Former superstar talks rejected ideas and one ludicrous explanation for his absence from television.
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When ‘RETRIBUTION’ was first introduced by WWE, fans were well familiar with how it would play out. There was little hope for this group, despite the presence of a brilliant cast, so Shane Thorne was left hanging on the roster with no role to play.
In the end, Thorne would be freed, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t trying. Thorne said on the Two Man Power Trip podcast that after switching from Monday Night RAW to Smackdown Live, it became practically hard to get on TV. Thorne, on the other hand, saw the glass as half-full rather than half-empty.
“I was at SmackDown every single week and I think I got written into the show and off the show, four or five times. It became comical of how long I could be employed without doing anything,” Thorne said.
“How many times can we stop and start this? No idea. Run out of time on the show? SmackDown is a shorter show.
“I’d wrestle in the ring before the shows. Train with people. Some of the most fun I had in WWE was working on SmackDown, on the main roster run where I may not have been doing anything, but hanging out in the ring with people and wrestling.”
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In NXT, Shane Thorne stated he offered basic concepts like introducing Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville, only for Sami Zayn to jump in and take over the segment to establish himself on the program.
That pitch was cut for a reason that is oh-so-WWE. “My part got cut because they didn’t want me to be Shane. They wanted a new name. Call me Dave, Bob, John, whatever.
“You’re just going to call me Thorne in a few weeks anyway. People don’t have two names. Who cares, whatever gets me out there.
“Me and Toni Storm did this thing with Corbin where he was down on his luck. They came up to Toni and go, ‘Here is your part for that.’ ‘What about my bit?’ ‘Uhhh, sorry, you’ve been cut.’
“In 15 minutes, they cut all of them. I had a few chats with Vince, spitballing ideas, it just never came to.”
Thorne was returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling after being released by WWE. We’re seeing The Mighty Don’t Kneel group return to the promotion under his previous ring identity of Shane Haste and partner with JONAH.
Even though Mikey Nicholls is now a member of the CHAOS group, a reunion with a longstanding tag team partner seems likely.
Haste will be working with NJPW Strong for the time being, but he hopes to return to Japan in the near future. Haste and Nicolls were two-time GHC Tag Team Champions while working for Pro Wrestling NOAH.
