Entertainment
Ex-Love Island star Adam Maxted missed out on WWE deal because of ‘stripper’ misunderstanding
Adam has opened up on the situation (Photo: ITV/REX/Shutterstock/instagram.com/adammaxted)
Adam Maxted missed out on a WWE offer over a misunderstanding about his time as a Buff Butler.
The Irish pro wrestler, who appeared on Love Island in 2016, first had a tryout for the company’s NXT UK brand in 2017 and received an offer the following year but stayed loyal to Hull’s New Generation Wrestling (NGW) due to his contract there at the time.
The pandemic rocked many independent companies, and Adam ended up a free agent and contacted WWE, who put the contract back on the table – subject to background checks.
He told Bodyslam.net’s Tea and Tights Podcast: ‘When I was younger I, when I worked in Belfast, I used to do do some work as a Buff Butler – which involved wearing a bowtie and an apron and I’m mainly working at hen parties or you know women’s events.
‘I’m walking round with Champagne, passing their drinks, nothing crazy, and I did that because it was easy money. I was in good shape at the time, I was like 17, 18, 19, you know just trying to earn some money.’
However, when he had his tryout after Love Island, a couple of articles at the time referred to him as a ‘Belfast stripper’.
‘I knew it wasn’t true,’ he added, admitting he didn’t take much notice. ‘I never got fully naked. You can Google my name, there’s nothing like that out there.’
However, during his background checks last year he got a call from someone at WWE who asked him about ‘this stripper thing’.
‘I pleaded my case for about 30 minutes on the phone,’ he explained ‘WWE was always the goal for me.
‘Why would I want to jeopardise myself and my career by doing something silly like that when I know you can’t be naked? There can’t be footage of you out there, do you know what I mean? I am not silly.
‘Even when I went on love island, I portrayed myself in a certain way as I was always worried about the cameras, how I was coming across, because WWE was always the goal.’
More: Love Island
The company put his offer ‘on hold’ in the end, and while he is still disappointed, he doesn’t think his WWE dream is quite over.
‘Although it sucks for me, I know its not true, I get where the companies coming from as well, they’re just trying to protect their reputation as best after everything that’s happened,’ he said.
‘I’ve heard back from them a couple of times, it’s not a closed door. It’s not like, “You’re never getting signed”, or it’s never gonna happen because of this. It’s just, I don’t know when.’
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