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WWE NXT 2.0 will present the 2022 edition of In Your House tomorrow on Peacock and the WWE Network internationally, headlined by NXT Champion Bron Breakker defending against Joe Gacy, who has risen into one of the brand's cornerstone antagonists. On the cusp of the biggest match of his career, Gacy sat down with PWInsider.com to reflect upon it all and look forward. Transcription by Billy Krotchsen:
Mike Johnson: Obviously, this a big weekend for you, a big weekend for NXT. You've had quite the opportunity over the last year in the company. Thoughts on what might be the biggest moment and platform for your career thus far this Saturday at In Your House?
Joe Gacy: Yeah, I would absolutely say this is the biggest moment of my career. I would go on to say being excited for it is probably an understatement. The main event of In Your House on Peacock is definitely the biggest moment of my career, and it's something that I can't really put into words on how excited I actually am for it.
Mike Johnson: You've evolved over the course of your career. I think anyone who's followed you from the early roots where you were immersed in some of the most violent matches people could ever encounter as they scoured through professional wrestling has seen you grow into this current incarnation of Joe Gacy, looking for safe spaces within WWE. Obviously, there's been different highs and lows and changes but I ask about the Performance Center and what's it like going there as someone who's kind of established who he is in professional wrestling on the independent level, and then going into sort of like the finishing school that is the Performance Center and what's that evolution like in terms of figuring out different ways and different perspectives, changing things up to figure out the best way to evolve yourself, to get yourself to this position?
Joe Gacy: I mean, you said it perfectly. Coming to the Performance Center is the finishing school essentially for me, you know, I did this for a few years before finally having the opportunity to come to the Performance Center and I came here probably with, you know, one mindset, not really understanding I guess what would be expected of me completely. But, coming here and working with all the coaches and producers has definitely been the most invaluable experience I've ever had. You know, they completely tell you everything you need to know and basically fine tune you know, for me as an example, fine tune everything that I knew and made it that much better. So I guess you could say being here has definitely polished me to become a better Superstar and all my experiences here have been invaluable. That first day was a little intimidating but after being here and working with everyone here it's been amazing. I honestly can't say enough good things about being here. You know, being here was not a little nerve wracking at first getting to know everybody and hoping people want you know, maybe like me, not like me, I don't know. But I can't say enough good things about everyone here and my experiences with everybody.
Mike Johnson: I've had other people in interviews telling me that walking into that Performance Center for the first time, it's sort of like a scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens where Poe Dameron is brought on to the Star Destroyer and he's like Oh My God, and he realizes that just the sheer magnitude of it all. You talked about how intimidating, how nervous it could be - how do you get past that and get yourself out of that mindset and mindspace to just get into the nitty gritty and the drills and the learning experience that comes with being there? How hard is it to kind of get yourself out of that and get into the rhythm of what they're looking for in you and what's the best for you?
Joe Gacy: I mean, for me, personally, I came in, you know, I was like I'm here. I'm here for a reason. So I'm gonna do what I know and stick to my guns, so to speak. So I don't know, I came in, I used anything that I knew or learned beforehand, coming here. You know, I would say it might be a little bit more difficult for somebody coming in learning brand new. I don't know if it would be more nerve wracking or less nerve wracking for them. Considering maybe they don't know what they're walking into. Or maybe it's easier because they don't really know what to expect. I can't really speak to that but for me as an example, personally coming here day one as nervous as I was, I you know, put the game face on and basically was ready to go and was ready for anything that was thrown at me and I like to think that everything thrown at me I excelled at it decently I guess, I don't really know. But you know, I came in ready to go and I basically hit the ground running as soon as I walked in the building.
Mike Johnson: I think the proof that you have excelled, just the fact you're in the main event In Your House this Saturday. You're going to be facing Bron Breakker, who is quite an intimidating individual physically. He's a beast in the ring. He's a beast in terms of just his physical brutality. You know, thoughts on the match, what fans can expect and how it's, you know, working with or being involved with Bron can help, change and evolve Joe Gacy as the performer we see on screen.
Joe Gacy: Well, I guess the best answer would be...so I've never actually been in the ring with somebody that's related to a Hall of Famer. So that would be number one. So, to actually be in the ring with somebody who comes from an actual family of people that have done this for so long. You know, whether he realizes it or not, he is new to what we do. Essentially, he's, you know, rose up very quickly coming into the Performance Center not that long ago, to be honest and for him to be as good as he is that quickly is saying a lot in itself. But the fact that I, you know, I've been doing this for several years. And the fact that I can still learn from somebody, you know, that comes from that family. You know, his father and uncle being the Steiner Brothers is a great experience. I mean, I'm sure anyone can see that there's a lot of his family in him. But I would say that I actually have learned a lot from him and his family. As far as the match goes, all that I'll say is you can't really predict anything that will or will not happen with me and Bron Breakker.
Mike Johnson: When it comes to sort of that spiritual leader aspect of Joe Gacy, what's been the most important part of creating that? What sort of research did you do to kind of help come up with that persona? What sort of advice did you get? It's been an interesting evolution, especially for people who saw Joe Gacy prior to NXT. What was it like kind of figuring out what the proper recipe was to get this going?
