In an interview with Bob Kapur of SLAM! Wrestling, former WWE NXT talent Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) discussed his release from the company as well as the reports that surfaced regarding his physique.

Highlights of the interview are below:

On his release from the WWE: “On the grand scheme of things, the tragedy of me getting fired ranks pretty low on the tragedy scale. It’s not like I destroyed my leg and I had to go through a year of rehab or I couldn’t wrestle any more for some reason or a family member passed away. I just got fired. I lost some job security, I lost a paycheck.”

On the reports regarding his physique: “Some people thought that was why I was fired, but no. The rumors were 4-5 months behind. At the first of the year, they said they wanted me to tighten up. I understand. I’d had a couple of injuries, I don’t want to blame the injuries, but they kind of messed my head up, and I wasn’t necessarily in the right head-space. I was working hard, but not necessarily in all the right areas. So I had put on a little weight, and when I gain weight, I put it on right around my midsection, so there was some discussion about that. I was off shows for a while, yes, but by those time the rumors came out on the internet, I was already back on the road and by the time I was finishing up at NXT, I was in the best shape I’d ever been in.”

The interview is available in full at this link.