Big E cashed in the Money in the Bank contract on Monday’s episode of WWE Raw to beat Bobby Lashley for the WWE Title. He spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated about it. Here are the highlights:
The moment:
“It was a spiritual experience,” he said of the crowd reaction. “I connected with this massive group of people that all wanted the same thing. To have that support and the people behind me, it’s a moment I’ll never forget. At first, I couldn’t find the hard camera. I lost where I was in space when Bobby grabbed me for the Dominator. This is the single biggest night of my career, so I wanted to get that moment right. Then, as I was going for the Big Ending, I had a very big man in my hands so I was only focused on the task at hand. After that, all I could hear was that reaction from the crowd.
Being able to share the moment with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods:
“It still would have been meaningful if I had won the title on SmackDown, but to me, this was the way to do it,” he said. “They had to be here. I don’t get here without them. With us, it’s a brotherhood. We hurt together, we smile together, this is real. All the toughest times have brought us closer together. I’m grateful for all the valleys and lows with them, because we got to experience all of this together. I’m so grateful for everything I have done in WWE, because I had the time to grow. I needed those years of seasoning. I think back to all the times I was so scared to do the right thing, but now it is so comfortable, and so much of that is because of Woods and Kofi. I had no business even getting to WWE, but I’ve been blessed along the way to get to this point, and I’m so thankful.”