Joe Gacy: Well, I'll be honest, I feel like it's kind of just been inside of me. I don't know if it's so much research or you know, whatever you might call it. I just have never had this kind of platform to be able to express it. You know, other places I've been, it's always been kind of like, whoever you are, you have to introduce yourself completely immediately. But being here in NXT, you know, with WWE, you get the opportunity every week to show a little bit more of yourself. And I never had a platform like that. So for me, this has been great to be able to do the things I'm doing and having a platform like this to do it. It was new to me and it was a little intimidating at first but having it week after week after week, being able to show a little bit more and more and more, it's been very rewarding for me. So as far as, you know, research or anything like that or advice,I get advice here and there from coaches, producers, but a lot of this is just kind of been, you know, me getting the opportunity to express myself.
Mike Johnson: What's been the most satisfying part of this experience being part of the NXT brand and being given these opportunities thus far?
Joe Gacy: I would say working with a lot of coaches and I would say other performers here. You know, coming in, I had never met Shawn Michaels previously, so being able to say I work for this man daily is something that is still surreal and sometimes I have to like, pinch myself even when I'm having a conversation with him. So honestly, working with him, and for me, coaches like Terry Taylor, Norman Smiley, working with them have been amazing. They have so much knowledge and given me advice for things that I've never even thought about to make, you know, little things that much better. So for me, it was them giving me advice on tweaking things that I kind of thought I knew, and making it a little bit more clear and make more sense for me.
Mike Johnson: You've been a big part of the NXT 2.0 rebrand and this incarnation of NXT. There's so much talk about the fraternity that has been NXT over the last couple of years. What has it been like being part of this entire generation of talents who have pretty much taken NXT almost from scratch and helped reshape the way fans look at it, the way it's presented, the type of personalities that are involved? What's the pride level like for the talents who are part of this current level, this current generation of NXT who have gotten to build and create NXT 2.0?
Joe Gacy: For me, I was excited. I was very excited. I kind of saw how things were going, the changeover to 2.0. You know, we all knew it was gonna be something very different. And for me to be one of, I guess you could say one of the faces to kind of take NXT into the next era was mind blowing for me, but it was a challenge that I and some of the other guys took on and just to see where things are now and where NXT is evolving, I couldn't be prouder to be honest. I think right now, everything that's happening on NXT is exciting and interesting. So I don't know, for me to be a part of that is mind blowing. And, you know, daily, all we can do is think about different ways to evolve things even more, take it to the next level
Mike Johnson: Out of everybody who's there in NXT 2.0 right now, who's out there that when you look through the locker room, you're watching the monitors you have just like, I can't wait until we have that moment on NXT TV or we get to go on the road again in Florida like you're about to in a few weeks and have that moment to explore what this could be because I know it could be something special for the fans?
Joe Gacy: So as you said, I'm very excited to get back on the road as the NXT live events will be returning this coming week. I mean for me, it's really just, there's so many talented people here in NXT 2.0, I feel like they only just started. So I mean, it's only just started, so for me to look around and see all of these talented people here. I want to just be able to work with everybody. But you know, times have to be correct sometimes but to be able to be with anybody, everybody at any moment is honestly something that it's gonna be special to be working with anybody here because everybody has something they want to give and everybody wants to make everything better. So honestly, no matter who's in there, everyone's working very, very hard to make what they're doing special. And it comes down to passion. And I think a lot of the passion that NXT has always had is continuing in NXT 2.0. Everyone here has just as much passion as you know, anyone's ever had in NXT. So honestly, to be able to do anything with any of these, you know, people, guys and girls is amazing.
Mike Johnson: So the cornerstone of Joe Gacy that we've seen on camera is talking about safe spaces and equality. So where is the safest space in the WWE Performance Center?
Joe Gacy: [Laughs] For me, it's the ring.
Mike Johnson: Fair enough!
Joe Gacy: Being in the ring for me is the one place where I feel the most calm, and that might sound weird, but it's honestly 100% true for me.
Mike Johnson: Well, we're gonna see how safe it is for Bron Breakker this Saturday night. As Joe and I mentioned, NXT returns to the road. They're going to be Friday the 10th in Tampa, Saturday the 11th in Largo, Florida, and they've got a bunch of live events after that. You can watch NXT every Tuesday at 8pm on the USA Network with replays on Peacock. To find Joe on Twitter and find the safest place on Twitter, you can go to twitter.com/joegacy.
I want to thank you so much for sitting down and talking to us for a little bit. Hopefully this weekend In Your House is going to be everything you conceptualize in your head and it is the perfect moment that you want it to be. And as we get out of here, do you have any final words for everybody who supported you all the way from the early days of the independent wrestling scene to today who've watched that evolution firsthand. You know, do you have any shout out for the fans who have helped you get to where you are leading into In Your House this Saturday?
Joe Gacy: Absolutely. First of all, I just want to say thank you very much for having me, and anyone out there that is a current fan, new fans and old fan, anyone that's been following me from the beginning, I really just want to thank everybody. I actually kind of went through this the other day, I read some mail that I received. You know, a lot of people have told me a lot about themselves and I couldn't even imagine affecting people this much and affecting their lives. So that's very special for me, and I just want to thank you all for following me and honestly, please stick with me because I'm only at the beginning.
WWE In Your House streams Saturday night on Peacock in the United States and internationally on the WWE Network.
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