Shawn Michaels On Rip Fowler And Jagger Reid Asking For Their WWE NXT Release

During the NXT Battleground media call on Thursday, Shawn Michaels was asked about Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler requesting their releases. Michaels stated that he hopes they stay and that he wanted to bring them over from "NXT UK" to be successful. However, he understands how they feel and said there are no hard feelings. Michaels noted that he will continue to use them on "WWE NXT" as long as they want to work.

The Schism members made it known in April that they requested their releases from WWE, however it was seemingly denied. Their contracts are up in October and they've made it known that they are planning on leaving the company then.

Reid, formerly known as James Drake, made his WWE debut in 2017 as part of the inaugural "NXT UK" Championship tournament. Fowler, also known as Zack Gibson, arrived in 2018 shortly before the weekly "NXT UK" program launched. From there, Fowler and Reid paired up to form the Grizzled Young Veterans. In January 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain to become the first "NXT UK" Tag Team Champions.

The following year, the duo transitioned over to "NXT" stateside and made it to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in both 2020 and 2021. Last summer, they were officially repackaged as The Dyad as members of Schism, led by Joe Gacy. Since then, they've challenged for the "NXT" Tag Team titles on a couple of occasions but were unsuccessful.

This story will be updated shortly with more information.