Former WWE NXT Superstars Ever-Rise recently spoke with Andy Murray of WhatCulture and said they were surprised to be released back on June 25 along with other budget cuts.
Matt Martel (Shane Matthews) and Chase Parker (Jeff Parker) had developed a significant following on social media, and had some top supporters in the WWE locker room, such as Kevin Owens. The veterans from Canada, formerly known as 3.0, had signed with WWE in January 2019. They wrestled just three days before their release on NXT TV, losing to “Top Dolla” AJ Francis and Ashante “Thee” Adonis of Hit Row.
Martel and Parker had just inked new WWE contracts a few weeks before they were released. Martel confirmed their surprise and said they felt like they had their whole careers ahead of them in WWE.
“Yeah, [we were] surprised to say the least,” Martel said. “Surprised to say the least. It seemed to us that we had our whole careers in front of us in WWE. We were on TV every week doing what we wanted to do.”
Parker added, “Since, like, the month of October, we were doing something every week. Especially on NXT, finally getting, like, those… fleshing out those characters, which was always the idea, but it was a slow start.”
Martel and Parker remain in good spirits and spoke with no sign of resentment. They are now going by TheShowRULES, and have launched a YouTube channel, and are on Cameo. They are also taking bookings via theshowrules@gmail.com.
Ever-Rise explained how the idea was for them to be introduced as background talents before snowballing. They felt like they were beginning to pick up steam. When they heard of Braun Strowman getting released that same day, they knew all bets were off. They feel like WWE made the decision to release them based off the business side of things, not the pro wrestling product, and they were caught up in that.
Parker also noted that there was always great communication in NXT, with everyone from the writers and the producers, to the coaches, Triple H and Shawn Michaels. He added that they were still working on material on the day they were cut.
“For our end, there’s always great communication between… whether it be Triple H, or Shawn Michaels or the coaches at the Performance Center, the writing team, the producers. Great communication all around,” Parker said. “So it was… again, that’s kind of why it comes as a surprise because we were still in the process of working on stuff that day. That day!”
Ever-Rise would be free agents as of last week if they were under the 30-day non-compete clause, as NXT wrestlers often are. If they are under the 90-day non-competes, as some 205 Live/NXT wrestlers are, then they would become free agents after Tuesday, August 31.
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