Nexus Member Michael Tarver Hints At 'Messed Up' Reason For His WWE Release

Michael Tarver, part of the original Nexus faction in 2010, hinted at a messed up reason when recalling his WWE release. Tarver was released in June 2011 after being written out of the faction due to a groin injury. During an interview with "Developmentally Speaking," he said there were plans for him to become a manager upon his return. 

"They wanted to try to make me a manager, and I hated that idea," he recalled. "I would talk to Dusty [Rhodes] about it all the time and ask him like, 'How does it make sense if I'm a manager and I'm bigger and more intimidating than who I'm managing?'... If I'm big, intimidating, have the look and I can talk, why not put me in a ring and just let me go? Put a belt on me, you know what I'm saying? Give me a push, do something with me. But you know, I came in the wrong package."

Tarver recalled working in private with Vince McMahon and Armando Estrada on his promos to prepare for his managerial return. He claimed he was getting told to prepare for something big, but that didn't come to pass before his release. He also alluded to a deeper reasoning behind his departure, but refused to divulge specifics. 

"I know why they did [it]. But I've never spoken about it publicly. It was messed up. I've never spoken about it publicly. But you know, they just gave me the generic, 'We don't have anything for you' Like, well, you were just marveling about my promos a couple of weeks ago."

Michael Tarver has maintained since his release that John Cena had actively buried and hurt him during the Nexus angle, further delving into the racial-political environment within professional wrestling, opining that it's not a business that catered for minorities.