Andre Chase reveals WWE’s original plans for him
Andre Chase recently revealed that WWE originally wanted to hire him as a coach.
Almost five years ago, Andre Chase joined WWE following a successful tryout. However, after clearing the trials, WWE initially wanted him to start with them as a coach with a much higher salary.
Recently, speaking to Duke Hanson on Between Two Jobs, Chase opened up about joining WWE and what followed after that.
“Gabe (Sapolsky) calls me in July. He goes, ‘Hey, just need to let you know, we’ve sold Evolve to WWE. You weren’t under contract with us – they are going to absorb some of the contracts but you’re not one of them because you weren’t under a deal.’ I go, ‘Okay, cool, keep me updated.’ He was like, ‘But stay ready.’ I was still working out and staying ready, but I wasn’t really expecting anything. That was July,” Chase shared.
“In September, Gabe texts me out of the blue, he’s like, ‘Have you been staying ready?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And then five minutes later I get a call from Canyon (Ceman), he’s like, ‘Hey, how have you been? Are you well? Are you in shape? Have you been working? What’s going on?’ I was like, ‘Well, North Carolina was shut down, I’ve just been chilling, like everybody else I’ve got to work from home, and as best I can I’m staying ready.’ He was like, ‘Do you wanna come in for a tryout?’ It was the first tryout in Covid.
“Essentially, he was like, ‘You’re an interesting case, because we actually wanted to sign you as a coach, but come to the tryout anyway, and then we’ll talk and discuss what we have for you. But we just really think you’d be a great coach,'” Chase further opened up.
However, he was not ready to stop wrestling. WWE also made it clear that he had to choose one of the career options. And while the coaching option came with a much more lucrative salary, Chase decided to continue his career as a wrestler.
“At this time, I’m 31, I’m like, ‘Well I’m not ready to stop wrestling yet.’ They made it very clear it was one or the other. There were no player/coaches,” he shared.
“I get the call back in November from Canyon and he goes, ‘We really wanted you as a coach, but we enjoyed your tryout. What do you want to do?’ They gave me the numbers, and the coach was a much higher salary than what it was starting as a wrestler. I was like, ‘Do I take the money and call it a day on my career?’ They made it clear, ‘You can’t do both.’
“The money was appealing and attractive, but I came here to be a wrestler, so I’m gonna be a wrestler. I called him and told him. He was a bit surprised. ‘You know the pay difference, right?’” he recalled while sharing his story of joining WWE.
Chase, a former WWE NXT Champion, spent almost five years in WWE before getting released from his contract earlier this year in April, 2026.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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