Grayson Waller (@graysonwallerWWE) is a professional wrestler and the reigning WWE NXT Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Stamford, CT to discuss returning to NXT and winning the NXT Championship, why he doesn’t see the move as a demotion, his viral promo in NXT and how Shawn Michaels reacted, his passion for running, doing the world’s toughest mile with Ivy Nile, still wanting to go head-to-head with CM Punk on the mic, and more!
How did this move from the main roster to NXT come about?
“Shawn called me and asked me to come and meet up with him.”
So you said that this wasn’t a demotion; you took a risk. What do you mean by that?
“I don’t see it as that because I wasn’t told to do anything. I was asked. I was given an option by Shawn, and I chose to go and do that. So I didn’t look at it as a demotion because I’m on TV every week. I’m competing every week against some of the best kids in the world right now.”
So if you don’t go back to NXT, where do you think your career ends up going?
“Maybe Chipotle. Maybe I’m giving out extra avocado at Chipotle. I don’t know. The one thing I’ll say, and I mean it. I’m always upfront and honest about situations. I could see the writing on the wall. They’re bringing up these kids from NXT who are super talented, and they’re giving them all the chances. I’m in the background, and it’s disappearing. You go lower and lower. You get more forgotten about. I was gone for sure. So when I say I took a risk to go to NXT, it’s a risk because you never know if it’s going to work out. But I trust in my ability, and I just needed a platform. So I think it was something that I needed to do because I need to show them who I am; I need to show them I love this. I’m so good. You are the guys who haven’t seen it. It’s not me; you’re fumbling the ball. I have everything ready to go, but you just don’t know. So I took it upon myself to kind of force it on them. I’m like, hey, you want to know what I can do? I’m going to show you.”
So how is this NXT run different from the first time you run NXT?
“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.”
So is there also the opportunity in going back to NXT to change your look? You’re wrestling in pants now, I feel like it makes your character look so much more serious.
“I look back and I kind of understand why people would have perceived me as a joke. For me, the boxing shorts were always I was a huge boxing fan. A lot of people think it was basketball shorts, but I thought it was a different look. It made me look unique, but I think it also didn’t make me look like a serious contender for the championship. So that was something where I was like, I need to change things up. I can’t just keep giving them the same thing. So first thing was I put the tights on, and actually the Rumble was the first time I kind of wore them in a match, and Roman came up and pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, that’s the look. You look like a champion now.’ Hey, if Roman says that, all right, lad, whatever you need, I’m gonna keep the pants. But even coming back to NXT, I was like, I can’t walk out with the leopard shirts and all that. That vibe didn’t work. That’s an old me. So now, I am more serious. This is me. I feel comfortable now. So I think I had to change things because if you keep throwing the same thing at the wall and it’s not working, then what are you doing?”
When you say you’re hungry, are you hungry to continue to do things in NXT, or do you want to accomplish everything in NXT and then say to Raw and SmackDown this is what you’re missing out on?
“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.”
When you got that opportunity to cut that promo, live mic on NXT, did you realize how high the stakes were? If this promo is a hit, you could become the NXT champion. If this promo falls flat, where do you go from there?
“That is the most important promo of my life because if it didn’t go well, I was done, and I could feel it. Shawn let me just go out and say what I wanted. 100%, he let me go out and say what I wanted. I had a version of that promo in my head for months because they’re your frustrations, you want to get them out. I remember I said to him after, he was like, ‘How’d you feel?’ I’ve never been more nervous in my life. This is easy. This is what I do. I talk, that’s my thing. I’m the mic guy. But about a minute in, there’s like a moment where I go, oh, this is [easy], and that’s when I really started feeling it. So that promo, I had to kill it. I went into it knowing I have to be real too, because if I’m not honest about this, no one is going to bite on it. There were these flop fans in the crowd doing the what? chant for a while, but then it started dissipating. They’re like, oh, he’s saying some stuff. Oh, he’s really saying some stuff. You can see the crowd kind of change in time. At first, oh, why is he here? To oh, he’s saying some stuff that he shouldn’t be saying.”
If you didn’t knock that promo out of the park, pretty good chance you’re not sitting here as the NXT Champion
“If that promo doesn’t happen, there’s no way I’m getting interviewed by you. There’s no way any of these things are happening for me right now. That completely rejuvenated who I am. More importantly for me, I forgot what I could do. I forgot how good I was until I did that, and then I came back, and it’s like NXT saved my career, 100% saved my career, so it was very important that I came back.”
When you got back through the curtain, what did Shawn Michaels say?
“The most awkward vibe I’ve ever had in my life, because my name’s not on the run sheet. Nothing was rehearsed that day. There’s only four or five people who know that I’m doing that. None of the locker room knew that was happening. I was around that day, but I’m always around NXT. I just go watch the show, whatever. I came back to that curtain to silence, absolute silence, and I loved it because I was like, that’s how I know it hit. You’re all sitting there thinking, ‘Is he talking about me?’ I could see they were kind of awkwardly looking at me, was he talking about me in that promo? And if you think that, yes, I was. But Shawn, I think he was very happy for me and very happy for his show because that NXT men’s division has been dog water for a while, and then all of a sudden it just got rejuvenated in one moment, so I think he was thankful for his show.”
I want to go through a few of the things that you said during this promo. You said that you went to war with yourself every single day, mentally and physically. What do you mean by that?
