Former WWE Star Sylvain Grenier Discusses Release, The Writing Being On The Wall
Former WWE star Sylvain Grenier is best known as one half of the La Résistance tag team with René Duprée. However, in August 2007, Grenier was released from the promotion, which he discussed during an interview with "Developmentally Speaking." Grenier recalled the angle he was doing before his release, where he was managed by Maryse.
"We had a reaction I never had as a heel. People were like 'Woah, I hate him, but this is cool, like, I want to watch! I hope he get his a** kicked, but I wanna watch that'. That's cool, there's something happening!"
He also noted how Stephanie McMahon was involved in the gimmick, but that higher ups didn't want him to speak on the mic, even at house shows. Grenier then recalled working with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan at one of the aforementioned house shows, and how his antics got him a major reaction from the crowd.
"The crowd was just crazy, it was one of the loudest reaction I ever heard, for some reason it was a smaller building. Back then, we were running like university gym, like three, four thousand people."
Grenier then recalled how the match progressed, with Duggan preventing him from getting into the ring, but at this moment, he saw an opportunity to grab the mic. "I said, 'Okay, you don't want to get me in the ring? Those people didn't pay enough money to see me and her, we gotta go.'" The legend naturally got him back into the ring, and, as Grenier put it, the match ultimately went as planned.
Sylvain Grenier's final WWE match was against Kane
Following the aforementioned match against Jim Duggan, Sylvain Grenier then went backstage, where he got feedback about his promo. Unfortunately, it wasn't of the positive variety.
"I get my a** chewed by Arn Anderson. 'So, what the f**k? Like I told you in the meeting at the beginning: no microphone! And you're not supposed to grab it.' Like, I'm sorry, I felt it, I was there. 'You're not in the position to feel anything!' I was like, 'Well, that's what a house show is supposed to be? Trying things.' No, okay? What the f**k am I doing here?'"
A night or two after the house show match with Duggan, Grenier was put up against Kane. "I was losing to Kane. And Kane was friend of mine, so 'I'm sorry, Sly.' Boom, boom, okay thank you, I'm going home. So, yeah, that's happened. They were fine without me, and I was fine without them."
Shortly after, on August 13 2007, Grenier was released from WWE and he jumped ship to TNA as a French language commentator for two years, before continuing his career as a wrestler on the independent circuit. Interestingly, in 2020, Grenier returned to WWE as a producer, but was let go that same year due to budget cuts. Since then, Grenier has continued to compete on the independent circuit and is currently one half of the FWE Tag Team Champion, with fellow former La Résistance member Rob Conway.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Developmentally Speaking" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.