Ricky Saints recently spoke with Complex Graps for an interview.
The following are some of the highlights.
On beating Oba Femi in NXT: “I beat Oba (Femi) and that was for me to become the NXT Champion. So, that was kind of interesting, only for the fact of, I think at the time, I didn’t really expect — I don’t know what I expected honestly. Obviously, Oba is a great wrestler. I definitely could see it even from then of why people are infatuated with him. But I think I went home afterwards like, ‘Woah, okay. I beat Oba, I’m the new NXT Champion.’ I don’t think it still kind of settled in for me because I’m so used to — things happen, right? And I’m just on to the next. It takes me like a year for me to look back and go, ‘Oh wow, that was crazy.’ But I think this current part of my life where we have Oba and Brock (Lesnar) and then I’m having my stuff on SmackDown and whatnot. It is crazy to go back and be like, ‘Wow, I am actually one of the very few people to have a win over Oba Femi’ and I already know that’s gonna come back into play down the line here and I’m willing and I’m open to it and I’m ready for it, and I know that he’s gonna want that back. I definitely expect that full force but, I would say it’s a pretty, pretty great time to have.”
On Carmelo Hayes: “So, this is kind of unexpected to be real with you because while I am a fan of Carmelo Hayes in certain aspects — I don’t really like everything that he does — I will say that my man brings it, and so, I don’t think I could’ve had a better opponent for my first time really being on SmackDown and getting my feet truly wet on SmackDown than him, and I have realized for the three matches that we have that there are some parallels between me and him that I can’t even ignore, and I think that makes our chemistry pretty good, and so, when you add in we’re two people vying for the same thing which is the United States Championship, I do like that competitive edge to it because obviously, it’s one thing to win a match but it’s another thing to win a match to go on to something greater which is the U.S. Title.”
On ‘don’t talk to me about ‘edge” line from WWE promo and the connection to his shoot promo interaction with Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland in AEW: “You know what’s so funny? I didn’t realize that at the time that it was — no one will believe me so what’s the point in even trying to defend myself but, I just thought that was funny that I was like, wow, I didn’t even think of that. That is crazy.”
Watch the complete Ricky Saints interview via the YouTube player embedded below.
