Hathaway confirms that he was presented with a new offer several months ago.
In late April, Stokely Hathaway (Malcolm Bivens) finished up with WWE as he along with nine individuals from the NXT 2.0 brand were let go from the company.
Hathaway started with WWE in 2019 and played the role of on-screen manager for the former duo of Sanga and Veer. Dating back to the summer of 2021, he had been a part of Diamond Mine. Prior to his WWE exit, Hathaway had been promoting his set at a comedy show in New York.
Footage from that show was uploaded to Hathaway’s YouTube channel and he addressed his exit from WWE. He confirmed that he was presented with a new offer in February that he turned down. There were conversations about the main roster, but he never heard anything about managing Raw’s Omos. As far as his future in wrestling goes, Hathaway said he’s done for now but there’s a chance he’ll be back.
So a lot of people wanna know, Malcolm, what happened? What happened? And you know what they say, there’s three sides to a story. There’s your side, there’s the truth and there’s their side. So, I just gotta be real, I have to, uh, I hate to say it. I have to ‘control my narrative’. Hey, hey, hey! Don’t boo, I’m unemployed. You can’t boo them, all right? I get a pass, I get a pass today. Sh*t. All right, so here’s the truth: There’s a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation. Was I offered a contract in February? Yes. Did I say no to said contract? Yes. Was I offered to be with Omos? No. No one said a word to me about managing Omos. Was I told about the main roster? Yes, and people, they think I’m crazy. Like, ‘Malcolm, you threw away millions potentially, you walked away.’ Yeah, I did, because I didn’t wanna do it anymore and unfortunately, I wasn’t happy. At [NXT] Stand & Deliver, I had a conversation with the head writer and I told him so and then two weeks in a row, I said the same thing, ‘I don’t think this was for me’ and that’s okay because your happiness is not dictated by what people say you should do. Happiness is dictated by what you think you should do because there’s a difference, right? And you know, it’s been an interesting few days, I’ll put it to you that way. Mainly because I heard this motherf*cker Top Dolla [A.J. Francis] was talking sh*t about me. That’s what made me think that maybe I f*cked up, right? When Top Dolla talking sh*t about you, you gotta re-evaluate your life, I’m just saying. ‘Who hotta than Top Dolla? Not nada,’ that motherf*cker was talking about me. Telling the Black community, ‘Oh, this [expletive] crazy.’ No Top Dolla, I am not crazy. Top Dolla is the crazy one, I’ll tell you why. He’s the Blackest man in WWE history. I thought it was me, it was him. You know why? He started a civil war with The Young Bucks. Not over money, cars, clothes, hoes, over sneakers. He started a war over sneakers! That’s the Blackest sh*t I ever heard.
Also, Julius [Creed] told me I was the talk of the PC. They think I’m crazy too. All the people from the U.K. talking about, what’s wrong with the little Black bloke? I heard he turned down a contract. Does he have a drug problem or something? Shut the f*ck up! You can’t talk sh*t about me just because Nick Khan forgot y’all exist. You ain’t better than me motherf*ckers, you not better than me. NXT UK is crazy man. I’m gonna say this, if you work for WWE and you wanna stay there forever, get transferred to NXT UK. You could be number one on FBI’s Most Wanted list, kidnap three families, shoot up the Popeyes down the street and they’ll put you in a program with Ilja Dragunov. They don’t give a sh*t! Just saying, with all due respect [Hathaway smiled]. But yeah, I gotta be careful because I talked about Nick Khan but I know for sure Johnny Ace [had] my phone called… Oh, this motherf*cker talks about Asian women and fried chicken? It’s exhausting! I know, that’s my life though. But shoutout to Brutus [Creed], shoutout to Julius, Ivy [Nile], I’m gonna miss them. I love them like they’re all my kids but sometimes in life you have to move on, you know? And people ask me or they have been asking me, you know, ‘Malcolm, is this it for you? Is this it as far as professional wrestling goes?’ And for now, I have to say yes, have to say yes but, will I come back? Maybe, maybe. Maybe for the right price.
Prior to joining WWE, Hathaway worked with MLW, had a run with EVOLVE and was a part of Ring of Honor.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Stokely Hathaway’s YouTube channel with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
