Former WWE Star Caylen Croft On Why He Was Fired In 2006, Tagging With The Miz

Former WWE star Caylen Croft appeared on Jordan Garber NOW to discuss his release from WWE in 2006, and working with The Miz during his developmental years.

Croft got the chance to step in and tag with The Miz back in 2005 when Miz's original partner, Matt Cappotelli, got hurt and was later diagnosed with brain cancer.

"I've been in developmental for a few years and they opened a second one called Deep South Wrestling," Croft recalled. "I caught one episode where this guy was calling himself The Miz and he was drunk, screaming, and saying he was going to be a wrestler and that is how I knew about him. In 2005, Matt Cappotelli and The Miz were set to be a tag team of rising stars, then Matt got hurt so they put me on the road with The Miz for all the summer of 2005, just as a filler. Matt came back and we found out he had brain cancer, so Matt was out and I was back in. It was a sign that me and The Miz would be a tag team.

"So we did all of the RAW house shows for the first few months of January of 2006. I didn't know much about The Miz and I thought, "Is he in this for the wrestling or is he in this to be famous?" We got along immediately and he was a great guy, in fact, he had to overcome a lot of crap. A lot of people suspected him because he was just here from the reality TV world, but obviously Miz has proven himself way beyond that now all these years later. It was a lot of fun, and we were set to debut in April of 2006?literally vignettes have been released?then I got fired for excessive partying."

Although WWE did bring Croft back in 2008, he was initially released in 2006 for partying it up a bit too hard around the time WWE put together its Wellness Policy.

"It was St. Patrick's Day in March 2006 and we just went all out," Croft said. "I ended up in the hospital that night for drinking and partying. It was pretty serious as I almost ended up dying and I was hospitalized. Then the office found out about it. This was the time when the Wellness Policy first got into effect because past wrestlers were dying too young.

"For example, Eddie Guerrero just passed away months before and there were lots of stuff surrounding that, so WWE was really coming down and started doing drug testing, which is still in effect today. So, I made it from debuting on SmackDown to being fired in a week. It ended up being one of the best things to happen to me because that really caused me to look at myself and how I'm doing and how I am living. Over the next couple years, I have made a couple of huge changes in my life because I wanted to."

Croft remained in WWE until 2010 when he was release for a second time, retiring from wrestling shortly after.

You can listen to Jordan Garber NOW every Friday at 6:00 pm ET on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.