Ahead of his showdown against Adam Cole for the NXT North American Championship at this Saturday's NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV live WWE Network special at the Barclays Center, Ricochet appeared as a guest on Edge and Christian's podcast, E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness, for an in-depth interview. Featured below are some of the highlights.
On being very open-minded during her stint at the WWE Performance Center: "Oh yeah, 100%, I've been an open book. Even my whole career, I've kind of been like an open book. Like, if anyone had any advice for me, like, I would try to take it into consideration because I feel like if it's good or bad advice, I can still take some bits out of it and try to use that to better yourself. But I think I knew coming here, all these guys, [Robbie] Brookside, [Norman] Smiley, and Scotty [2 Hotty], and Shawn [Michaels], all these guys, they've been around it forever, and especially this style… and [Triple H] too, like Hunter is there every TV and whatever and he comes to the PC a lot. And when he's there, I try to talk to him at least once. But, of course, I've been a complete open book. Like, because again, there is no correct way to be a professional wrestler or sports entertainer. Do you know what I mean? There's no single way, so if I can take anything that's going to help make me better, for sure I'm going to do it, going from Robbie Brookside all the way up to Shawn Michaels."
On not getting hired by WWE during his 2013 tryout being a blessing in disguise: "I did my tryout in 2013 and even then, I just went into it like, 'I'm going to kill this tryout and give it my all and do my best'. For some reason, even then, I didn't actually think I would get a job from it. I don't know why, too small, whatever it was, I don't know. I just didn't really have the state of mind to think, 'I'm going to get hired'. But I did definitely go into it thinking, 'I'm going to kill this tryout and show them that I want to be here.' And I think they said that they didn't have anything for me at the moment, which was maybe the best thing that could've happened to me at the time because that's when, 2013, 2014, that's when things really started to take off and I really started grasping the concept of, like, how to make a match, and match style, and who I'm working with, so it was a good thing I didn't get hired [by WWE], I feel like because it got me to where I am now and the position that I'm in now."
On being intimidated by Adam Cole on the microphone: "Oh man, [Cole] is so good on the mic. It's crazy. It's intimidating. Even with [Velveteen] Dream because Dream is very comfortable on the mic as well, so like both of those situations I felt like this was, like, good for me because, again, it's either make it or break it. Do you know what I mean? So I had this pressure on me and I was like, 'I'm going to go out there and do my best I can to kill it.' I guess, especially because I've known Adam for so long and we've become pretty good friends or whatever, like, I'm comfortable in there. There's not like the weird awkwardness where I'm uncomfortable speaking to him, I guess. I don't know. So yeah, especially with him being so good on the mic, I definitely have to step up and show them that I might not beat him verbally, but, like, I can for sure keep up with him."
On his belief that WWE main roster talents should come back to NXT once in a while: "Not that it would ever happen, but we think it would be cool if some of the, like, main roster guys would come back down and, like, have a couple of matches. Like if Finn Bálor comes down or if Sami Zayn comes down, or even, let's say, Charlotte comes down to wrestle somebody, or Sasha [Banks], or if someone else comes down and wrestles, or a tag team, like, maybe The Revival. The Revival actually did a road loop with us a while back. And I think Tyler Breeze and Tye Dillinger came down and stuff, and the fans really liked it, so, like, if we could get them to do that on TV, maybe not regularly, but a storyline once in a while. We think that'd be cool."
Check out the complete episode of E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness featuring the Ricochet interview at Art19.com.
