In a bit of a career shift, the former Lars Sullivan in WWE is training in boxing with the hope of catching on with a bare knuckle fighting organization.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the 32-year-old Dylan Miley knows age is not on his side but is planning on competing at some point. At well over 300 pounds, any competition would be in a super heavyweight class unless he was drop a lot of weight.
News broke earlier this month that Sullivan was released in January after telling WWE he was done with the company due to dealing with “crippling anxiety” to the point of not eating during TV taping days. He had not been on TV since the October 23rd SmackDown.
He told Fightful following the release that he was likely done with pro wrestling.
Sullivan has been in the WWE system since October 2014. He worked in NXT through 2018 and made his main roster debut on the post-WrestleMania Raw in April 2019. Soon thereafter in June, he severely injured his knee and didn’t return until last October on SmackDown.
Former WWE wrestler Lars Sullivan told Fightful that he is likely done with wrestling following the Tuesday news of his quiet January release from WWE.
According to the Fightful Select post, Sullivan (real name Dylan Miley) said he told WWE he was done as he struggled with “crippling anxiety issues to the point of struggling to eat during days of TV filming” and that he was having trouble sleeping.” He said the front office and locker room treated him well and there were no bullying issues.
Sullivan’s father passed away in 2020 which only added to the issues.
The story said the 32-year-old was complimentary of WWE and that he believed they handled his situation with “compassion and honesty.” Sullivan also told Fightful that he was his own worst enemy, calling his behavior “selfish”, some of his actions “idiocy” and that he was the reason for not advancing in his dream job.
Dave Meltzer said that Vince McMahon wanted to push Sullivan recently, but he no showed on a TV day which apparently was the beginning of the end. It’s unclear when the no show took place as Sullivan’s final WWE match was on the October 23rd edition of SmackDown.
Sullivan has been in the WWE system since October 2014, starting at the Performance Center. He worked in NXT through the end of 2018 and made his main roster debut on the post-WrestleMania Raw in April 2019. Soon thereafter in June, he severely injured his knee and didn’t return until October 2020 on SmackDown.
WWE officials have confirmed that Sullivan, real name Dylan Miley, is no longer with the company. PWInsider first reported the story, noting he was released from the company last month.
Miley had not been seen on WWE television since last fall, when he made his return to the company on the SmackDown brand following a knee injury. He routinely attacked a number of stars, including Jeff Hardy and The Miz, and also had sit-down interviews with Michael Cole. He soon vanished from television, however, with no explanation given.
Signing with WWE in 2013, Miley wouldn’t start appearing on NXT television until 2017, first using his real name then later going by the Sullivan name. He challenged then-NXT Champion Aleister Black at NXT TakeOver: Chicago II for the title in a losing effort in 2018.
Vignettes for Miley started to air on main roster television in the fall of 2018, but plans for his television debut were delayed due to anxiety issues. He eventually made his debut in April of 2019, attacking Kurt Angle. A few months later, he suffered a knee injury in a match against the Lucha House Party that kept him out of action for over a year.
“There is no excuse for the inappropriate remarks that I made years ago,” he wrote on social media at the time. “They do not reflect my personal beliefs nor who I am today, and I apologize to anyone I offended.”
Lars Sullivan’s first match in more than a year will take place on this week’s episode of SmackDown.
WWE has announced that Sullivan will face Jeff Hardy on SmackDown this Friday. Sullivan returned to WWE television on SmackDown last week and laid out Hardy & Matt Riddle after they defeated The Miz & John Morrison in a tag match. Though Morrison tried to pull his partner to safety, Sullivan also laid out Miz as well.
Sullivan had been off TV since June 2019 due to a knee injury. It was announced after his appearance on last Friday’s SmackDown that Sullivan will be part of the night two WWE Draft pool and eligible to be selected by Raw or SmackDown tonight. Hardy and Riddle are also eligible to be picked tonight, while Miz & Morrison were drafted to Raw last week.
This week’s SmackDown is being billed as the season premiere edition of the show. Roman Reigns will defend his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman on the episode, and The New Day will have their SmackDown farewell match as they take on Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro & Sheamus in a six-man tag. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods returned to action and defeated Nakamura & Cesaro for the SmackDown Tag Team titles last Friday. After the match, it was revealed that Kingston & Woods have been drafted to Raw and Big E is staying on SmackDown.
There will be a special 30-minute pre-show airing on Fox before the SmackDown season premiere this Friday. The pre-show will be hosted by Renee Paquette (formerly known as Renee Young in WWE) and Booker T.
Lars Sullivan returned tonight on SmackDown, making his presence felt immediately.
After the team of Jeff Hardy and Matt Riddle defeated John Morrison and The Miz, Sullivan made his return to the company after 16 months and quickly laid Hardy and Riddle out. Miz tried to escape, but Sullivan grabbed him and laid him out as well, standing tall among everyone.
Sullivan previously wasn’t on either brand’s draft pool. But it was later announced by Stephanie McMahon that he would be on the Raw draft pool for this Monday’s show.
