Eric Young Reveals WWE Snubbed Him and Bobby Roode for Being Canadian

Eric Young recently made an appearance on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast. During his time there, Young shed light on his career which spanned a total of 26 years, and even mentioned the time he almost made it to WWE. Apparently, both Young and Bobby Roode were getting closer than ever to landing a contract with WWE back in the early 2000s.

Young revealed that both he and Roode had participated in a number of Dark Matches and tryouts for the company. However, both Roode and Young never got their shot due to them being Canadian. Eric went on to mention how not being American made it difficult for him to break into wrestling circuits.

He shed light on how issues with visas often drove Wrestling promoters away from non-American talent, a problem that most American wrestlers aren’t even aware of. Let’s take a look at what else Young had to say about the situation:

“American wrestlers or people in entertainment don’t understand the extra added level of difficulty… Me and Bobby Roode were very close to being hired by WWE, probably around 2001. We had done 20, 25 dark matches and try out things, and they were interested, but it came down to, ‘Oh, well, they’re Canadian.’ And that was it.”

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Eric Young found success despite being rejected by WWE

Eric Young never got the WWE start that he dreamed of. However, that didn’t stop him from working hard and becoming one of the most decorated wrestlers of his time. Young ended up winning championships in TNA, NWA, WSW, and even the FSPW. In fact, Young even won the NXT Tag Team Championship during his brief stint with WWE in 2017.

Not just Young, even Bobby Roode managed to make a name for himself and found success both inside and outside the WWE. Roode even managed to win the WWE 24/7 title, the TNA world title, and even a few WWE Tag Team titles along with Dolph Ziggler. Both Young and Roode faced issues because of their nationality but managed to make a career out of wrestling regardless of their struggles.

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