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DANNY BURCH DISCUSSES TEAMING WITH ONEY LORCAN, HIS PATH BACK TO WWE NXT, FACING BREEZANGO TONIGHT, THE BRITISH WRESTLING SCENE, PAT MCAFEE, THE INEVITABLE SHOWDOWN WITH UNDISPUTED ERA & MUCH MORE

WWE NXT Tag Team Champion Danny Burch sat down with PWInsider.com yesterday in advance of he and Oney Lorcan making their first WWE NXT Tag Team Championship defense tonight on WWE NXT on the USA Network.   Transcription by Billy Krotchsen.

Mike Johnson: It is Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 which means we are about 24 hours away from this week's edition of WWE NXT on the USA Network. Several big championship matches scheduled for that broadcast including former WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Breezango attempting to regain their championships from the Kings of NXT - Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. We are on the line with Danny Burch who I dare say is a real life Rocky Balboa story if you want to consider the life that he has lived in the world of professional wrestling - being one of the frontrunners of the independent scene in the United Kingdom over the last decade, coming to NXT in its original incarnation, leaving and then returning and re-earning his way back into the company and now becoming one of the Tag Team Champions and one of the top performers and competitors in the NXT brand. Sir, I know you have a lot on your plate, I know it's been a busy couple of months for you, how are you doing as we look towards your first major championship defense?

Danny Burch: I'm doing absolutely fantastic. Thank you for the intro by the way, that was absolutely bang-on, that was fantastic. Yeah, I'm pumped, I'm excited, I'm ready for tomorrow night.

Mike Johnson: So let's talk about the obvious here -  Pat McAfee. That is an interesting alliance, featuring yourself and Oney, now Pete Dunne and Pat McAfee. Talk about how this all kind of came together and what it's like having someone who is so well versed at being so antagonistic to not just the competitors and the performers in NXT, but the overall audience in general on your side?

Danny Burch: Well for me, it's an absolute breath of fresh air. Pat is a natural in the wrestling business; his performance against Cole speaks for itself. So to be aligned with Pat and to be able to do the stuff that we can do now is absolutely fantastic.

Mike Johnson: For a lot of discerning fans it's no secret that you and Oney Lorcan have been some of the best kept secrets in the NXT brand, the unfound gem so to speak, but you're going to have a major marquee bout tomorrow when you face Breezango, who obviously you are no stranger to. What can those fans who are just starting to discover what the Kings of NXT with Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan have to offer? What would you like to see them take from this match tomorrow against Breezango?

Danny Burch: Well, I imagine Breezango are going to  be a little bit cheesed off. We were their first defense and they came up short, so I'm sure they're going to come right out of the gate, all fists flying and I don't take it lightly, just because they're a pair of funny guys, they can go. They've been around the wrestling business a long time and it's going to be fireworks.

Mike Johnson: You had your initial run in NXT and things didn't work out. You returned to the independent scene and you really worked to regain your stature in the company to regain a contract position. What's your advice to those who have their time and it doesn't work out but to kind of stay the course and find another path in, another path to victory, which is what I would consider your current run. What's your advice to those who, maybe the first time it doesn't work out and they need to figure out a different path. How did you do it and what would be your advice to others who are trying to solve the riddle of the sphinx in a lot of ways?

Danny Burch: I'm in my 17th year as a professional wrestler. When I first got signed it wasn't all, you know, it didn't work out. Getting to that point was kind of a huge roadblock, I initially got signed in 2010 but I didn't realize I had a very bad torn ACL, so it didn't pass the initial medical. So I had to get that fixed, went through hell trying to get that fixed, finally got it fixed, got resigned and four weeks into reporting, at the time it was FCW, after four weeks, my knee re-tore, so then I was back on the shelf, eight-nine months, doing all the rehab, yeah it just didn't work out. But the one thing I always said to myself was, "OK, I haven't heard 'no', at no point did I hear 'You are not coming back, no you are not good enough, no you can never step foot in this building again.' " So I took that as well, there's one of two things I can do - I can either sit around and feel sorry for myself and let my name in the history books go down as the guy that didn't do anything for two years in NXT, or I can pull myself up and literally do anything I can and everything I can to get back, and if I hear the word "No," then I know I've done all I can. My advice to anyone that has the same thing happen to them, not just in wrestling, in any walk of life, if you want something bad enough, just go out and work your backside off and get it, and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. That's the only thing I can say.

Mike Johnson: So, you and Oney have pretty much fine-tuned yourselves into a very hard-hitting, old school style tag team. What were your first impressions of him when the decision was first made that the two of you would begin to team? When did you realize that you clicked and that this could be something for you and him?

