WWE NXT Champion Grayson Waller appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss various topics, including how his current NXT run is different from his first.
Waller said, “Well, the first time you get to NXT, you’re learning. So when I was there, there’s guys like Ciampa and Gargano and Pete Dunne, and I’m learning under them, working out what this is, working out who I am as a character, learning. People talk about the WWE style, but all those types of things. Now, I run this; I am NXT. These kids are here to learn from me. I don’t really want to help them. I’m not here to give them advice and things like that. I’m here to show them what a real WWE Superstar is like. I’m here to show them the work ethic you need to have. I’m going to show them the talent you need to have to have that championship and represent it. Because I think for a while a lot of those lads didn’t have someone to look up to. They didn’t have a Gargano or a Ciampa in the locker room to teach them how to do this. You’ve got a kid, a shot putter from six months ago, who’s the leader of the locker room. That’s not a great dynamic. So, I feel me going back there is now I’m fully me. I know who I am, and I’m just going to show the world. Part of it is I want to show the main roster, like Raw and SmackDown you had this. You had this in your hands, and you did nothing with it. So I’m going to make them regret it.”
On his goals in NXT:
“I kind of said it the first time I went out there. My goal is to make this championship mean something [again]. You think of that black and gold era, the NXT title meant more than titles on the main roster. That Saturday TakeOver show, more people were excited for that than they were the Sunday, and I think we’ve lost a lot of that. I don’t think it’s anyone in particular who’s done it. But that title used to mean something. So I’m proud to have this. This means a lot to me personally because watching wrestling when I was starting out, I loved NXT, and that’s what I want one day. I never got it when I was here, and that burned me. That really burned me inside.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
