It’s hard to keep a secret in the world of WWE in this day and age, but since Adam Rose made his WWE debut last May, WWE has been able to keep the identity of Adam Rose’s most famous “Rosebud,” The Bunny, under wraps. Many people believed it was Zack Ryder, and some people went as far as to say that it was Sami Zayn or even Dolph Ziggler. But now, thanks to his appearance on Chris Jericho’s podcast, ex-WWE superstar Justin Gabriel has revealed that he was the man playing The Bunny.

Gabriel — who quit WWE this past January — said that playing The Bunny was one of the things that lead him to quit the company, although he says that being The Bunny wasn’t the main issue. Gabriel says that he had a good number of ideas that he took to the WWE creative team regarding himself and Adam Rose. One idea was that Rose would play an evil Marilyn Manson type of character, and Gabriel — who would still be The Bunny — would be an evil, creepy bunny. That idea was shot down by the WWE creative team, as they thought that there was nothing wrong with the current Adam Rose gimmick.

When Adam Rose debuted in NXT, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, who works with developing talent down at the WWE Performance Center, called Gabriel — who had been off of WWE television for quite some time — and said that he originally wanted Gabriel to have the Adam Rose gimmick. However, no one in WWE ever told Gabriel the gimmick was originally earmarked for him.

During his time off of WWE television, Gabriel was working on developing a new character that he was hoping to debut on WWE television called Dare Wolf, which would be a daredevil type of character. Gabriel said that he was shooting his own vignettes of him doing daredevil-type stuff, such as surfing and skydiving. He eventually showed them to Vince McMahon, and McMahon didn’t seem impressed.

Gabriel told Jericho during the podcast that WWE wasn’t happy with the way he quit the company, as he quit via text message. He also told Jericho that both Vince McMahon and Triple H said that door isn’t completely closed if he wants to return to WWE at some point in the future, but it would be really hard for them to take him back.

At this time, Justin Gabriel — who is going by the name PJ Black — is wrestling around the world on the independent circuit, and he says that he’s having the most fun he’s ever had in the wrestling business. Gabriel never ruled out a return to WWE in his conversation with Jericho, but he also didn’t seem desperate to return.

I never even noticed he was released