During an interview with PWInsider, Roderick Strong discussed the reaction backstage to NXT moving to USA Network and more. Here are the highlights:
On How He Felt About NXT Moving To USA:
I feel like it’s the classic answer of hard work paying off and all that kind of stuff, but it just feels right. And obviously to do it alongside my buddies there. We’ve traveled the world together and we’ve done so much stuff together and we are spearheading this change in wrestling, this competitive thing. I don’t know, it’s awesome. It’s amazing. The day of the September 18th episode was the most emotional I’ve been probably ever in wrestling because the importance of it. To be put in a position where the company trusts me enough, I don’t know.
On The Pressure Now Compared To The Pressure During His Big Indy Matches:
That actually was going to be what I was going to say, is just all of those opportunities before got me ready for those types of situations. And to me experience is, it teaches you the most and more than ready, I love the pressure. After doing it for so long, you need that. It makes you feel alive. And the fact that we have that every week now on Wednesday is amazing and I look forward to every opportunity that I get really.
On Triple H Putting Him Over:
That gets me emotional, but [making talent look good] really has been my focus my whole career. When I got into wrestling, I always was told the important thing is making your opponent look good or whatever. But I want to bring the best out of everybody that I work with and the fact that it is being seen by my bosses and eventually will be seen by the world, they’ll appreciate me for what I am. Nothing stops me from wanting to get better in that and doesn’t hurt my feelings that I may not be appreciated as much currently, but it’s a legacy. It’s something that I’ve been around wrestling, this is my 24th year and just the fact that I feel like a whole new chapter just opened in my book and I get to write it however I want to write is amazing.
On Backstage Reaction To NXT Moving To USA Network:
It really lit a fire, and obviously everybody works very, very hard here, but now there’s a goal. When you’re doing TV every four or six weeks, it’s a little bit different field. Taped wrestling’s so much different than live wrestling and there’s not many people that have experience with it. So it’s a whole new challenge and I think it makes people hyper focus on their weaknesses just to prepare themselves for the opportunity. Everyone’s been just so fired up and I was far more, I don’t want to say motivating, but it really is because every Wednesday, it’s still crazy. We just got off of a four-day road loop and I got home Monday and then I realized like, “Oh, we have TV on Wednesday.” It’s so exciting.
The interview, which requires a PWInsider elite membership, can be found HERE.
Credit: PWInsider.
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