Former WWE Superstar Shane Haste (fka Slapjack, Shane Thorne) recently spoke with Fightful Select for an upcoming interview. The former member of TMDK and RETRIBUTION was released from his WWE contract back on November 18, 2021. Since then he has worked for NJPW, NJPW Strong and PWG.
Below are a few highlights from the interview:
* Haste said he’s enjoying his time with NJPW Strong, and he hopes to return to Japan to do some work there. He is actively working without a contract and is technically a free agent
* Regarding his time with RETRIBUTION, he said at the time of the creative pitches and the debuts of the masked individuals on RAW and SmackDown, they were never told as of then that they would be in RETRIBUTION. He noted that T-BAR actively pitched several of the members to be in the group. They wanted to go by different names, but said their monikers were handed down by Senior Vice President & RAW/SmackDown Executive Director Bruce Prichard. They all thought the names were pretty goofy, but he said he was happy to appear on the main roster, and would gladly work as Slapjack again if it meant being back on RAW or SmackDown
* He appeared on WWE Main Event and RAW early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as Shane Thorne, and said this was a product of WWE using wrestlers who lived close by. He didn’t have anything going on in WWE NXT at the time, so he didn’t see any harm in that or in losing
* As for his TM-61 partner Nick Miller (Mikey Nicholls) leaving the company in December 2018, Shane said he wasn’t bothered by it because Miller had missed his family in Australia, and that was more important. He also recalled being told that they were not being used in NXT because they didn’t have enough ideas about their characters
* He confirmed former WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis called to inform him of his WWE release, but said Laurinaitis was a big supporter of his, and likely the reason he lasted as long as he did
* He noted that nothing more came of his 2012 ROH appearances because he didn’t have a work visa. After working for Pro Wrestling NOAH, Shane returned to the United States to work ROH, and TM-61 won the Rise & Prove Tournament. They then lost to ROH Hall of Famers The Briscoe Brothers in a Proving Ground Match at Showdown In The Sun on March 30, 2012
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