#11 Your match with Nakamura last year, as many pundits had it down was the match of the year for NXT, and the Daily Mirror named your bout against Kevin Owens at Battleground as the WWE PPV match of the year. So what does that mean for you to have two of your matches rated so highly by fans and observers?
Well, it’s an honour because in this day and age, as I said earlier, there are so many great matches. The bar has been set really high as far as work rates and everything else, so if you can have a match in this day and age where not only do we have not only tonnes of great matches but tonnes of great content.
There is just so much content available. So if you can create some sort of match, you know, a story that would really live on and capture not only people’s attention at that time and captivate them at that time, but that could live on in their memory – I get asked about that Nakamura match and that with Owens a year later.
So if you can have that long lasting effect on someone, that’s when you know you’re creating something good. So, you know, I’m honoured and I’m proud to be a part of those matches, and I do think they were two of my better matches. So I’m very proud of them myself, and more importantly, I am honored that the fans remember and appreciate them all this time later. That really means the most to me.
#12 Unfortunately, at Fastlane, you lost against Samoa Joe. Is that defeat a failure for you or a source of motivation just days away from Wrestlemania 33?
Joe is really tough, and there is not a whole lot you can do if you’re getting choked out like that in the Coquina Clutch. You find yourself in a pretty bad position so there is really not a whole lot you can do. You win some, you lose some, and that’s just the way it is. I see sometimes the fans make a much bigger deal of these losses than I personally do, because, you know, you can’t win them all – you just can’t. So you do your best, and that’s it.
You lose a few here and there, and you have just got to be good at forgetting those losses or using them, like you said, as motivation to kind of drive yourself forward. So it doesn’t really stop my momentum. I think I’m in a good place right now and I feel like I’m just sort of on the cusp of doing something really good and really breaking out into that next level.
I feel like I’m just outside that bubble and testing myself against guys like Braun Strowman or Samoa Joe is really what I think are going to take me to the next level. So I don’t look at these losses in any way just as a defeat. I use them as motivation if anything or I just move forward.
#13 Which match do you need this year at Wrestlemania 33 to progress in your career?
I really don’t know. I don’t know what the next step is for me to take me to the next level. I know where I’d like to be – I’d like to be on a featured match on Wrestlemania, not just this year but every year. I’d like to be somebody that fans are excited to see what he’s going to do this year at Wrestlemania.
I feel like I’m not quite there yet. I feel like I’m getting there and I feel like, you know, time is kind of the enemy, but it is kind of on your side too. Because the more work you put in, the more you just constantly and consistently give good performances against good opponents and constantly exceed people’s expectations, the more you really endear yourself not only to the crowd but that’s also how your career just takes off. It’s just consistency and time.
I’d love to tell you all I need is one good match against Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania and that’s it I’m set, but that’s not how it works. It has to be just repetition over and over and constantly delivering the goods every time I’m out there. That is how I’m going to get to where I need to be, which is in an important match at Wrestlemania every year. That is where I’d like to be.
#14 The crowd doesn’t hesitate to chant your name each time you appear on stage. How do you deal with this enormous popularity?
Well, I really appreciate the fan support. I think it’s a matter of time where the more I put and the more effort they see me putting in, and the longer that continues, the cheers and the support that I get from the WWE Universe will continue to grow and get louder and louder and better and better.
The WWE Universe or fans, they don’t owe you anything. They are going to give you what you give them. So if you give them your heart and your soul every night, every single night – every time they see, and you deliver the goods, then the more they see that the more they will love you and support you and the more you will endear yourself to them.
I have got to keep on this task that I’m doing. I appreciate cheers, I appreciate the support but I know the cheers and the support are just going to continue to intensify the longer I keep going and the harder I keep going. So that is what I’m going to do.
#15 What are your thoughts on Kevin Owens’ loss to Goldberg at Fastlane? What was your initial reaction to Kevin losing that main event spot?
I’m pretty split on this. A part of me obviously resents Kevin. There is a lot of history, and it is a pretty volatile relationship especially where we are at now. But at the same time, if you take Kevin out of it and you take my history out of it, this is still a guy that has worked 15 years to come this close to being in the main event of Wrestlemania.
To have it slip through his fingers right before it happens, part of me is glad it happened, but part of me is like, “It sucks for him because he came real close.” He held that Universal Championship for a long time and then when you come that close to actually defending it at Wrestlemania, and you fall right before the finish line, I think there is a sick part of me that takes some joy in that as far as, after all, he has done to me, to see him kind of get his.
But there is still a part of me that thinks he’s still a guy I have known for 15 years. He is still a guy who has worked his a** off to get to where he has. So there is still a part of me that thinks it sucks to see it happen.
#16 You say you feel like you’re just on the edge. You are right there, and the fans are behind you. How difficult is it to stay patient?
