A WWE star, rising the ranks through the company, has called out those in a similar position to him for acting like fans towards locker room veterans.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Grayson Waller discussed his rapid ascent on WWE’s main roster thus far, one that has seen him trade barbs with John Cena, tie-up with Edge in Madison Square Garden and even engage in a war of words with The Rock on Twitter.
While Waller could easily be forgiven for being star-struck thus far, he made clear to Helwani that he wasn’t there to “shake hands”, instead looking to show respect by coming straight at the legends.
Waller explained:
“I think people understand who and what I do. I think they’ve seen my stuff in NXT and who I’ve worked with and they understand it.
“That doesn’t mean they’re going to be super polite to me and want me to be around. I get that. I go in there fully knowing that.
“What does it do for me going up to the main roster, shaking hands and kissing babies and asking, ‘AJ Styles, can I please get a photo with you? You’re my favorite.’
“I’m a wrestling fan, I grew up loving wrestling. AJ Styles, Shawn Michaels, these are my favorite wrestlers. I’m on their level now. It does nothing for me to still act like a fan.
“I would be embarrassed in myself if I made all this effort to get here and to get where I am, and I just want to be a fan of everyone. I don’t think that does anything for me.
“You see that in MMA too. You get people who fight a legend, and they don’t put in the same performance. They don’t want to put them down.
“They don’t want to take them behind the shed and put one in the head. I want to. The best respect I can show these legends is to go at them as hard as possible. I’m showing them respect in a different way.”
After impressing in his in-ring main roster debut against Edge on the July 7 Smackdown, Waller was unable to then follow up on that and secure a United States Title shot in the Austin Theory Invitational four-way the week after.
This has left the Aussie Icon looking potentially set to miss out at a spot on SummerSlam, however, to read the latest regarding Waller’s SummerSlam situation, follow this link here.
Transcript courtesy of Fightful.
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