Tony Nese Was Told He Would Probably Never Be Signed By WWE

Tony Nese had spent the last five years as a WWE Superstar, but his run with the company came to an end on June 25 following his release. 

Nese made his WWE debut back in 2016 during the Cruiserweight Classic. He would be eliminated in the second round, but he continued to wrestle on WWE programming before signing with the company in November, a couple of weeks before the launch of 205 Live. 

Nese discussed his WWE debut on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast and he revealed WWE told him he would probably never be signed when they offered him a place in the Cruiserweight Classic. 

"At the beginning of all this, I did a tryout at NXT and through the tryout, I actually got told about the Cruiserweight Classic that they were looking to do, and it was actually a funny conversation. It was, 'Hey listen, we really enjoy your work out there and your look and everything. You're probably never gonna work for this company but, we are doing a tournament and we're trying to use cruiserweights all around the world and stuff like that and your name is in the hat for that,'" Nese stated.

"And I was like, 'I don't know if I should be happy about that or not. Pretty much just told me I'm not gonna get a job here,' and this was like in the middle of my tryout. So now I had what? I had two days in the tryout, already in my head going, 'Okay, I'm not getting a job here. I gotta - whatever. I’m still gonna bust my ass and show 'em what I got,'" he continued. 

Nese would go on to ask WWE why he probably wouldn't be signed.

"So I actually, I asked them - I don't know if I'm gonna get in trouble for this one or whatever but, I was like, 'Listen, the cruiserweight thing sounds great but why would you say you don't think I'll ever work here?' And the answer was straightforward, 'You're short and white. That's not what we're looking for right now.' But anyways, it was kind of like a, 'Hey listen, you know, you're not six-foot-something, you don't have an interesting background when the company's trying to reach in different countries and everything.' You know, so it made sense," Nese added.

"I actually, believe it or not, like that. I like that he just straight up said this is why and rather than someone dancing around, 'Well, you know, maybe not right now,' whatever it is. I hate that more than anything. Just tell me."

Since the podcast appearance, Nese has looked to clarify his comments, tweeting: "Ugh....before this gets out of hand. It was referring to how I didn't have a unique background. Just a kid from Long Island who wanted to be a wrestler. But my overcoming of that by proving to them I'm worth a shot became my unique story."

After signing with the company, Nese would go on to hold the Cruiserweight Championship for 77 days in 2019. Now, he's looking ahead to his post-WWE career and The Premier Athlete revealed he has "a lot" of indie bookings in the works.

H/T to POST Wrestling