That is the kind of struggle or challenge that a lot of performers deal with. Wrestlers in the WWE, and otherwise. I think you sometimes want the world her and now, and you want everything to come and fall into your lap right now, and you think you deserve it, but sometimes it really is just a question of being in the right place at the right time. I feel like my success in this industry has just come down to a matter of consistency, and when those opportunities come, you’re prepared to knock it out of the park because you have been consistent and because you have been doing your reps, and you’re the right guy at the right time. I get it that I’m not the poster boy. Come on… I’m not a guy that you looked at ten years ago, and you said that this guy is a guaranteed main eventer in WWE. By sheer virtue of working hard and getting good because I worked hard and consistently delivering, I got to be in the WWE, to begin with. So it just takes time. Even if I tell myself that, of course, I’m going to have my struggles with, you know, sometimes I feel like why isn’t now the time. That is just the gig. Some guys get it quicker, some guys get it later, and I like to believe there is something to be said about the slow burn, about people really being alongside you for that journey and for that struggle. I think that creates a different kind of bond with the audience where they really, really believe in you, and they are really for you versus ‘if I got this a little quicker.’ If I had won the Universal Title when Finn Balor had vacated it, would fans really have bought into me? Maybe yes, maybe no because some of them have been there a long time following my career but to a lot of the WWE Universe, I’m new. They have been following me for a year. So they haven’t really seen my struggle or seen my journey. So I think there is something to be said about doing it the hard way and I just hope it pays off. There is nothing much more that I can do than work my best and hope for the best.
#17 You mentioned earlier about the real estate at Wrestlemania. What do you think about the veteran performers like Goldberg? Are you happy to see them in top spots or would you rather see younger talents like Kevin Owens and yourself headlining?
Well look, there are two ways to answer this question. Selfishly, of course, part of me thinks, “Hey get the hell out of here. This is our show. We work here every week.” I mean it would be stupid to ignore that, or it would be silly to pretend that doesn’t exist. I can say a lot about Kevin Owens, but I have also seen him for the last eight months busting his a** as the Universal Champion. Doing street fights on live events, going through tables every night, getting beaten up, working his a** off for the last eight months. So, personal feelings aside, of course, you think to yourself he works hard all year and deserves to be rewarded when the time is right. But at the same time, there is no denying that Brock Lesnar coming in or Bill Goldberg coming in – the fans like it, it is good for business, and it is good for me in a roundabout way. So selfishly do I wish I was main eventing Wrestlemania and not Bill Goldberg? “Yes, absolutely.” But might it be better in some way, somehow to bring these guys in to help business? “Sure, if it is helping business, it helps me.” That is what it is truly about. Selfishly as a performer, I want to be the guy who wants to help this business grow, but if other people can come back years later and help it grow, then I’ll take it. If anything, the only thing I’d like to see is a little bit more of a mix with some of these past generation talents with the current roster. For me as a fan, that is what I would like to see. For me, it’s really cool to see a guy like Chris Jericho, who has been back here for this last year or two, and he has mixed it up with all of us. So for me, that is what I want to see. I want to see a guy from a past generation and how is he going to fare against our generation. That is what’s cool and interesting for me to see. That is what made the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan so interesting. Maybe a bad example because they are two of the biggest icons ever in the history of our industry. It was a generational clash. And it was a clash of the past versus the present and the future, and that is what I want to see. I want to see more of that. I guess it is cool to see these two mammoths, Brock and Goldberg go at it, but I’d rather see Brock and Kevin Owens, and I’d rather see Goldberg and me. Or me vs. Brock or Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns. That is I want to see. I want to see the past generation mix it up with this generation and that’s what I’d like to see more of as a fan.
#18 You talked about working with Samoa Joe. How big of a responsibility is it to be a debuting Superstar’s first opponent? You also did it with Nakamura last year.
I think there is an art to it. It is hard to do it right. But I think I have been around long enough, and I am good enough at this point to know how that should go. But in a lot of cases, like you mentioned Nakamura and Joe, those are two world class guys with 15 years plus experience. So they are going to help themselves too. They are going to be spotlighted because they know how to put the spotlight on themselves. They know how to stand out. That’s why they have gotten this far. So if anything, I’m kind of proud to be a part of these guys’ legacy, but I obviously don’t like it when it is done at my expense. I don’t want to be at the losing end of that equation. Unfortunately, in the case of Nakamura and Joe, I was on the losing side of the equation, but outside of that, I’m still happy to help.
#19 Is there any special Wrestlemania moment of yours? Perhaps something that defines the spectacle and drama of Wrestlemania.
Well, there is a lot to go from, but if you think of just a single moment, I don’t think there is anything that defines Wrestlemania anything more than Hulk Hogan and the Rock standing across each other and the crowd just going ballistic. If I have to explain what Wrestlemania was to somebody who has never seen wrestling, who has never seen WWE, who has never heard of the concept of Wrestlemania, I would show them a 5 second video clip of the Rock and Hogan standing motionless in the ring, looking at each other while 70,000 people are jumping up and down. That is Wrestlemania encapsulated in one single moment. It’s right there.
#20 A moment that also defines Wrestlemania was when the Undertaker’s streak ended. Do you remember what you were doing at that precise time?
Yes, I was with the WWE, but I hadn’t debuted with the roster yet. I was still at NXT, and so I actually snuck out to the production area so that I could feel the energy of the crowd while watching the show. And I was as shocked as everybody else. It was really, really one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. The only thing that I could compare it too was when I was in the building in 1997 Survivor Series, the one that Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels screw job went down in 1997. That same weirdness in the air, that same sadness for a lot of people – it was very reminiscent of that. Those are two of the most shocking things that have ever happened in wrestling, and I was in the crowd for both of them. So I don’t know what else to say other than it was shocking, really, really shocking.
