There were several incidents which lead to The Sandman’s firing. In early September on a flight during WWE ’s African tour, Sandman and some other wrestlers got drunk prior to takeoff and had a yelling match with Ricky Steamboat over smoking on the plane. Later on, due to time constraints a few wrestlers were pulled from a show and Sandman was one of them. Sandman thought this was Steamboat’s way of getting revenge. A few days later, he called John Laurinaitis and requested his release. His release was granted despite Vince McMahon being a fan of his character.

Sandman sold one of his construction companies a few years back and is financially in a good situation where he doesn’t need WWE’s paychecks.

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