WWE star and former NXT North American champion was the latest guest on the Metal Injection’s Squared Circle Pit podcast to discuss a number of different topics, including how he once squared off with the legendary Undertaker at the Performance Center and nearly got his nose broken. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Shares a story of locking up with the Undertaker at the Performance Center:
And then what wasn’t on it [the footage of Undertaker being at the Performance Center], we actually got to get in the ring a little bit with Undertaker, and man he put on the gloves and everything. I was like, ‘Oh no, he’s gonna beat us up,’ and then I actually got to lock [up], throw some blows with him and I remember he was showing somebody something and he threw a punch and he was just explaining something so he wasn’t actually trying to hit me, but he threw it full speed and it touched my face and he pulled back, I mean just before he broke my nose and I was like — and I looked around and I was like, ‘Man! That was awesome, do it again.’ So cool. Again, the fan in me couldn’t help it.
Says he’s grateful for how his journey has worked out and finally making it to the WWE:
I had a tryout with WWE in 2014 I believe, and at the time, they liked me. They all said, ‘You’re a yes for the company,’ that, ‘You’re the type of guy we’d wanna hire but there’s just nothing for you right now’ and then I said, ‘Oh okay’ and then I spoke to one of the scouts and coaches and he was like, ‘Go make a bigger name for yourself.’ He goes, ‘And make yourself undeniable to the company.’ I said okay and that’s what I did. I started making a bigger name for myself and then I kinda contacted the company a year after that, and again, it was just like, ‘Nothing for you now’ and then I kind of wrote it off as far as, ‘I’ll probably never work there but it’s okay. I’m okay with that and I’m not gonna stop working as hard as I am. I’ll continue working hard and keep improving and just having fun, enjoying what I love doing’ and then a year later they called me which is crazy. They’re like, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’ And I’m like, ‘Of course I’m interested.’ You know, my contract had came up. I was working for Ring of Honor at the time, my contract was up and they called me at literally a perfect time and they were like, ‘Hey, are you under contract?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, until the end of the month.’ They’re like, ‘This month?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, would you mind if we give you a call then?’ And I was like, ‘No, okay’ and that’s what they did. They called me like the same day. They called me and we made it work, crazy.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)
