. He wasn’t happy about it, but he was cool about it. Hunter is a reasonable guy. He’s a smart guy too,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs continued, “I talked to him [Triple H], he seemed fine with it, went to TV the next day, things were still unsettled. I didn’t go into the office that week, I went on vacation somewhere. I went right from that TV to the next TV, first time I was in the office was a week and a half later. I went in there going, ‘If I make it through today, I’ll be fine.’ An administrative assistant comes to me, ‘Can you meet Dave (Kapoor) in the HR office?’ I remember being by the elevator and going, ‘This is it, this the day I’m getting fired from WWE. What a day. What an exciting noteworthy day.’ They fired me, it was mostly a relief. ‘Good, it’s over.’ Not that I didn’t appreciate or that I wouldn’t have stayed there another ten years if I hadn’t gotten fired, but it was a relief that I didn’t have to think about how I was going to leave ever and feel trapped there.”
One week later, Jacobs was given his walking papers. In retrospect, he sees it as childish acting out, and he knew he needed to expand and not feel confined, so he was acting out because it wasn’t for him anymore. By the end of his tenure, he claimed he couldn’t speak or pitch in front of Vince McMahon.
“I look back at it now, five years later, and I see the child like behavior of acting out and I knew what I wanted from that. I needed to expand and not feel confined like I felt, so I acted out. It wasn’t for me anymore. I knew that for a few months at that point. I had gone to rehab, which WWE was supportive of, Vince was supportive of back in April of 2017. When I came back a month later and I’m experiencing, not just reality, but experiencing WWE for the first time without the filter of narcotics in front of it, I was much more sensitive to it and I had a harder time playing along with that. I had a harder time being okay with how things were. I shot a video in the pre-tape room to try and pitch me being the 205 Live general manager, I was ready to play a little bit and move a little bit. I was done feeling…by the end, I couldn’t even speak in front of Vince, I couldn’t even pitch an idea in front of him. I felt so stupid every time I talked there,” he said.
(h/t to Fightful for the transcription.)
