NXT 2.0, the rebrand which just took place over the last several months.
The world finally got to see Bron Breakker.
Now here you are, you wake up this morning, you are now the NXT champion.
A title that's been held by Tommaso Ciampa,
by Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins.
I mean, the lineage of that championship is legitimate, and
it usually leads to great things.
Do you feel any pressure as the face of NXT 2.0, knowing that there have been some
fans, or segments of fans who have been a little resistant,
just because in any walk of life, change is met with some sort of resistance.
How have you dealt with that?
Knowing that okay, this is Bron Breakker's NXT now,
how do you bring everybody along for the ride?
>> You know, obviously like you said, man, change is not always, sometimes
it's just a resistant thing, like anything in life really, and I understand that too.
You know, I've been around the business my whole life and
I understand it from a fan's perspective.
And I take it as a challenge too, man, it's like that's my job to bring those
people with me, to get them to get on my side,
so that's just part of me being a pro and doing my job and
just bringing my lunch pail to work every day, and just going to work.
And as far as what the NXT Championship means for me,
I mean there's like all these all those names that you've mentioned before,
and then everybody who has held the title is a great performer,
but I I'm ready for this, man.
I've been ready for this my whole life, and and I've dreamt of this moment,
it's here now, it's time for me to step up and be a leader.
It's time for me to carry the weight of NXT on my back and
take it as far as I can take it.
>> What's something that you were told prior to
arriving in NXT in the WWE system, likely from your dad, perhaps your equal,
any sort of advice that was given to you before you arrived here?
>> Yeah, they just told me keep your head down, treat everybody with respect,
keep your mouth shut, and and just go to work.
Treat this like it's football, or treat this like anything else you do in life,
just show up to work, handle your business like a pro, and go home,
and that's what I'm trying to do, man.
And I just want to be a pro here, and
I want to earn the respect of the older guys, and I know how much,
that means a lot to me, to earn your respect to the veterans.
>> Talking a lot about your family obviously, but
I want to talk about Bron Breakker, what's something about Bron Breaker that the WWE
universe has yet to learn, or may not know, or may not get a chance to see.
When the lights are off, when Bron Breakker puts the weights down for
the day, and just has time to himself?
What's that look like?
>> I mean- >> He's like if I'm not training or
beating somebody up, I don't do anything.
[LAUGH] >> I wish, I'm gonna have more
time with the WWE universe as my career progresses,
there's gonna be more human interaction time,
rather than Bron Breakker in a ring, trying to rip someone's head off.
I'm looking forward to that and showing people my human side, and
the quality person that I can be, and I want to impact people's lives,
to impact people's lives as a kid because guys did that for me when I was a kid.
And being in the locker room as a kid, and being a part of wrestling, and
being around it and guys, I looked up to people, man and they were just-
>> Give us some names man,
who helped you along the way?
>> Bill Goldberg is one, right off the top, he's been a mentor to me for
a long time, in football, when I was playing in college and the NFL for
a short time, and he was always giving me tips, or calling me up and
telling me some things I need to get better at or whatever.
My dad and uncle, man that-
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There's Kevin Nash is another one, I owe a lot to Kevin Nash man,
he's a huge part of the reason why I'm here.
And there's there's a lot of guys,
there's tons of guys from that era of WCW, WWE, early in the 2000s.
I just looked at, Stone Cold Steve Austin is another one.
I looked up to those guys, those guys were my heroes growing up.
I didn't have, I like Marvel and stuff, but I wasn't.
Spider Man and Batman were my heroes, but it was wrestling.
>> Yeah, how much does it drive you?
How much do you feel like, you just named some really heavy hitters as far as
the history of famers, hall of famers- >> Hall of famers,
those were Mount Rushmore guys, yeah.
>> Who have personally helped guide you to this point?
How much of a responsibility do you feel every time you step in that ring, or
every time the camera turns on knowing, okay, these dudes have my back, but
also these are the dudes that got me to where I am and live up to that?
>> That is a heavy weight.
You know what I mean?
>> I'm not trying to psych you out.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> Yeah, it's the same,
it goes back to just me having the expectations of my family.
It's the same thing, because these guys, they're helping me out and giving me
all these tips and everything because they know, they want me to be great.
They want me to be something, they're not just giving me this advice and
stuff on deaf ears, and they don't just give it out to anybody.
So it's like, I know how critical and how important that this advice and
these pointers and stuff that I'm getting from these legends are, and
I just got to implement them.
And I gotta stay grounded and locked in ,and just focus on my job.
I gotta be better.
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