Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are back with WWE, but only after a tumultuous exit from the company.
The former Raw Tag Team Champions returned to WWE last month to aid AJ Styles in his feud with The Judgment Day.
The pair had been released from WWE in April 2020 as part of the first wave of releases explained as 'budget cuts.'
Offended
Gallows and Anderson's final appearance for WWE before being released came at WrestleMania 36, during the much-acclaimed Boneyard match between Styles and The Undertaker.
Speaking about being released on After the Bell, Luke Gallows explained why it was kind of offensive to be cut after such a popular match.
It's eleven days removed from this Boneyard match that we got all this praise for. so we didn't see it coming. It offended him and it offended me too a little bit. We're eleven days out from main eventing Wrestlemania."
Luke Gallows.
The match, which would also be The Undertaker's final match, saw the Deadman win in the main event of WrestleMania 36: Night One.
A Total Surprise
Gallows and Anderson were one of dozens of names cut in April 2020, which included Matt Cardona, Miro, Kurt Angle among many more.
During the podcast, Anderson explained that when he was called, he did not figure he would be one of the many released.
"When the Talent Relations person called that day, I saw them ringing my phone. I said 'you must be having a bad day and wanting to hear a good voice.' He goes 'well it's not so good for you either.' I go 'Huh?!'"
Like Anderson, Gallows had no idea he was going to be released, even as more names were added to the list of cuts.
"He [Gallows] doesn't even know what's going on because he's outside mowing his lawn. The guy rings and the HR guy goes 'I just got off the phone with your partner' and Gallows go 'why?' It just came as a surprise to us."
Hitting the Ground Running
Gallows and Anderson's departure in 2020 came less than four years after the joined WWE, which in Gallows' case, was a return.
Anderson explained on After the Bell that he and Gallows immediately went to work after receiving the dreaded call.
"Those kind of things set people back for days. But after that first hour, we had CBD Oil, we had a beer, and we had a wine label. We had an Impact Wrestling offer. We had New Japan on the phone. All of this was rocking. By the end of the day, I had almost forgotten what had happened."
Gallows and Anderson would return to New Japan, debut for AEW, and compete for Impact Wrestling before their return to WWE this year.