Eugene Explains How Pills, Rehab, and a Doctor’s Suicide Led to WWE Exit

Eugene was one of the fan-favorites during the Ruthless Aggression Era in WWE but he had a lot of issues backstage. He was eventually fired back in 2007 and he has now revealed why he was let go in the first place.

While speaking to Inside the Ropes, Eugene was asked what led to his WWE release in 2007. He explained that it was due to non-compliance. While in Manchester, he took too many pills and ended up passing out in the hotel lobby wearing only his underwear, which led WWE to send him to a rehab facility for nine weeks. When he came back, he was dealing with knee issues and ended up having knee surgery.

To cope with the pain from his tendon repair, which should have taken about nine months to heal, Eugene started taking pain pills and Somas. But he was cleared to return after just six months even though he wasn’t ready, so he used the medication to try and get by. Eventually, it caught up to him and he had to go back to rehab.

“Non-compliance. I, uh, in Manchester I took one too many pills and passed out in my underwear in the lobby, so I got a nine-week vacation at the rehab facility. When I came back, the WWE doctor was like, you know, my knee, my knee—so that’s when I had the knee surgery.

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I started taking all the pain pills and Somas to try to cope with the pain, because tendon repair takes about nine months to heal. But I got cleared at six months, and I was nowhere near ready. I was trying to mask it with the medication, and it caught up to me. Had to go to rehab.”

Eugene said the WWE doctor even told him that if he was still hurting, he should keep taking the pain meds but to avoid Somas. He believes Somas have been a major cause of many wrestler deaths since they slow your heart rate, causing people to pass out and sometimes stop breathing. After that, he quit taking Somas and went back to prescription painkillers.

Eugene also revealed that after having liposuction, a doctor wrote him a prescription for Percocet, while another doctor usually prescribed him hydrocodone. Months later, he found those old Percocets and took one, but then had to take a drug test.

When he tried to get proof from the doctor who wrote the prescription, he found out that doctor had committed suicide. Since WWE had already sent him to rehab once and he now failed another test, he was released.

“In fact, the WWE doctor was like, ‘Well, if you’re still hurting you should probably take the pain meds, but don’t take the Somas.’ I feel like Somas are probably a large contributor to a lot of the deaths in pro wrestling because it lowers your heart rate when you’re asleep, you pass out, and you quit breathing. So I quit taking those and started taking the prescription painkillers again.

I had a doctor write me—so I had liposuction done and a doctor wrote me Percocet, one type of painkiller. Another doctor normally wrote me hydrocodone. I found those Percocets that had been written maybe about six months before and I took one of those, and then I drug tested.

So I tried to go to the doctor to get proof that he wrote it. He committed suicide. And since they had already sent me to rehab and now I failed a test, I got released.”

Eugene eventually returned to WWE back in 2009 but shortly after got fired again. Regardless, many fans feel the circumstances of his first WWE release were just unfortunate and he deserved better.

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