Departing WWE star thinks Vince McMahon wanted him to fail

Vince McMahon was replaced as WWE's creative figurehead in 2022 by his son-in-law Triple H. Dijak, also known as T-BAR in WWE, recently recalled how a backstage conversation with his former boss once left him feeling disheartened.

On November 1, 2021, Damian Priest defeated Dijak's T-BAR persona in a No Disqualification match on RAW. The physical 13-minute contest featured a spot where the former RETRIBUTION member bounced Priest's head off the ring apron during a commercial break.

Dijak announced on Thursday that he is leaving WWE when his contract expires this week. Appearing on Mace and Mansoor's insideMxM Twitch stream, the 37-year-old said Vince McMahon complained about the untelevised spot with Priest after the match:

"All of this [putting body through punishment] just to impress Vince, and I go to the back and he's fixated on the fact that I didn't grab someone aggressively enough in a break that nobody on television saw," Dijak stated. "That was the moment where in my head I just went, 'Oh, they're looking for a reason to not like me.' Because it's pro wrestling, right? It's fake fighting. You can make up any s**t you want. I was like, 'Oh, the office wants me to fail. They're actively looking for reasons to not use me.'" [32:11 – 32:42]

Dijak joined WWE in 2017. His last match for the company ended in defeat against Xavier Woods on the June 19 edition of the online show WWE Speed.

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How Dijak reacted to Vince McMahon's feedback

The match also included a moment where Damian Priest sent Dijak through a table at ringside with a Chokeslam from the ring apron. The crowd enjoyed the bout and stopped chanting for CM Punk at one stage to concentrate on the action.

Dijak added that another frustrated superstar around that time, Keith Lee, advised him not to let others know how much Vince McMahon's feedback bothered him:

"I remember sitting in the locker room and I'm in horrible pain and I just start grabbing my s**t and just like f***ing slamming it and smashing s**t, just making a big f***ing scene in the locker room, and Keith walks over to me, because he knows, he's going through the ringer at this time too, and he just puts his hand on my shoulder and he goes, 'Don't sell it, brother. Don't sell it.'" [32:58 – 33:18]

In the same livestream, Dijak also opened up about the possibility of wrestling for AEW after leaving WWE.

What do you make of how Vince McMahon booked Dijak on the main roster? Hit the discuss button and let us know.

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Please credit insideMxM and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.