NXT star Kyle O’Reilly spoke with ComicBook.com to hype up this evening’s Takeover 31 special, where O’Reilly is set to challenge Finn Balor for the NXT championship. The Undisputed Era member would touch on whether or not he’s ready for the responsibility of being the brand’s top champion, as well as handle the media responsibilities that come with it. Highlights are below.
On possibly becoming world champion:
I understand that’s just par for the course when you’re a main event guy in this company, you carry those responsibilities, and this is something I’ve wanted my entire life. I prepared for this. Growing up, you read all the books of all the guys you admire and they tell you about the grind and how hard it is, the media, the nonstop go. That’s just something you prepare for when you chase this dream job. That’s just what’s going to come with it. So I’m 100% ready for that responsibility and I think I’ll do a good job with it.
How he’s prepared to handle the responsibilities:
I was just telling Adam the other day to go back to what I was just saying about the responsibilities, and I just have such a huge respect for him in the way he carried this company on his back for the last two years with him being champion, him being a main eventer, him being a top guy. I mean, it’s one thing to have the main events and have the TakeOvers and the classic matches, but to juggle the responsibility of being a Champion and appearances and interviews and… man, I never really thought about it as much until I became the number one contender and I was telling Adam, ‘Dude, it blows my mind that you kept up this schedule for as long as you did and it’s inspiring, man.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Dude, you are so ready for this. You’ve never been more prepared and I know that you can handle it.’