He had been out of action since June 10, 2019 with a knee injury that took place on SmackDown, when he defeated the Lucha House Party in a 3 on 1 handicap match. He was originally scheduled to be out 6-9 months, but the recovery process had been slow.
Sullivan was fined $100,000 prior to his injury for past racist and homophobic message board posts. He also had to undergo sensitivity training.
Sullivan defeated Kalisto, Metalik & Dorado by disqualification at Super ShowDown, with The Lucha House Party getting disqualified when they were all in the ring and wouldn’t stop attacking Sullivan. As The Lucha House Party went to leave after the match, Sullivan attacked Kalisto, Metalik & Dorado.
The SAP Center in San Jose, California is hosting tonight’s Raw. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival and The Usos in a triple threat match, United States Champion Samoa Joe will appear on Miz TV, and Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre will celebrate Shane’s win against Roman Reigns from Super ShowDown.
Most of tonight’s Raw is going against game five of the Toronto Raptors vs. Golden State Warriors NBA Finals series, with the basketball game starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The Raptors are leading three games to one in the best-of-seven series.
WWE has announced that there will be a Moment of Bliss talk show segment on the episode. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley will be Alexa Bliss’ guest.
Bayley defeated Lacey Evans in a non-title match on SmackDown last week. Charlotte Flair tried to get involved after being struck by Bayley on the outside. That distracted the referee, and Bayley then defeated Evans by countering a pin. Evans attacked Charlotte in a post-match angle, but Charlotte dropped her with a big boot.
An “exclusive interview” with Lars Sullivan has also been made official for Tuesday’s SmackDown. It’s the go-home show for Super ShowDown, with Sullivan set to face The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) in a three-on-one handicap match in Saudi Arabia.
As was previously announced, Goldberg will appear on Tuesday’s SmackDown ahead of his match against The Undertaker at Super ShowDown.
Super ShowDown is taking place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah this coming Friday (June 7) and will air live on the WWE Network starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Lars Sullivan’s main roster in-ring debut is set for Saudi Arabia.
On tonight’s SmackDown, WWE announced that Sullivan will face The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) in a three-on-one handicap match at Super ShowDown in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, June 7. The event is taking place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium and will air live on the WWE Network starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Sullivan has been feuding with the Lucha House Party and has had segments where he’s brawled with and attacked them, but this will be his first official match on the main roster.
WWE put out a statement earlier this month announcing that Sullivan would be fined $100,000 for racist, homophobic, and other offensive posts he had made on Bodybuilding.com’s forum in his past. It was also noted that Sullivan would be required to complete sensitivity training. In his own statement, Sullivan apologized for the posts and said they don’t reflect who he is today.
Here’s the updated card for Super ShowDown:
Goldberg vs. The Undertaker
Triple H vs. Randy Orton
Universal Champion Seth Rollins defending against Baron Corbin
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Dolph Ziggler
Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon
Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley
Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor (as his Demon character) defending against Andrade
Lars Sullivan vs. The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) in a three-on-one handicap match
In a statement issued today, WWE responded to Lars Sullivan’s past racist, homophobic, and offensive message board posts.
“WWE supports a culture of inclusion regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, and we are committed to embracing all individuals as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide,” WWE’s statement said.
“Dylan Miley (aka Lars Sullivan) will be fined $100,000 and required to complete sensitivity training for offensive commentary uncovered from his past. WWE will also facilitate meetings for Dylan with community organizations to foster further discussion around the power of social media and the impact of your words.”
Sullivan’s offensive Bodybuilding.com forum posts were first uncovered in November 2018 and received renewed attention when compiled into a Reddit thread last week.
Last Friday, Sullivan apologized for the posts via a statement that was issued through WWE: “There is no excuse for the inappropriate remarks that I made years ago. They do not reflect my personal beliefs nor who I am today, and I apologize to anyone I offended.”
Prior to Sullivan’s apology, Big E and Kalisto responded on Twitter when asked about Sullivan’s posts. Big E wrote: “Many are aware. If true, he has to bear the albatross of being a bigot & working in a company that is now filled with minorities.”
Kalisto wrote: “He just needs to get out of my way….I’m Latino….” Kalisto’s tweet has since been deleted.
After they received renewed attention this week, Lars Sullivan has apologized for “inappropriate remarks” that he previously made on an internet message board.
WWE issued a statement on behalf of Sullivan (real name Dylan Miley): “There is no excuse for the inappropriate remarks that I made years ago. They do not reflect my personal beliefs nor who I am today, and I apologize to anyone I offended.”
The remarks Sullivan is apologizing for were racist, homophobic, and other offensive posts that he had made on Bodybuilding.com’s forum. They first came to light in November 2018 and were compiled into a Reddit thread this week.
Big E responded on Twitter this Wednesday when asked about Sullivan’s posts: “Many are aware. If true, he has to bear the albatross of being a bigot & working in a company that is now filled with minorities.”
After a slight delay in his anticipated debut, Lars Sullivan made his WWE debut on Raw Monday night.
In a segment where Kurt Angle returned to embarrass Baron Corbin once more, Sullivan’s music hit. He confronted Angle and hit his Freak Accident finisher before landing a big diving headbutt off the top rope, taking out Angle.
