JTG Recalls John Cena Ridiculing Him Before WWE Release
In 2006, WWE debuted the tag team Cryme Tyme, featuring Ohio Valley Wrestling stand-outs JTG and Shad Gaspard, as the next up-and-coming team in the company. The group made an impact on day one, defeating members of the Spirit Squad who, at the time, were the World Tag Team Champions. The debut was a success and the group was seen as fan favorites from the moment they arrived, routinely getting the crowd interested when they'd steal something from someone and try to auction it off to the fans.
However, the fun stopped for Cryme Tyme at the end of their first year when the group was let go by the WWE. During that time, the group was in the middle of a feud with Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, which seemingly was going to give JTG and Gaspard their first WWE Tag Team Championships. During an interview with the "Wrestling with Rip Rogers" YouTube Channel, JTG detailed what caused the release, stating that the two teams let backstage issues spew out onto a live episode of Monday Night Raw in August 2007.
"We didn't even make it a year yet," JTG said. "There was a rib that was pulled on us in the ring and Shad and I didn't respond accordingly, professionally. In OVW our ring etiquette was whatever you got going on backstage you don't let it spill into the ring, you keep it professional. That really pissed off Shad, especially coming from OVW. We don't take liberties with each other, we don't put our jobs in jeopardy."
JTG says his 'mind was blown' after being fired by WWE
According to JTG, the situation stemmed from a backstage argument between Cade and Shad that continued out to the ring on a live "Raw," also involving the WWE referee who was officiating their match. In his words, JTG said the referee counted him out of a match he wasn't supposed to be counted out in, calling for the bell and giving him the loss.
"That made Shad pissed and he took it out on the ref, I joined in on it and then Shad took it a little too far, took the ref's belt off, and auctioned out to the crowd," JTG said. "We were still in character, but we were off script."
"Then we got to the back, he got chastised by Barry Wyndham at the time, after that we got ridiculed by John Cena in front of the locker room and then on the ride to the next show we got a good tongue lashing from John Laurinaitis and then the next day we were fired. My mind was blown, that was the longest ride home. During that ride, I was just going through my head like I worked this hard just to get released because of a prank, some bullsh**?"
Fortunately for Cryme Tyme, they were brought back by the WWE six months later, where they would spend the next six years in the company. Unfortunately for the duo, they were never able to capitalize on the success of their first run in the company and never were able to win tag team gold under the WWE umbrella, which is something JTG to this day feels WWE missed the boat on.