“So that was me looking at my career and going, you need to be in better shape. You need to show that you’re taking it seriously. Then all the stuff with the running and just every day waking up, even though I don’t know what’s [happening]. Monday on Raw, I don’t think I’m doing anything. But I wake up every morning and I work out like I am, and I go to the gym and I go to NXT and I train at the Performance Center and I do everything possible, even though I don’t know what’s happening Monday. I train just like I’m in the main event, so that’s what that was.”
What were the mental battles? Because I know how badly you wanted to take things to another level. The last interview that we did, you got emotional talking about how hungry you were for that.
“Then I did nothing for six months. That was embarrassing. I said all those things. I want this so bad, and then I did nothing. That’s tough. I guess that interview, I was very real and raw, and after I came from Australia, and I just felt that crowd behind me. I was like, I’m ready to do some big things, and then I didn’t get it. There’s reasons for that. The main roster right now, I do think it’s one of the best rosters of all time. There’s so many talented guys, especially in the main card, the main roster guys, main event guys. But I was like, I need to do something to get on there, and I was trying so hard, and it just wasn’t happening. So that’s super frustrating.”
You said 90% of the roster think they’re getting called up tomorrow. 10% are actually ready, and they’re all women.
“The issue with NXT for a while is that everyone thinks they should be called up immediately. They all think they’re ready. They don’t understand what the main roster is.”
What is the difference, by the way?
“It’s night and day. I always say, NXT is college. They take care of you. They do everything for you. They hold your hand. This is the match. They help you out so much because you don’t know what you’re doing. Main roster, all right, go. You can see people; there’s such a differentiation of them from NXT to the main roster because once they’re on their own, they don’t know what to do. Part of that is I’m trying to tell you you’re not ready; you’ll get swamped up there. You’ll have two weeks in catering and freak out and then fumble the ball, so part of that was me telling them, hey stay down here. This is fun. This is a great experience. You’ve got the greatest coaches in the world. Get better at this, be really good, and then do what Oba did or what Trick did. The guys who have really succeeded from that position.”
After you cut that promo in NXT, John Cena had some very nice things to say about you online. What did that mean when you saw that?
“Well, I think the cool thing was I don’t care if fans respond a certain way; it is what it is. But I was told by Shawn Michaels never listen to advice of someone whose shoes you don’t want to be in, and having Cena and Punk and Bayley and these people who I look up to saying positive things about it, that means something to me. They’re the only people whose opinion I really care about. So hearing that, that’s how I know I did the right thing.”
You shared a moment with CM Punk where he was backstage in NXT, and you said some things to him. It didn’t feel like he liked that very much.
“Nah, he likes the kids to go, ‘CM Punk, can you take a photo with me? Oh my gosh!’ He loves that. He loves the kids that look up to him like they’re all fans. Fair play to him he helps out at NXT a lot and he’s helped a lot of these kids, but I’m not a fan; I’m on the same level as you. I need to hold myself that way. So I don’t know if you know the NXT hierarchy now; it goes Matt Bloom, Rob Stone, Shawn Michaels, Grayson Waller. I run NXT. I’m the champion now. So he should have texted me and asked for permission to be on the show. Chad Gable, same thing. He didn’t text me. So they’ll learn over time that if you’re going to come to my house, let me know, wipe your feet, show me the respect that I deserve. I’m the champion of that brand.”
Could you imagine going head to head with CM Punk in a promo!
“I’m going to. It’s happening. Every time I come on this show. I keep saying it. I’m going to talk it into existence, but just know it’s coming.”
Who have you been in the ring with that you feel like you’ve learned the most from? Because I mean, you’ve been in the ring with Edge and AJ Styles.
“AJ is a big one, especially since he’s been coming down to NXT recently and producing and working in the ring with guys, and he’s really, really fun to work with because I’m an AJ Styles fan. But he lets you go and lets you do you, and just makes everything better. He doesn’t force you to do things. ‘Hey, you need to do this.’ He’s just like, ‘What do you want to do?’ All right, ‘What if we do that?’ You’re like, oh, that’s the best idea. So I wish I got to get in the ring more with him. I only had a few chances, but even him now coming down NXT and helping out. When I finished the match with EK Prosper the other week, I came back through the curtain and the three guys standing at the curtain were Shawn, AJ, CM Punk. That’s three generations of guys who know how much they care about the business and how much they want to give back by the way they were when EK came through. This is a young kid who just in 24 hours’ notice got put in the biggest match of his life, and he got beat. But seeing the look on their face when he came back through tells me everything I need to know about the future of the industry because those three guys are shaping it.”
Now that there’s this new attitude, do you have aspirations of being a WWE Champion?
“100%. I think now I’ve established myself as a different person. Now I’m taking things seriously. I’m ticking a lot of the boxes that weren’t ticked for a long time. So when I do come back to the main roster, I hope they’re ready for what I’m bringing, because I see a gap. I see a gap in the market for a guy like Grayson Waller.”
If you hadn’t clocked on do you feel like you were close to maybe getting released?
“100%. I could feel it, especially when the New Day left. I could feel it because when the New Day left, Oba destroyed me. He’s a very big man, very strong, and just beaten Lesnar. So I think he was very confident going into that match. Maybe I wasn’t prepared enough for Oba Femi, but then when I didn’t do anything for like another month, was not a great position to be in. I’m smart enough to know; I’m not going to pretend. I’m real enough to know. I know I have a lot of value to the company, but in that position, there’s other people who could also add that value. So I had to do something because I’m not going to sit back and let my dream disappear. If I didn’t do something about it, that would upset me if I didn’t do something.”
What is Grayson Waller grateful for?
“Second chances, my mates, and my health.”
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