Danny Burch: So we had two matches against each other and we beat the living snot out of each other and it was one of those things where after those matches we were presented with the idea of, "Do you guys want to be a tag team?" I laughed, instantly, I was like, "Well, everyone's gotta step in the ring with us so that's not going to be a pleasant experience for them." From those matches, an instant mutual respect was born and the chemistry just got stronger and stronger since then and I love our team. We are...what you see is what you get, we will hit hard, we will hit first and we will ask questions later.

Mike Johnson: So, we've seen Pete Dunne has joined the Kings of NXT in recent weeks. What does Pete Dunne do to accentuate you and Oney by joining you as a trio?

Danny Burch: Well, I mean, what more can be said about Pete Dunne? He was the longest reigning United Kingdom Champion thus far, and his track record just speaks for itself. So Pete in the mix, it further adds to how legit this group is. 

Mike Johnson: I mentioned grinding on the independent scene in the UK, working for groups like Frontier and 1PW. When you see how far the British scene has come, where it's to the point where groups like PROGRESS are now on the WWE Network and there's an NXT UK brand, and you think about where all of this started in these little fight clubs. In hindsight, why do you think it took off the way that it did and do you think that could ever be replicated, or was it just happenstance and just kind of happened?

Danny Burch: I don't know how the thing boomed, because it did, it just hit the biggest boom period ever and that was while I was under contract the first time, so when I first got signed and I left the British wrestling scene, a big turnout was 150-200 people, and when when I get back after my first initial run didn't work out, I get back and there was thousands of people in buildings. I can't pinpoint what it was to make that the boom period, but when I left you didn't have places like PROGRESS, they weren't around. I think it was just...the best thing I can assume is that all the guys that were at the top of their game in that time period in the boom period, the stars aligned and they all became exceptional in-ring talents all at the same time, and it was just one of those things where the shows - you just couldn't miss them.

Mike Johnson: When you look at the NXT UK roster, are there talents you'd like to see maybe make their way over here and join the Kings of NXT? With two of the three members being British, and Oney pretty much wrestling a British strong style anyway, there's going to be that awareness of the audience of maybe someone can come here and continue to add to the group. Is there anyone from the NXT UK brand that you'd like to kind of scout and bring over, to kind of add to the group? You have three - four if you add Pat McAfee, but Undisputed Era will be returning at some point and there's four of them, so would you like to add a fourth member down the line, maybe somebody from the NXT UK roster?

Danny Burch: Who would I steal? I think maybe someone like a Joe Coffey or llja Dragunov - he just had that hellacious, amazing match with WALTER, so I think he would be an exceptional fit but if there's three of us and four of them, so be it. 

Mike Johnson: The Undisputed Era will be returning at some point, even though you held a funeral for them recently...

Danny Burch: [laughs]

Mike Johnson: Thoughts on the eventual face off and battle with the Kings of NXT because one would think it's coming possibly at Takeover in December, possibly in the new year, but at some point - it's WWE, it's going to happen. Thoughts on that inevitable moment?

Danny Burch: I can't wait for it. For too long, those boys have monopolized our brand and a few of us just got sick and tired of it, and I was one of them. So bring it on, let them come back. let them start swinging because I guarantee we will be the last men standing.

Mike Johnson: So let's talk the tag team scene. You get to literally be the kings of the tag team scene as well as the Kings of NXT right now. What's your hopes for this title reign? Obviously, it puts you in a different light, gives you a chance to have more substance, puts you in position to have much more prominence. There are a number of excellent tag team wrestlers on the NXT brand. Do you have any goals of people you want to tear the house down with? When this is all said and done and this reign eventually comes to the end, what are the goals that you'd like to look back upon and say, "Yup, we accomplished this, we accomplished this, we accomplished this."

Danny Burch: There's been some absolutely amazing tag team champions before us. You had guys like American Alpha, you had the Revival, Joe and Finn Balor. There's been so many guys that have come before us. My goal is to just do each one of the champions before us justice and prove that these tag titles are the most prestigious tag titles among our three brands.

Mike Johnson: So we've seen on the NXT UK brand they recently began the Heritage Cup tournament. What would you make of the concept of bringing some of the old school British rounds here to the United States as a special attraction for a major show or maybe a blowoff for a specific version of a tag team championship match, or bring that into the NXT Pit Fight that we saw with Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher a couple of months ago. What would be your thoughts on WWE bringing the British rounds that we're seeing in the Heritage Cup over to NXT proper here in the United States?

