Darren Young Recalls Being "Devastated" By WWE Cancelling NEXUS Reunion

On the Friday episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with WWE veteran Fred Rosser, fka Darren Young, ahead of his upcoming NJPW debut at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. That distinction of "WWE veteran" is something that Rosser brought up at the start of the podcast.

"Making moves, making moves, making million dollar moves [and] still making moves and one thing I do not like is when people say 'former' because former sounds washed up," Rosser noted. "I always say I'm a WWE veteran because my career with WWE started in 2003 when I was doing extra work from 2003 to 2009 and ultimately getting signed with WWE in 2009, and then getting released in 2017. So I like to call myself a veteran because I put in some time with the company. Now, I'm making moves, making moves to make million-dollar moves like I said earlier."

Rosser had talked about the NEXUS being set to reunite at WrestleMania in the past. Stu Bennett has been on The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he said he would have joined in if it was something more significant. Rosser was asked how close the NEXUS reunion was and how he felt about it being cancelled.

"Well both half and half," Rosser admitted. "Right before the pandemic, probably February, I was reached out by WWE, and they said, 'hey, we have this opportunity, WrestleMania NEXUS reunion. We're going to have you at Axess doing stuff for The Network. So I was happy. I didn't didn't burn any bridges with WWE. So about a month later, after they contacted me, I was given the bad news that the pandemic happened, and they had to cancel Axxess and cancel the stuff that we were doing. So I was pretty devastated, but life goes on. Got to keep it moving."

Rosser discussed his fond memories of the NEXUS, and Heath Slater has also been on The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he expressed his desire for a NEXUS reunion. Rosser revealed that enthusiasm from the two of them has had others joking around about it when the two friends are together.

"Just recently, I wanted to get some good laughs, I had said on social media, 'oh my goodness, the Nexus alliance is back in WWE' and like my Twitter feed was just blowing up," Rosser said. "So I was just doing all that. I was just making up rumors just to get a rise out of the stans.

"WrestleMania, we were going to be coming back to do who knows what, but yeah, guys like Bray Wyatt, guys like Curt Hawkins [and] Matt Cardona, they're always joking with Heath and I. Heath is one of my closest friends probably out of the NEXUS. They're always joking about, 'When y'all gonna have that NEXUS reunion? We need to have that NEXUS reunion.' Those guys are always mocking Heath. Zack and Hawkins, they're always mocking him, but who knows. Never say never with WWE or just with wrestling in general."

In regards to Rosser's NJPW debut, he was asked if he could tease anything for his upcoming match. Rosser then opened up about his struggles with CTE having had so many concussions throughout his wrestling career. He spoke on his excitement for his debut to be announced and told fans to tune in and watch.

"A lot of concussions over the years. CTE so I don't remember half the stuff that I've done," Rosser admitted. "You just have to tune in. I'm excited myself. Rocky Romero, who I'm always texting saying, 'I can't wait. I can't wait till the announcement's made.' I was going crazy. No one knew except for me and a handful of my friends. So I didn't want to jump the gun on this huge announcement made by New Japan Pro Wrestling, but that's my excuse, CTE. I don't remember what I've done. You just gotta tune in."

Rosser said that CBD has been very beneficial for him to deal with CTE. RVD was also on The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he discussed his endeavors in CBD and CBG as an advocate for wrestlers dealing with their concussion issues. Rosser revealed that he was called "medicine man" in WWE because of his frequent availability of CBD.

"That's the one and only fact that I know about CBD and all those other forms that help you mentally. I know it repairs damaged brain tissue," Rosser stated. "So I'm a huge believer in that. Tylenol and all that stuff, that's very harmful to you. I'm a huge believer in CBD and that's why I'm always promoting it on my social media, and I'm a huge fan of RVD.

"With WWE, they would always call me 'the medicine man' because I always had CBD available, and it definitely helped me on car rides, 300-mile car rides from city to city when I got Titus O'Neil in the passenger seat. I've got Mark Henry in the backseat. So with all that stress out of them, I needed my CBD. The stress was unbearable. I needed it. It's definitely helped me out a lot."

Fred Rosser can now be seen Friday nights as part of NJPW Strong on New Japan Global. Rosser's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.