By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA wrestler Mr. Anderson talked about his current TNA contract standing, almost quitting the wrestling business after he was released by WWE in June 2009, and who he thinks contributed to his release from WWE in an interview with Brian Fritz on Between the Ropes radio last night.

-- Anderson said he wanted a six-month TNA contract, TNA wanted two years, and they compromised on one year. Anderson said he was leery of getting back into the wrestling business and didn't want to make a long-term commitment, but he says he's very happy being part of TNA where he has more creative freedom than in WWE.

"You hear mixed reviews (about TNA). I talked to some people who had been there and left and didn't like it, didn't like their experience. I guess I took a lot of people's, their own perception, I took those into consideration and came up with my own conclusion and that was I still wanted to make a go at this and I'll give it a shot," Anderson said. "So we got it down to a year and now I don't see myself leaving any time in the near future. I'm here to stay. I know a lot of guys in the past have come to TNA with the intentions of sweetening a deal to go back up north (WWE). I have no intentions of doing that – none whatsoever. I'm here to stay and I'm part of the team."

-- Anderson says he felt like quitting wrestling after his return match on the Memorial Day Raw in May 2009 when he was in the "Lakers vs. Nuggets" ten-man tag match.

"I went home the night of the last match I had – that five-on-five – and I said I don't think I want to do this any more. I told my wife I think I'm done. That's pretty tough," Anderson said. "At that time I was like, this is the top of the food chain where I can't go any higher than this in the wrestling industry so I would rather just bow out now rather than just try to cling on to something."

As it turns out, Anderson was released from his contract the Friday after the Memorial Day Raw and he sat on the sidelines until debuting with TNA at the Genesis PPV in January 2010.

"I'm so glad that I stuck around and I think TNA has a real fighting chance. I know that we are the underdogs by a long shot. Not as far as talent goes but WWE has been around for a long time and they have a lot of money," he said. "TNA has, I think, the foundation, a very solid foundation and it's going to take time. But I believe we're going to stick this out."

-- Anderson recalled the story of Randy Orton complaining about an injury he attributed to Anderson during the five-on-five match. He added that John Cena allegedly went to Vince McMahon and said Anderson isn't safe to work with, which was the icing on the cake in his eyes.

"He (Orton) got three huge bags of ice – one on his neck, one on his left shoulder, one on his right shoulder. He got them all saran wrapped up, put his shirt back on and we walked to the locker room and he chewed me out the whole way there – calmly and quietly – but he told me that you need to be careful, blah blah blah. I felt bad about it because I didn't know. I hadn't seen the tape so I thought I really dropped him on his head. Then I went home and saw the tape and saw that he landed flat. If you slow the video tape down, his neck never comes into contact with the mat. So, I'll let you...you watch the tape and you let me know what you think," Anderson said.

"He landed flat as flat can be and then he went and complained to Vince and then Cena went and complained to Vince and said that they didn't want to work with me anymore because I was dangerous and that is what ended up being the final straw. I wouldn't say that's what got me fired because there were so many other things before that. It was like they were looking for a reason to get rid of me."

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