Vignettes about the 30-year-old Sullivan began on the Survivor Series kickoff show and ran on Raw and SmackDown in the weeks after. A concept discussed was that Sullivan would attack John Cena, setting up a WrestleMania match.
However, that didn’t happen. Speculation as to why which ranged from mental health issues to opinions he wrote on various bodybuilding forums before his time in WWE developmental. No reason was ever given, but a now deleted January on Sullivan’s Twitter said that he “went missing several weeks ago and I was just able to contact him this morning. Lars wants everyone to know he is in a good place, and is sorry to everyone he’s disappointed.”
In January, Paul Levesque said on an NXT conference call that, “Lars is in a good place and nothing has really changed. We’re moving forward and you’ll know when you see it.”
Lars Sullivan looks to be making his way to the main roster very soon.
Right at the start of the second hour of the Survivor Series pre-show, a vignette for Sullivan aired. It showed him destroying a number of people during his tenure in NXT, with the vignette ending with the words “coming soon”. It wasn’t made clear what brand Sullivan would be appearing on. After the vignette aired, Coach mentioned that there would be exciting things in the WWE for the rest of 2018.
Sullivan, real name Dylan Miley, signed with WWE around 2014. For the first few years of his career, he mostly wrestled at NXT live events, making his television debut in April of last year. Since then, he’s feuded with the likes of EC3 and Aleister Black. He was also a part of the six man ladder match to determine the first North American champion, which Adam Cole won.
Submitted by Chris Roberts from Friday night’s house show in Evansville, Indiana
– War Raiders defeated TM61
Good choice for a starting bout. It was a basic War Raiders match like they’ve been doing on television, with some heel shenanigans by TM61.
– Candice LeRae defeated Aaliyah
LeRae got a decent reaction. It was another basic match. Aaliyah missed hip drops in a comedic fashion.
– A promo aired with Fabian Aichner confronting Raul Mendoza backstage. Aichner dissed Mendoza and a local pizza place in the area, and promised that he’ll buy the crowd pizza if Mendoza manages to pull off the victory.
– Fabian Aichner defeated Raul Mendoza
The hook got people into the match, including lots of “We want pizza” chants. Mendoza showed off his athleticism and got the crowd more into it. Aichner kept cutting him off and shaking his arm, yelling “No pizza.”
Aichner got the victory after some near falls and a nice Spanish Fly by Mendoza, who was really impressive here.
– NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong defeated Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch to retain their titles
The crowd wasn’t too familiar with the challengers and booed them for the most part, while cheering the Undisputed Era. The match went 15-20 minutes, with Undisputed Era using cowardly heel tactics. The audience wasn’t very receptive to Lorcan and Burch’s technical style at first, but lots of teamwork and near falls got them into it.
The crowd applauded Lorcan and Burch after the match. They challenged O’Reilly and Strong back into the ring for more, then got double submissions on and held the belts high heading into intermission.
As usual, Cross was being very wacky before this started. The match didn’t gel together at all, with them getting the heat on Sane for far too long.
– NXT North American Champion Adam Cole defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
It was a toss-up between this and the Tag Team title match for best bout. Cole was very over, with the crowd indifferent to Ohno.
They did lots of grappling to start, then lots of hard hits throughout the match. After the loss, Ohno mentioned this being his 20th year in wrestling, thanked the fans, and brought up his early days at the Evansville Coliseum in IWA:MS fighting the likes of Necro Butcher.
– Aleister Black & EC3 defeated Lars Sullivan & Velveteen Dream
An e-mail was sent out still advertising Ricochet in EC3’s place, so I think the crowd was less enthused about the match when they realized that EC3 was the new partner. It was very strange seeing him work as a face. Velveteen Dream was pretty over, but Sullivan wasn’t as much. Dream was wearing a Ricochet shirt to mock his opponent for TakeOver.
There were spots where Dream wanted to bail but Sullivan threw him back in the ring, where he would be double teamed by the faces. Then most of the match was the heels getting the heat on EC3, with Dream sneaking tags in from Sullivan. Black got the hot tag, Dream wanted to bail, but Ricochet’s music hit and they brawled. Dream retreated into the ring and was hit with Black Mass for the finish.
As the faces celebrated, Ricochet got on the mic and apologized for being unable to compete two hours from his home. He assured us that he’ll be ready for TakeOver.
Black said Sullivan will fall again in their title match. EC3 took the NXT Championship when the referee brought it in, as did Ricochet, then Black finally took it back, teasing future feuds.
Overall, this was a good show but not a great one.
– NXT North American Champion Adam Cole defeated Raul Mendoza
– NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong defeated Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
– Velveteen Dream defeated Kassius Ohno
After the match, Velveteen Dream cut a promo telling us that we were too poor to afford the WWE Network because $9.99 is too expensive for Kentucky. I thought it was odd since the cheapest tickets were $20.
Ricochet came out and said if Dream can do anything he can do, do a flip out of the ring. Dream said you have to pay $9.99 to see that. Ricochet then thanked everyone for coming out and apologized that he wasn’t wrestling.
