Road Dogg Addresses Trashing WWE While He Was With TNA

WWE Hall of Famer and former backstage producer Brian 'Road Dogg' James has addressed badmouthing the company while working for TNA in the mid-2000s.

James was released by WWE in January of 2001 due to substance abuse issues. He then worked for TNA between 2002 and 2009.

During that time he re-formed his tag team with Billy Gunn, dubbed the Voodoo Kin Mafia, or 'VKM' (a play on Vincent Kennedy McMahon).

Speaking on his Oh...You Didn't Know podcast, James talked about VKM trashing WWE and D-Generation X in interviews and segments at the time:

"I had hard feelings against WWE. It was all of my own volition and I never realised that until post-WWE career and sobriety kicked in that I realised and I look back and we're like, 'Oh, God, what was I doing?'.

"But we were angry. Billy was angry. I was angry. Of course, we were both in active addiction as well. I don't think Billy minds me telling you that because we've both been sober for over 11 years now. So we're doing well. But look, we were both not good personally. We were doing what we could do professionally. Vince (Russo) came in with an idea that we could sink our drug addled teeth into and we were making a pay day. We weren't getting rich but we were getting paid".

After being asked why he was angry at WWE, Road Dogg had this to say:

"It would be sexier if I told you they did this to me and they did that to me. What they did for me was they provided a great living for my family. They always took care of me at every stop, at every problem, around every corner. I was a drama king because I was on drugs and they took care of me a great deal. Then I became a liability and so they were like, 'Okay, I gotta let you go'.

"They did nothing wrong to me. This was all of my own doing. This was me and my addiction, and my lack of coping skills, and I didn't know how to live life. I'd gone through life like a hurricane with horns. I was destructive and destroying every relationship, both personal and professional I had at this period of time. Yes, there were some good times in wrestling in between there, but this was a bad time for me".

Both members of the New Age Outlaws were ultimately able to mend fences with WWE and made their in-ring return for the company in 2013 for a run that saw them recapture the WWE Tag Team Titles, before both transitioned into backstage roles.

H/T WrestlingNews.co