Impact Wrestling Star Steve Maclin Explains Why WWE 'Did Me Right' (Exclusive)

By Brian Jones

Steve Maclin is one of the top stars in Impact Wrestling, and it comes after he was released by WWE last year. But while he spent seven years in WWE, he doesn't have animosity toward the professional wrestling promotion. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Maclin talked about the biggest things he took away while competing in WWE. 

"Just my learning experience, being able to work TV, listening to producers, the coaches that I had at the Performance Center, and just the friends I've made," Maclin exclusively told PopCulture. "I met my soon-to-be wife (Deonna Purrazzo) there too, so it's one of those things where everybody looks at it like, 'Oh, they did you wrong.' It's like, 'No, they did me right for a long time. They paid the bills. I had a weekly check.' So there's no hostility there, and you never know. Down the road, go back, but I'm very happy where I am at Impact wrestling. What WWE taught me has allowed me to be who I am here."

Maclin signed with WWE in 2014 and competed in NXT until he was called up to the main roster in 2020. While in WWE, Maclin went by the name Steve Cutler and teamed up with Jaxon Ryker and Wesley Blake to form The Forgotten Sons. The group got a big push when they were called up to the main roster, but it stopped when Ryker posted a controversial tweet supporting President Donald Trump in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement, which led to backlash from backstage, on social media and from fans. The Forgotten Sons were taken off television because of the tweet, but Maclin and Blake returned to TV with King Corbin as The Knights of the Lone Wolf before Maclin was released in February 2021.

Maclin signed with Impact in June 2021 and is now getting ready for a big match. Impact Wrestling will be in Nashville on Friday, Sept. 23, and Saturday, Sept. 24, for Victory Road and Victory Road Fallout. The main event of Victory Road (Friday's event) will be Maclin vs. Moose. vs. Sami Callihan in a Three-way Barbed Wire Massacre, and Maclin is ready to put on a show. 

"I'm very much looking forward to this one at Victory Road. I know the fans are as well," Maclin said. Impact has the show that gives everybody a taste of everything in pro wrestling they like, whatever they're a fan of, if technical, the knockouts, tag division, the X division, even getting guys from Japan and Luchadores, it's crazy the amount of different varieties you get to see within the Impact show. And I think at Victory Road, it's another one of those pay-per-views where the Impact fans and just wrestling fans, in general, are going to enjoy it."

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