WWE Request Led To Ultimo Dragon Asking For His Release

Ultimo Dragon is a very accomplished wrestler — with most of his achievements taking place outside of WWE. While in WWE, Dragon only managed to hold one title, with that being the Light Heavyweight Championship. Dragon held the title for only 85 days and found much greater success in other promotions such as NJPW and WCW. During his brief tenure in WWE, Dragon requested his release and only was part of the company from the first half of 2003 until the first half of 2004. Dragon has now revealed what major request made him decide to ask for his release from WWE.

"WWE wanted to change his image and his look and remove who he was," Dragon's translator said appearing on "Ten Count." "He requested to leave because he wanted to maintain who he was. He stayed, there was no bad terms. But, he wanted to be who he was and did not want to change who he was. Yes, they wanted to take his mask off."

Dragon also revealed if he was completely against taking off his mask onscreen to play a different character. "He wasn't against the idea," Dragon's translator said. "They had a lot of ideas for him to remove his mask. They just figured it would be something that would be better for them and him ... He was open to it, but there wasn't something really there for it." To this day, Dragon is competing inside the ring and most recently wrestled for Dragon Gate Pro-Wrestling. Dragon's biggest title victories throughout his career include winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship twice, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship twice, and the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship once.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Ten Count" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.