When guys are in NXT - not me, but the guys who are signed to developmental deals that are there - they're setting up the ring. They're tearing it down. They're working every day at the PC. And it's arduous training, man. Those guys go through a lot.
Whatever the 25 guys on the roster, it’s my job to get the most out of those guys.
NXT prepares you for literally everything for the main roster. They probably over-prepare you.
I think any time you bring those guys in, one with a lot of playoff experience, with rings - those guys won - guys in the locker room gravitate towards those guys. Those guys have been there, so there's a lot that they can teach the guys.
When I left NXT, I was kind of mad that I was never NXT champ, so when I got to the main roster, that was my first goal.
When you think about the guys who started Twitter, and the Google guys, and the Facebook guys and the Napster guys, and the Microsoft guys, and the Dell guys and the Instagram guys, it's all guys. The girls, they're being left behind.
Real is when you go to training camp. Real is when you finally get the guys in pads. Real is those guys in that locker room setting those goals because we have some guys now that can set goals and expectations for those guys in the locker room because, ultimately, who are the Cleveland Browns but those guys in that locker room.
Lars Sullivan and EC3 are made for the main roster, more so than NXT. Obviously, Lars because he's just freakish in so many ways. But EC3, I look at him, and I look at his mannerisms, his mic skills: he's tailor-made for a good push on the main roster.
In fashion, there's a lack of strong male images. And there's a huge lack of strong African American images. I noticed over the past thirteen years, Ralph and those guys have used guys that looked similar to me. And I was happy for those guys, but eventually I said, 'Enough is enough, I'm just going to go in and take my job back.'
In my opinion, if I was going to pick main roster guys, I've always had a hunch out for Cesaro. I just feel like if we were able to just go at it, make it a fight, I think it would be pretty sensational.
I think I have done everything I can here in NXT, and I do want to test myself on the main roster.
I'm definitely not one of those guys that's chirping the guys that dress super nice, because you know, there's guys out there in the league - and on my team in fact - that have great style. And I'm just like, 'go for it, man, you look good!'
You might be sitting at NXT for six years. But, if you're sitting there at NXT for six years, and they haven't called you to the main roster, then you're not doing something right. That's just my opinion.
If I'm studying in NXT and trying to make it to the main roster, I would be watching Randy Orton.
You always think you're one of those players who will be in one place the whole time, one of those guys they'll never let leave because you play hurt, do what it takes. But it's a different age. A lot of coaches, they like having younger guys.
Even now I will go to, like, an industry event, and all the ladies will be over here and all the guys over here, and I will go to the guys' table and sit because I just feel I can have a much better conversation over there. And that's automatic; it's not prejudice.