"Dude, I'm done" – Ex-IC Champion wanted to quit WWE after name change

Many WWE Superstars undergo character transformations and name changes during their careers. Joe Hennig, aka Curtis Axel, recently opened up about the difficulties he faced early on in his time with the company.

Hennig, the son of the late Hall of Famer Mr. Perfect, worked for the Stamford-based company between 2007 and 2020. The former Intercontinental Champion wrestled as Joe Hennig in WWE's Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental system. He was renamed Michael McGillicutty in 2010 before being repackaged as Curtis Axel in 2013.

On Monte and The Pharaoh, Hennig revealed he wanted to leave after being given the name Michael McGillicutty:

"I argued, argued, argued, all that kind of stuff, and I just kept going through and just kept on performing to the people [proving] that I could go either babyface or heel, either way, whatever. I did everything I could. Finally, I lost my mind. I said, 'Dude, I'm done,' so that's when Curtis Axel evolved." [39:02 – 39:30]

As Curtis Axel, Hennig won the Intercontinental Championship in 2013 when Paul Heyman performed as his manager. In the same interview, the 45-year-old addressed whether he could work with the former ECW owner again.

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Curtis Axel on WWE's bad NXT booking

Over the last decade, NXT has evolved from a developmental system to a viable alternative to RAW and SmackDown. During Joe Hennig's tenure in the developmental brand, wrestlers competed in gameshow challenges and were often mocked on television.

Hennig believes he and Bray Wyatt, fka Husky Harris, were among the emerging stars who should have been treated better:

"Dude, NXT in my era was a disaster. They would do cr*p to us to make us look like cr*p. It was a shame, a shame on all of us. All of us that worked hard, like Bray, Husky Harris, all these guys worked their a**es off." [37:59 – 38:21]

The former B-Team member also explained why his WWE return as a producer in 2022 only lasted three months.

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What did you make of Joe Hennig being called Michael McGillicutty? Hit the discuss button and let us know.

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