Danny Burch: If it can be done, it would be exceptional because working within the rounds system, it makes you think completely differently while you're in the ring. Just as you start to gain momentum, the round stops and you have to go back to your corner. So it's one of those things where you constantly have to be on your feet and it's a whole new, exciting dynamic that you can bring to matches. Again, it's something that's not been done in the states so I think it's one of those things that would really test guys and girls, let's see how much you can do so when you come out of that round, you can just literally jump back straight in. So I think it'd be great.

Mike Johnson: All right, so I'm going to ask you something I don't think anyone's ever asked you before. Do you scratch your head at Oney Lorcan's Twitter account? What's your take on this being that you are the closest person to him? I feel like he uses social media in a very unique and somewhat insane, twisted way. What are your thoughts on the way he handles social media? 

Danny Burch: Tremendous. That is Oney, there's nothing more to say, that's him and he can articulate himself perfectly on Twitter.

Mike Johnson: 2020 has been a strange year but for you, it's been a successful year. What do you owe your success in NXT to and what do you think is the secret of that success given everything that you've been through and all the highs and lows with injuries and releases and making your way back. What's the secret, beyond just pure tenacity?

Danny Burch: It's just hard work, as cliche as that is, if you work hard you'll get everything you want, as cliche as it sounds. I haven't got any secrets. All I've done is pull myself up, head down and just grinded. My mindset is, well if it pays off, it pays off, if it doesn't, it doesn't, at least I left everything in the ring. So far it's paid off, so I'm not goinf to change anything. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Mike Johnson: Just a couple of weeks ago we saw WWE resurrect Halloween Havoc. As good as you are in the ring, you're obviously passionate about professional wrestling, is there anything from the past, maybe an event or a concept, that you would like to see make its way to the NXT brand and presented in a different light but also celebrating the past in the way that Halloween Havoc was presented a few weeks ago?

Danny Burch: Back home in England at my mom's house, I still have Halloween Havoc '92 on VCR, so being a part of that was exceptionally special. One of my favorite shows when I was younger was the Great American Bash and we've done that. Hoping to be on that one when it comes again. I can't really pinpoint which one I'd like to see done because each week we deliver, so it's so hard to pinpoint, 'Oh, maybe we could do this,' it's so hard. Halloween Havoc, it was fantastic to be a part of that, just from the set, the way the show was hosted, it was fantastic.

Mike Johnson: I was actually at Halloween Havoc '92. Do you have a favorite match from that show?

Danny Burch: Oh wow! Jake and Sting was awesome. It was the first time I'd ever seen a Coal Miner's Glove match, I was in awe over it, like "What's a Coal Miner's Glove match?" And it's so funny because I'll always go back to that show and I don't know, there was just something so different and unique about it. Spin the wheel, make the deal. It was awesome.

Mike Johnson: Yeah, I love the Ricky Steamboat/Brian Pillman match from that show, and even though Terry Gordy wasn't there, Steve Williams and Steve Austin against Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham was just a great, 30 minutes of good, physical wrestling, not unlike what you and Oney do stylistically every week.  We're going to get to see you guys do that tomorrow on NXT. Any last words for everybody who has to make a decision not just this Wednesday but every Wednesday as to why NXT should be their destination this week?

Danny Burch: [They should tune in] because you have a group of up and coming very, very very hungry talent and we pour our hearts out inside that ring and what you see is what you get with us, so tune in. 

Mike Johnson: All right everybody, this Wednesday 8 PM Eastern, our guest at this time Danny Burch will be teaming with his championship partner Oney Lorcan to face former tag team champions Breezango plux obviously a lot more. You can check out everything WWE NXT related at wwe.com and do not forget to follow our guest Danny Burch @StrongStyleBrit on Twitter. Sir, I thank you so much for sitting down and talking to us.

Danny Burch: Thank you so much.

Mike Johnson: I wish you nothing but the best as you continue your journey and you are absolutely...to me when I watch you wrestle, I feel like I'm watching Fit Finlay on old Catch Wrestling tapes. 

Danny Burch: Oh wow! I really appreciate that.

Mike Johnson: Or Danny Boy Collins. So I appreciate that you're trying to carry on that sort of sense of the grizzled, hard-nosed tradition of Brit style pro wrestling and British grappling. So I appreciate that and I thank you for that sir, on a personal level. And we wish you nothing but the best professionally and personally as you go forward in this new journey and this new chapter as part of the Kings of NXT.

Danny Burch: Well thank you so much, I really, really do appreciate that...really do appreciate that, my man.

Mike Johnson: And we appreciate everyone listening here on PWInsiderElite.com. For all things again Danny Burch, check out Twitter @StrongStyleBrit. Let him know what you thought of the interview, and maybe you have a favorite Halloween Havoc '92 match that you can talk to him about. So until next time, I'm Mike Johnson, be safe, be healthy, watch some wrestling and have a great week.

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