10 Insane Stories From WWE Tryouts

6. Daniel Garcia Talks About The Warehouse Era

WWE Eddie Kingston
AEW

Daniel Garcia is currently on the rise in All Elite Wrestling.

Locked into a long-term existential crisis arc, in which he is visibly regretting his chosen path as a sports entertainer - and getting over as a babyface in plain sight with his meme treasure trove of a Dance - he has main event-level potential. A prodigy of a technician and cool, very funny performer, he could headline pay-per-views in two years.

It almost went very differently for him.

He made sporadic appearances for WWE in 2021, in the dying days of its greedy 'Warehouse Era', as part of a tryout. According to Garcia's Talk Is Jericho appearance, Triple H shook his hand and welcomed him to the team - even though Garcia had actually not signed a deal and would not end up signing a deal. Twitter rumours suggest that Triple H and or William Regal actually wanted Garcia before the Warehouse policy was abandoned when Vince McMahon - possibly as punishment for losing the Wednesday Night War - demoted Triple H and reimagined NXT as a sex-pilled soap opera "worked" by green college athletes.

Garcia, in addition to possibly exposing that Triple H didn't know his ar*ehole from his elbow-uh, also laid bare the grim reality of the era. Purportedly, as he was leaving, Garcia was collared by then Senior Director of Talent Development Canyon Ceman, who told him that WWE would sign him "sooner" were another company to sniff around him.

"We're not that bothered to be honest, but we'll do it to spite AEW" was WWE's sales pitch, and they were transparent enough to say the quiet part loud!

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!