Tino Sabbatelli says he doesn’t know who the source is, but it’s not him.
Former NXT star Tino Sabbatelli recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet about his professional wrestling career, which included a six-year run with WWE and a brief appearance in AEW. Sabbatelli was asked if he’d return to AEW, but he said that the “bridge was burned” and shared plans for a potential team with Andrade that fell through.
“So here’s the thing. I don’t know what happened or where it went wrong, this is the truth, that bridge was burned, and I don’t know how. Tony Khan knows me from football, and when WWE offered me that contract, I actually texted Billy Gunn about it. They [AEW] hadn’t offered me anything, Triple H was the one who offered me something. I sent a nice text to Billy Gunn to thank me for the opportunity and I thought it was all good. But when I got released again, someone reached out to AEW and said to Tony Khan ‘Tino is a free agent and he’s going to be a star.’ Tony said to him, and I am paraphrasing, but Tony is upset I went back to WWE. Then 3 months ago, Andrade approaches me and said that he wanted me to be in a group with him. Me and Andrade have always had a good relationship. But he texted me personally and we shot a vignette together. He wanted to bring a group like Evolution to AEW. We shot the video and spent the whole day in Miami. He texted me back and said ‘Tony Khan likes the idea but no Tino.’ I’m like what do you mean? I would love to sit and talk to Tony, he might have been upset that I had one match and then went back to WWE.”
Sabbatelli’s name came up in the news cycle after Chris Jericho accused him of leaking spoilers for a 2020 AEW Dynamite, referring to him as an “NXT reject.” At that point, Sabbatelli had been released by WWE for the first time and worked an AEW Dark taping in July 2020. He then responded to the reports that he was the source of the leak, claiming he is not internet savvy enough to pull something like that off.
“Oh man I had to laugh. If anybody knows me, I don’t know where to begin with this. I am an internet dummy, I don’t know what a dirt sheet is, I am not on Twitter and I don’t use Instagram. So when someone tagged me and said ‘You hear what Chris Jericho said about you.’ What was it, NXT reject? At first I ignored it but people started to bring it up more and more, so I started to look into it. I’m like what is this dude talking about? For me to go on the internet and speak on something that I know nothing about? No disrespect, I don’t care about that much. When IMPACT called Terry Taylor asked me, I’m like I don’t know what a dirt sheet is. God honest truth, I don’t know what I would even say. Maybe that is why Tony Khan doesn’t like me that much.”
Tino Sabbatelli ultimately re-signed with WWE in October of that year, but ended up getting cut again on June 25, 2021. Sabbatelli hasn’t wrestled since the AEW match, and says he’s now living in South Florida and taking some time for himself after spending so many years playing football and wrestling.
“That’s a great question. I have been chasing it for 20 years. I left home at 18 and went to Oregon State University. Then I was privileged to be drafted in the second round for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At the end of that 6-year journey, I get approached by the WWE and have to live in Orlando for 5 years. Long story short I left home and for 2o years I was chasing the dream. Finally I have moved back to my dream home in South Florida, and I am just living day by day. I have some businesses and live under my means. This part of my life is just to enjoy life for a little bit. I just wanted to take a bit of time for myself.”
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