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John Morrison Discusses His WWE Release, Didn't Want To Be There After Taya Valkyrie Was Released

Posted: Aug 25th 2022 By: Jeremy Lambert

After being away from WWE for just under a decade, John Morrison returned to WWE TV in January 2020.

Throughout his second run, Morrison was aligned with The Miz before The Miz eventually turned on him in August 2021, setting up a feud that never got off the ground as The Miz missed time due to "Dancing With The Stars" and Morrison was released in November 2021.

Speaking to Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Morrison opened up about his WWE release.

"We were going to feud, but he missed a couple of Raw before he left for Dancing With The Stars. So, that never happened. I don't know if the reason for that is public. That never happened and that's why I was left in limbo. Anyway, I don't want to get into it. The thing about it is, after Taya was gone, I didn't want to be there anymore. When I heard I was being released, I went through the eight steps of grief, or ten, however many, in like 30 seconds. From surprised to shock to regret to okay," he said.

Morrison's wife Taya Valkyrie was released two weeks before Morrison.

"They didn't even say 'best of luck in your future endeavors.' I thought that he said that to people. I didn't get that out of (John) Laurinaitis. I wonder if someone said that to him [laughs]. I didn't love him or hate him," Morrison said when asked about Laurinaitis. "I thought he had a very tough job. I didn't realize what he was doing behind the scenes. In retrospect, that's pretty messed up. He has to deal with that and he created his own problems."

Laurinaitis was named alongside Vince McMahon in the WWE board investigation of McMahon regarding alleged sexual misconduct and hush money. Laurinaitis was released by the company on August 8.

At the end of his WWE run, Morrison had the "drip stick" that he used, shooting opponents with water. The drip stick was dropped and when asked if Seth Rollins becoming the "drip God" had anything to do with it, Morrison replied, "I feel like I got pulled back on because Miz left, and for some reason, I have three different plans that got changed at the last second, so you're just sitting. At TV, if you sit for a couple of weeks, you start getting troubled because you haven't been on TV for a month or two and suddenly it's, 'What do we do with John?' 'I don't know.' 'He hasn't been on for a while. 'We need someone to put over this guy.' 'How about John?' 'Okay.' That's kind of what happened more than Seth Rollins being the cause of it. If there ever was a drip vs. drip match, I would sign up in a heartbeat. Seth is someone I never got to wrestle."

Morrison has worked for multiple promotions since being released by WWE including AEW, GCW, AAA, and PROGRESS.

Morrison hasn't wrestled since July 11 and missed GCW events in July due to an injury. He is set to compete at The Wrestling Showcase on September 3.