Tye Dillinger was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone about finally making the main roster, his final NXT match and more. Here are some of the highlights:
What it was like to end up on Smackdown:
“Incredible probably isn’t a word that does it justice. Wonderful isn’t a work that’ll do it justice. It’s tough to find those kind of words. I did a couple of interviews right after my Smackdown debut and I had trouble then finding the words. It was just a culmination of hours, months, years, put into this industry. Everything, the ups and downs, all culminating into one beautiful moment. I’m lucky I got to do in in whats become my home base in Florida. In Orlando, in front of those people, in that moment, I can’t see it being any better than that.”
His final NXT match with Eric Young:
“To finish my time there inside of a steel cage with a guy like Eric Young, what a moment. It was very unexpected. You have a four-month long battle come to an end on our home turf at Full Sail University. I have a lot of history with Eric Young, he actually trained me in the very beginning of my career. We go back a very long way. To have that kind of moment in Full Sail, in front of that crowd, with that guy, bringing everything to an end, was a very bittersweet moment for me.”
Whether the “Perfect 10” gimmick was “make or break” for him:
“You said it perfectly. At that point in my career and that point in NXT, I was very confident when I was teamed with Jason Jordan. I was very confident in that tag team. But as good as we were in the ring and as good as our promos may have been, we didn’t have that hook. Ultimately that’s why it didn’t work out. When Chad Gable came around, that’s what was missing. But for me, when I threw out the idea of the Perfect Ten, I had gone through a few different ideas I had been trying, which were a few different sides of my personality, and nothing felt right. When I threw this out, something felt right about it, and once I started doing it in live events around Florida, something felt really right about it. I remember thinking to myself at one point a few months in, if this doesn’t work, I don’t what will. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find something else. This is probably as close to my personality as its going to be. You nailed it right on the head. Look back now, if they had said that they didn’t think this was going to work or I gave up on this too early, I don’t know what I could have offered after that.”
The four wrestlers on Smackdown he wants to face:
“I’ve been thinking about this, and I have a top four, in no particular order. One guy I had on the list actually just got shipped over to Raw, and he was at the top of my list, and that’s The Miz. Miz is one guy I’d like to work with, because I think we could do some pretty incredible things. At the moment though, on Smackdown, in no particular order: Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton and AJ Styles. Ziggler I’ve known for years. We used to work together way, way back in the FCW days. Tyler Breeze is an incredible talent. I worked with him a little bit in NXT, but not to the level where I had hoped. That guy is severely underrated as a talent. AJ Styles and Randy Orotn, I’ve never worked with them before. I don’t need to give you any of their accolades, the world knows them already. Those two right now are the best at what we do in this industry. They’re the top of the top.”
For the full interview, check out Rolling Stone.
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