During an interview with Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Tony Nese revealed that he had a year left on his WWE deal when he was released from the company back in the summer. 

Here is what he said:

"One more year. I knew as soon as they moved us to be part of the NXT roster; me and Ariya Daivari were like, ‘Alright, now we’re on borrow time. It’s a matter of time.’ We got these new contracts that, to the Raw roster is like a normal contract, but to the NXT roster is like a ‘Woah,’ contract, without getting into any specifics. When we would share the Raw locker room, we felt like we were good and safe. As soon as we got to NXT it was, ‘we’re on the least cared about show in all of WWE history,’ and they’re going to start looking at who is getting what and what their deals are. The whole year they just kept releasing, releasing, and releasing and we’re like, ‘Okay, it’s just a matter of time. When they start reviewing NXT contracts, we know we’re going out the door. It’s a crappy thing to think about and every day, I just convinced myself that the only thing I could control is me. Just go out there and do the absolute best I can. Go out there, have a great match, and whatever happens, happens."