Miro Discusses Plans Changing During His Last WWE Match, Why He Was Released By WWE

On a recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast, "The Best Man" Miro was on to talk about his release from WWE and his desire to be in AEW. He said that he always wanted to be in AEW noting the frustrations he had in WWE.

"I kind of knew I was going to come here honestly," Miro admitted. "When AEW first started, I was very unhappy. I wasn't happy because I knew I could give a lot more than what they were using me, and that's all I wanted. I never pushed myself to be any kind of champion. I just wanted to be given the opportunity to excel, and the most disheartening thing was I feel like I excelled in every single opportunity they gave me, but somehow, that was still not enough.

"And I'm a very competitive person. I grew up playing sports, and in my mind, if you do better, you should get on top, but I got to this point where it's like, 'why am I doing all this? I'm killing myself to a degree to go nowhere,' and it was just very frustrating. I knew that I needed a new challenge, and when the whole pandemic thing happened and when they let me go, I was not discouraged at all. I knew right away it was meant to be.

"I knew when the time is right, I'm going to come to AEW, and I believe I talked to you. Later on you said, 'let's bring you brother, but let's have something for you. It's not you're just here for the sake of being here,' which made a lot of sense, and I was so happy. Everything, the timing, 'The Best Man', everything worked to such perfection because it was just meant to be."

Chris Jericho added that Miro had contacted him about joining AEW a year ago. At the time, Miro had two-three years left on his deal, and Jericho pointed out that WWE was not going to let him go even if he asked.

"I remember you get reached out to me about a year ago or so and said, 'hey, you think I can come to AEW?' And I said, 'well, how long's your contract?', Jericho recalled. "You told me two years or three years, and I was like, 'yeah, they're not gonna let you go.' And you're like, 'why not?' I'm like, 'they're not gonna let you go dude. There's no way.' You're like, 'well, if I just asked them, they'll let me go.' I'm like, 'doesn't work that way now.'"

That reminded Miro of the time he did request his release. He said the fact that the news leaked out made it feel like he had no one to turn to making him feel unsafe in the company.

"So I did ask, I think about three years ago, because it was another situation where I was just unhappy, and I talked to one person. The next day, that conversation was on the dirt sheets," Miro said. "This was the problem. Who do you go to? Who do you turn to when you're down, when you need advice [or] when you need somebody to be like, 'hey man, you'll be okay.' You have nobody because they're all stooges.

"Somehow it always leaks out, and you don't feel safe. If you don't feel safe [and] you don't know where to turn to, then you're naked out there, and thank God I have my wife and she has me, but at the end of the day man, you need somebody that can be, 'hey, this is not okay. Who do I talk to?' There's nobody."

Miro recalled his last match in WWE on Feb. 17 where he and Humberto Carrillo teamed up to take on Bobby Lashley and Angel Garza. He revealed that the finish of the match was changed, and he saw that WWE was attempting to make him look bad and how he took measures into his own hands. He also revealed that Vince McMahon was not happy with how Miro was treated, which led to Jericho pointing out that McMahon is the one that decides everything.

"I was thinking [about] the last match I had on TV," Miro stated. "I knew that was my last match. It was me, Humberto Carrillo, young kid, against Garza and Bobby. The match started. We were supposed to go over. Next thing you know, I'm losing. Next thing you know, now Garza is beating me, not Bobby, who I was feuding with, the other guy. I already have no wins against none of these people, so it [didn't] matter.

"I'm a professional. Cool, whatever you want to do that's what we do. So then comes the finish, a roll up. The instructions was for him to leave the ring. Next thing you know, I see the ref goes to his ear. Next thing, Angel goes up to the corner and raises his hand while I'm in the ring sitting from a roll up, and I turn around and back in the back my eye, I see what's happening. I just charged him and beat the f–k out of him. I just saw him there, and my eyes turned red because I knew what they were trying to do. Rikishi always told me, 'you got to protect yourself. Nobody's going to look after you,' and I just went there, and I started clubbing him.

"And he rolled out, and I broke Joey Mercury's rule, which is if you're babyface and you lose you, you never raise your hand, but I just so wanted to stick it up to everybody and say it doesn't f–king matter who wins or loses because I am Miro and just raised my hands. And that was it. I came through the back. Vince said he's going to give me a bonus. He said he's going to give me a bonus because 'oh, they're trying to bury you out there. You really took care of yourself.'

"They? It's him!," Jericho remarked. "They're not gonna do s–t without somebody telling him.

"'This is exactly what I needed to see. You're very aggressive, good stuff,'" Miro recalled McMahon saying. "That was my bonus."

On the day of his release, Miro admitted that he took five minutes to rant about the way he was used and treated in WWE. He also believes that the news of him and others expressing their concern over how WWE has handled the COVID-19 pandemic was a big factor in his release.

"I got a text message the day of," Miro recalled. "It said, 'Miro, we need to talk.' I actually had the feeling, so I wanted to call [Mark] Carano. I was like, should I text him, but I was at the vet. It was like, okay, I'll take care of the dogs first, and the next thing you know, I got a text message. 'Hey, we need to talk.' I knew right away. So I called him. He told me, 'I'm so sorry,' and I really lashed out for five minutes. I did lash out because there's just so much. It was just much over the years.

"I was getting some of the boys around because we were not okay about how everybody was treated in the pandemic situation. We felt scared to go to work, and once again, it was probably ten of us talking, somebody leaked it to the office. From us 10 people that were talking, somebody leaked it to the office and to the dirt sheets, and once that happened, I knew right away they're gonna fire me because they're going to blame it all on me of course because I'm the guy, but it doesn't matter.

"They fired me. I lashed out because I think we're on the path of doing something good because I do want to protect the boys. We all wanted to protect the boys and the girls. That didn't work out, and that's why I felt like they cut me underneath because I was just so angry man.

Miro admitted that he was fine with his release. He talked about his plan to go to AEW no matter what noting that he had other offers from other promotions.

"At the end of the day, I got fired. I went home," Miro said. "I didn't tell my mother because I thought she was going to get worried and all that, but I had not a single worry. Not at all. I knew it. I knew everything is timing. They think it sucks. They think they're doing me dirty because of the pandemic, but that's not true at all because I'm going to wait my three months. I'm going to talk to you guys.

"I know I'm f–king good. I'm not a scrub. I know I'm gonna get work, and that's what happened. I contacted AEW. They contacted me. I had a few offers before from different places, but I knew AEW is the place. I still think it is, and I think it always will be."

Jericho revealed that he had talked to AEW President Tony Khan about which talent that was released he was interested in. He said Khan was solely interested in Miro, and Jericho talked about the versatility of "The Best Man" gimmick equating it to Mr. Perfect.

"When everybody got released, because there was a bunch of guys, 15 guys or whatever was, I was asking Tony, 'are you're interested in any of these guys? If I can reach out, I will,' and you were the one name out of all them that was mentioned," Jericho revealed. "He thought a little bit about one of the other brothers, but you were the one for sure and asked my advice, and it's like, yes, I totally vouch for him. Great guy, great worker. He's gonna be way better, and he will be with us, but let's not just have him come here and just hang out.

"We've got so many guys on the roster. There has to be a place for you, and like you said with 'The Best Man', it's perfect. And it goes so far beyond, I was thinking about it a couple days ago, it's such a great idea even if you aren't with Kip [Sabian]. You can be 'The Best Man' Miro, like you said, like Mr. Perfect. You can do feats of incredible things because you're the best, man."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.