Why Did Austin Matelson Leave WWE Wrestling? ‘Big Brother 17’ Contestant Now Wrestles Independently
Big Brother 17 fans know there are two sides to Austin Matelson. There’s Austin, the health guru and beard-ponytail-sporting romancer of Liz Nolan. Then there’s Judas, Austin’s evil alter ego.
Judas wears the top hat and makes unusual nomination speeches, as he did last Sunday when he put up Steve Moses and John McGuire while admitting the two knew nothing of the plan to backdoor him weeks ago. Judas is a convenient scapegoat for the all the dirty decisions Austin has to make in the Big Brother 17 house.
As Austin told Zap2It, Judas was created with the help of WWE legend Dusty Rhodes. Big Brother was also intended to be a stage for Austin to help bring his character back.
Austin was on the WWE’s development roster, NXT, under trainer Bill DeMott in 2013. In the spring of that year, he wrote a memo to management complaining of DeMott’s training practices. In the memo, which Wrestling Inc. reproduced in its entirety, Matelson outlined the injuries he sustained during practices. In December of 2013, Wrestling Inc. reported that Judas Devlin — aka Austin Matelson — was under contract but out of commission with a spinal injury. There was talk then that “his in-ring career could be over.”
As The Washington Post reported in March of 2015, Bill DeMott resigned amid misconduct allegations, although he denied any wrongdoing. At that time Austin’s two-year-old memo was made public.
In the Zap2It interview, which was posted before Austin entered the Big Brother house, Matelson said he left the WWE because of his injuries. He eventually received medical care from his own set of doctors and, he claims, is now fully healed. He got back into the ring earlier this year, wrestling as an independent.
Matelson knew it was risky to speak up about his former trainer, but has received words of support for doing so. He also hasn’t ruled out a return to the organization.
“I didn’t do it for any personal gain, I did it to help people — and it was scary for me. I knew it might be throwing away any chance to return [to WWE] in the future. Everyone always wants to have that hope to return there. It’s the Mecca, it’s the promised land.
“I have so many texts from people in NXT that were like, ‘Thank you. Thank you for making my life good again.’
“It depends on the situation. I would definitely be open to [returning to WWE]. It depends on where I’m at physically, where I’m at professionally.”
He said the training regimen at WWE was difficult and he is still developing his skills. But he expressed hope that his Big Brother experience would benefit his wrestling career, as he says at about 3:15 of the Zap2It video.
“WWE gave me the tools I need to know how to practice, to know how to get better. And now I just need a platform to push my character and become Judas more eternally. And hopefully this summer’s the stage for Judas to emerge.”
Austin, as this week’s Head of Household, does not get a vote on Thursday night’s eviction. But viewers can watch to see if Judas shows up before either of the two nominees goes to the jury house.
Big Brother 17 airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays on CBS.
[Image: CBS / bigbrotherfansblog.com]
