More on Dijak's WWE departure (Patreon)

On June 27th, Dijak announced on social media that he had been notified by WWE that they would not be re-signing him at “the eleventh hour”, and that he would be exiting the company on June 28th.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has learned Dijak was notified that WWE would not be re-signing at some point following his WWE Speed match with Xavier Woods that filmed in the last two weeks but has not been able to learn when WWE made the decision that they would not be re-signing him. When speaking with Sapp, Dijak said in an interview that drops Friday he has theories that WWE had planned to let his deal wind down for a while.

Throughout the process of his contract winding down, Corey Brennan has been told by various sources within WWE and NXT that Dijak was well liked and praised by officials in the company, and as Dijak confirmed in his tweet, was originally set to challenge for the NXT Title before he was called up without notice to Monday Night RAW during the WWE Draft. We are also told that Shawn Michaels was a big supporter of Dijak’s, despite the two having minor disagreements about creative differences in the past. Dijak told Sapp that Michaels called him directly to welcome him back to the NXT brand, and Dijak would fly there for weeks at a time to get training in as he lives in New Hampshire.

Questions about why Dijak was not being presented on screen were left unanswered when we enquired, but talent Brennan spoke to often expressed their surprise that Dijak wasn’t a regular on RAW.  Dijak told Sapp directly that he could tell something was afoot when he wasn't included in the plans for WWE Raw the first couple of weeks after the draft.

Since his callup, there were several weeks where Dijak was not brought to the tapings, and when he was, his plans were often shifted around between Main Event and Speed tapings, but was never planned for an appearance on Monday Night RAW. We have also previously reported that there were no creative plans in place when he was called up.

Sources close to Dijak’s camp had made us aware that early negotiations had begun recently, and that they were positive preliminary negotiations before official negotiations began. However, following these negotiations, WWE did not reach out again until Dijak was notified his contract would be renewed and no serious negotiations took place over a new deal. Those we spoke to were shocked by the fact WWE did not attempt to negotiate with Dijak, with one former WWE talent noting that 20 years ago, Dijak “would have had a job till his legs fell off.”

As we previously reported, there is interest in and outside the world of professional wrestling in Dijak, and is expected to have little issue with receiving bookings following his contract officially expiring on June 28th.

Brennan has also learned that at least two promotions in Europe will be reaching out to Dijak for possible appearances. Sapp was told that major companies have been in contact with Dijak's management to gauge things.

The full interview with Dijak will run at Noon ET, and covers his time with Retribution, his contract, NXT runs, call-ups, WWE Draft and more. Please share this link when aggregating: https://youtu.be/bmPbtbKiH2E

Dijak will be live with MXM on their Twitch at 8 PM ET as well: http://twitch.tv/insidemxm