Carlito says he’s done being a one-company guy and used a controversial comparison to explain why.
Inside The Ropes published a new excerpt on August 7 from a Carlito interview recorded in January. Asked if he still saw himself as strictly a WWE guy, Carlito said he’s open to whatever comes next — and that retirement is on the table if nothing interesting pops up.
“But I’ve said this before, if I was loyal to WWE, it’s just like being a beaten housewife at this point.”
This isn’t a new stance for Carlito. He made a similar comparison during a September 2025 appearance on Busted Open Radio, saying loyalty should go both ways and expressing frustration with how his second run ended.
Carlito announced on June 1, 2025 that his WWE contract was expiring in two weeks and would not be renewed — meaning he left when the deal ran out, not because he was released. He later told Chris Van Vliet on Insight that WWE originally pitched a three-year deal, but he opted for two because he didn’t expect the run to go as well as it did.
Neither side ever initiated talks about a new contract, Carlito said in the same interview. His biggest frustration was not getting a sendoff on TV, despite having about two weeks left on his deal when he found out it wouldn’t be renewed.
Carlito’s last WWE match was the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the April 18, 2025 SmackDown, where he and R-Truth were the first two eliminated. He’s been working the indie circuit since, winning the GWF Berlin Championship on October 12, 2025 and dropping the title to Ahura on January 11, 2026.