Epico Says WWE Almost Rehired Carlito

In an interview with Super Luchas (via Wrestling Inc), Epico revealed that WWE almost rehired Carlito and Vince McMahon approved it, but other people in the company stopped it from happening.

He said: “We talked with Vince [McMahon], and Michael Hayes was behind us and gave Vince the OK signal – sounds good, sounds great. So we (me and Primo) said, ‘So, let’s bring Carly (Carlito)!” But during this process, three months happens and, politically, other people of power within [the] WWE make an interference. I don’t know if Carly made this person mad, but when he called Carly, he just offered him the money of a development contract. Take it or leave it! So Carlito said, ‘No, I don’t need the WWE, the WWE needs me.’ So, we understand that there was something interfering between us and Vince because we had a great relationship with Vince. One day we were talking with our Director of Talent Relations [Mark Carrano]. We asked him about Carly, but he told us that Vince has not given the ‘OK.’ So we told him, ‘Let’s go talk to Vince! He’s there!’ [Carrano] was afraid of that, but we said to him, ‘Yes! We have confidence in Vince’. So, we grabbed him by the arm and we go to Vince’s office. He’s on the phone and we asked him about Carlito and our director asks, “What are we doing with Carlito?” And Vince made the thumbs-up signal. Vince approved the idea, but after several weeks, we realized that Carlito’s return to the company was no longer going to materialize.”

Carlito told Wrestling Inc in March that he had negotiations but they couldn’t agree on money. He added: “We spoke a few years back. The last time we spoke was maybe 2015 but we couldn’t come to terms with money. At least they didn’t accept my offer on money.“