WWE producer TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) recently appeared on Out of Character with Ryan Satin for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, TJ Wilson commented on playing a big part in the development of the WWE Women’s Division:
“I have goosebumps. It makes me emotional. Working with women is interesting. It takes a little bit more work, but there’s also a lot more credit that comes with it, I think in a way. I don’t mean even outside, but I mean from the talent themselves, from the women themselves. I was playing basketball at the beginning of the pandemic and my phone was in my pocket and like, I must have just kept hitting the passcode, and anyway, my phone reset. I remember I was like no, I lost all these beautiful texts with some of the girls at WrestleMania at the PC. I was like, ‘Man, I used to have all these amazing texts from you girls and they’re gone now.’ They’re like, ‘Don’t worry, TJ. We’ll restore those’, and they have and I’m so grateful.”
“I don’t know if it’s like my age or my injury or both, but I’m a lot more emotional now, so when they have an awesome match, I’ll go watch it at home after. It’s different when I’m calling a match as it’s happening live. When you put that headset on in Gorilla, you’re talking to so many different people and it’s hard to focus on every single thing in the match, but when I watch it back when I get home, especially when I know it’s good, when I get home and watch it, I get very emotional. It’s the biggest honor for me to be a part of, I guess, this movement. There’s still a lot of work to do and that’s my mindset and their mindset. So it’s our mindset of like, we’ve done a lot and there’s still a lot more to go. This year’s Rumble, the Women’s Rumble, was the sixth Women’s Rumble ever. The guys have had 30-plus. We’re playing a big game of catch up here and I think we’re doing a great job of closing that gap.”
Thoughts on Bray Wyatt:
“Bray was an unbelievable person. Right before I got on here, I was watching the confessionals or whatever that WWE put out on YouTube. Just to see everyone speaks so highly of him the beauty of it is it’s all true. We aren’t having to exaggerate and pretend like let’s pretend Bray was a good person. He was a phenomenal person. Somebody said like even when Bray was mad, which was very rarely, he would still have the locker room laughing because when he got salty, he was maybe extra funny when he was salty, which I have a little bit of that or maybe a lot of that in me too.”
“Bray man, he just was special. It wasn’t just his creativity for himself. He would help everybody all the time. I remember I did my NXT run and when I was back on the main roster, I was doing a promo talking about cats and facts on Main Event in a match with Truth or something. Bray pulled Nattie aside and then came and found me and pulled me aside. He said, ‘Hey, man. You got something here, but I want to help you with your cadence.’ I’m not some promo master. I got better at them working with Dusty, but I’m not a master. So like, if a guy like Bray Wyatt is going to help me, I will take that help any day of the week. I think his superpower is that he just had a great relationship with everybody. If you were talking to him, he made you feel like you’re the most important person in the world for those moments you’re talking to him.”
On meeting with Bray Wyatt before Wyatt returned to WWE this past year:
“He texted me and said, ‘Hey, I think I’m ready to get back in the ring a little bit.’ This is last August, actually. I said, ‘Yea no problem.’ So we’re going back and forth and he was like, ‘When are you training?’ I said, ‘I’m training at this time, at five or six, but if you want to meet at noon, if you want to meet at one, I’ll meet you anytime.’ At first he was like, ‘Okay, let’s kind of do it privately’, and then he was like, ‘Actually, I’ll just show up at your practice.’ He did and he was so helpful with every person there. He kept pulling guys aside and giving them little bits of advice.”
“He pulled me aside and he said, ‘Man, I love what you’re doing here. Our minds combined, we’re gonna do some special things. This is a chance to do some very special stuff in the business. Then at that point, I don’t know if he was either kayfabing me or not. At this point, he was telling me he hadn’t quite re-signed yet and he wasn’t sure what was in the works. Then he did obviously re-sign. I remember I had a little talk with him maybe a few weeks after he re-signed and I was like, ‘Man, I’m so excited for this run’, and he said, ‘Yes. This is going to be the run.’ I wholeheartedly believe if physically he had been good, I think he was about to really blow people’s minds.”
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
