Once you got comfortable and you're making waves of your own on the independent
scene, what led you to the Cruiserweight Classic?
>> So that I think I went back to England, did another tour,
and I got a random text message from Tommy Dreamer while I was in England.
And he was like hey, may I pass your number along to William Regal?
So I'm like of course, yeah, absolutely.
So he messaged me and asked if I was interested in doing a tryout for WWE.
I think 2015 is when I came down to do a tryout and my tryout featured myself,
Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Shane Thorne, Ember Moon.
A lot of people that I know,
the Cruiserweight Classic just kind of started to happen.
It was called the Global Cruiserweight Series first.
And yeah, I didn't have anything confirmed, my hopes were never up.
But I knew that I was gonna have an opportunity match to kinda get into
it against Tracy Williams and then it worked out and
next thing I know like my picture's front and center on the CWC advertisement.
>> [LAUGH] >> Which was
crazy to me, cuz, >> Right.
>> You got all these international talents and
you got Philadelphia Drew Gulak right here, dead and center.
>> [LAUGH] >> I don't know,
that kind of stuff was very surreal.
>> Do you have anything that stands out of the top of your head that you're
particularly proud of from the 205 live days?
>> I was proud of every moment that I got to spend in that ring or
on screen with people.
Right off the bat, connecting with Tony and Jack Gallagher, and
I was kinda just immediately being a group that would travel together, and
just kinda be like the backbone of the promotion at the time.
And then getting a chance to kind of show off that personality and
that was just a whole whole crazy thing, 205 live man has had like a crazy.
>> It's absolutely nuts, man.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> When you think about it, right?
Right, like all the people.
>> I started the very first week, and just the amount of faces that have rolled
through and just the entire presentation on the show has changed, and
it's absolutely nuts, but the one thing you can't deny is if you're looking for
in-ring wrestling, you could be hard-pressed to find it better anywhere.
>> I think so.
>> As far as technique and moves et cetera.
>> Yeah, some of the best wrestlers in the world.
I still think like, my God, everyone is so good there.
Everyone is so good in the ring.
I feel like Akira Tozawa and Cesaro and Jack Gallagher are two of the best in
the world hands down in the company, not that anyone else is below them.
I just personally I feel like those those guys are top.
>> Having said that and you found your sort of mill you in 205 live,
you've semi recently find out you're being moved to the SmackDown roster.
Anything change in your mindset when you get that official word?
>> This is still like okay, well maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't.
And like for a while it was mostly people just coming up to me and being like, hey,
I heard this is going to happen.
People were telling me I was going to Raw for the same time too.
And so like I really had no idea until it was announced online officially.
>> Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.
>> Yeah, exactly.
It's all hearsay, just don't worry about it.
Have fun.
>> Show up and work.
>> Yeah, it's kind of the same mentality for me even being on SmackDown.
I just, I understand the opportunities even greater,
kind of like my Cruiserweight Classic debut.
Okay, now I got more people who can see what I do.
And so I got to kind of figure out a way to just let it happen.
And it's been working out so far I think.
>> Yeah, no doubt about it.
And you were talking about growth from your professional perspective.
Now you take another leap recently and
you become involved in a program with Daniel Bryan.
>> Yeah. >> Now I've touched on it briefly,
Michael Cole and I did briefly at the Pay-Per-View view in Philadelphia.
Give me a little bit more meat to the story about,
why what we're seeing on television is so important?
And it's not just something dreamed up for wrestling purposes.
>> Especially that day at Elimination Chamber, which was
up the street from where I trained, and from where like Daniel Bryan cut his teeth
at the Murphy Rec Center, which was up the street from the Wells Fargo Center.
We are two guys who, we're a few years apart.
And he came in and he was the top independent star.
>> And he was he stayed that way until he became the top WWE star.
>> I think he was the top independent star when I broke into business.
>> Exactly.
>> He kinda was the guy.
>> Right.
Right. But like
I just never crossed paths with him and like for
me, I had to grind to get to where I was throughout my entire career.
So I felt like I had so much to prove and
us just like skating by on our careers like we'd never touched in the ring.
He got to call my matches at the Cruiserweight Classic which was
kinda cool, cuz that was him getting a chance to see that style.
And I think that kinda woke up something inside of him,
to be like man I wanna do more of that.
I think it did for a lot of people.
And that's really what I wanna do.
That's what my passion is, I want people to be like, I can do it to!
>> So I was texting with a friend of mine during WrestleMania,
it was actually the WrestleMania kickoff show the first night you and Cesaro and
you guys were doing your thing, and what a weird environment it is.
To have the Performance Center as essentially a sterile environment,
no fans to feed off of.
Now, any of us that have spent time on the Indies realize that
sometimes you're lucky to wrestle in front of 15 or 20 people.
>> Yeah. >> Now you're at this level.
What was going through your mind?
Did you have any nerves before this being part of WrestleMania but
in this environment?
>> I think it was more like I was excited.
I really didn't have, I didn't have the nerves, the willies or anything like that,
like I was.
I was pumped man like, I'd never wrestled Cesaro in a singles match and
we were training together back in 2004 at the same school.
>> Skydive, that's the name that I always also always associate because I'm going to
run into Susana on the Indies and Scott, I had met him a handful of times.
But that was, that was the big buzz.
>> [LAUGH] >> In the North East Independence,
was there was luchador training in Philly.
>> Yeah.
>> WrestleMania, weird environment.
No fans.
>> I was excited to get to do that.
I knew what the situation was going into it like everyone else.
Unprecedented.
It's a different kind of an opportunity but we got to make the best out of it.
And we still got to entertain people and we're lucky that we get to do that.
So lucky that we get to do that.
And to be able to share that with Cesaro
who is I don't know the best wrestler in the world.
Not only was my first WrestleMania moment, man,
I remember being in the stands last year.
Me and Dean Malenko were backstage watching Buddy Murphy wrestled Tony Nice,
and I was so happy for them but I was like, man, I'd love to get to do this too.
And I got that moment this year and it's with someone who like I've known and
loved for forever.
It was really cool.
I wasn't fazed by the fact there's no audience.
I actually enjoy parts of that because you have to focus on the details of what's
going on in the ring and that's like where I've always kind of thrived.
That's like my wheelhouse.
So like, I'm more than happy to get in there and
kind of be like, let's just do it.
Let's go.
And it is what it is.
And I hope that the fans kind of get a chance to see that kind of stuff and
I hope that I get continued opportunities to do that.
>> Like what you hear?
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