It appears that Karl Fredericks asked for his release.
Interestingly enough, the 34-year-old was a part of the WWE cuts back on May 2nd. It was genuinely shocking since Fredericks’ place on the roster had grown within the last year. It all started when Fredericks, who was Eddy Thorpe in WWE/NXT, had secured an NXT Championship match against Trick Williams after faking a backstage assault.
This was actually a clever move that made Thorpe seemed dangerous and smart, and the company actually protected Fredericks when he and Williams clashed on the December 17 episode of NXT. Thorpe would challenge for the NXT Championship once again in a triple threat match against Oba Femi and Williams, though he came out on the losing end.
Still, Thorpe and Williams branched out to a singles feud where Eddy got a surprising clean win over the former NXT Champion at Vengeance Day. Trick eventually got his win back, but WWE firmly kept Eddy in the North American title scene. It was assumed that WWE didn’t keep Thorpe because they didn’t see him succeeding on the main roster.
Reportedly, that’s not the case. Fredericks has come out and stated that he asked for his release, citing that he wanted to do something meaningful with his f**king life.
He explained a bit further why he opted against remaining in WWE.
At the moment, it’s unknown whether Fredericks asked for his release or not, but it wouldn’t be the first time he quit a company. Fredericks is mainly known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but left in 2022 due to his frustration over not being in the G1 Climax. Fredericks was in New Japan for nearly eight years as he entered the New Japan Pro-Wrestling LA Dojo in 2015.
There’s no word on where Fredericks could end up next. Heck, it’s not even confirmed if he’ll continue wrestling. But based on this, we won’t likely see him back in New Japan or WWE anytime soon.