Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
WWE NXT will present New Year's Evil tomorrow on the USA Network at 8 PM Eastern, headlined by WWE NXT Champion Bron Breakker facing Australian star Grayson Waller. PWInsider sat down with Waller to discuss the biggest match of his career, making it to WWE from Down Under, his time working on Young Rock and more.
Mike Johnson: We are just a few days away from WWE NXT: New Year's Evil. The main event of that show will feature the WWE NXT champion Bron Breakker defending against someone who has truly taken the crown when it comes to being the chief antagonist in WWE NXT. That being Grayson Waller, the Australian superstar, who has pretty much grabbed everyone's attention over the last couple of years and is involved in possibly the biggest match of his career this Tuesday on the USA Network. Sir, first of all, welcome back to the States. I know you were over in Australia. Big week for you. How are you doing?
Grayson Waller: Mate, life is good. Australia's the most beautiful country in the world. So, I went back there. I got rid of the distractions in my head that happened here in Florida, and I'm getting ready.
This, you said might be, it is hands down the biggest match of my career. The NXT Championship is as big as it gets. You think of who's had that championship before. This is everything to me right now and I didn't have Christmas, I didn't have New Year's 'cause I was focused on making sure I'm ready for this match on Tuesday.
Mike Johnson: Obviously we just saw on the Grayson Waller Effect, You and Bron had quite the back and forth on USA Network and you've had some pretty interesting exchanges, both physically and verbally, on social media and on NXT programming. Thoughts on Bron as you head into the match and what this match means to you on a personal level?
Grayson Waller: I'll be honest with you, Bron surprised me Tuesday. For the past few weeks I outsmarted Bron. I know Bron, I've studied him for a long time and everything I wanted him to do, he did. And this Tuesday he ended up doing what I wanted. He hit me, which is all I wanted. I just wanted him to put his hands on me, but I didn't expect him to be so cool, calm, collected, kind of take advantage a bit of my hubris and I didn't expect that 2 65 pound guy to jump over the top rope on me either. So that was kind of wild.
But for me personally, this is hands down the biggest match I've ever had in my life. For a guy from Australia, there's not too many of us here in WWE. For me to be in this position in itself is wild, but to have it against Bron who has been NXT guy for so long. For so long, this whole brand has been about him and I'm ready for this brand to be about me. So I feel this match just isn't about the championship, it's about NXT as the brand. It's about where we're going. It's about where we're going on February 4th vengeance day. Back on the road in Charlotte. Staples, sorry, Crypto.com arena in LA for Stand Deliver. This match means so much to this brand on more than the championship level.
Mike Johnson: You mentioned being one of the few Australian talents and one of the things I was thinking about when we set this up was you've had an interesting career even before coming to WWE. Do you mind reflecting on that process and that life experience when you're in Australia and the goal is to get to WWE and what are the ups and downs of that process for you trying to find your way to the United States. What was that whole process like for you? There's Australian professional wrestlers, some of who make a living but not many who get to make the international leap to be at the level that you're currently at. What's that process like and what's the most frustrating part about it?
Grayson Waller: It's super tough. I went home recently, I did a few seminars and got to train with people from the PWA Academy, which is the biggest school in Australia. And it's tough because the talent is there and the talent has been there for so long and when they get the opportunity like a Rhea Ripley, they show the world who they are. Or even you can talk about Aussie Open right now. They're doing their thing all over the place and it's just, it's frustrating because we can't get the eyes on us in Australia because we're so far away. So you have to find your way somewhere else. And to me, I think this is the best place for me to go. And I had to go on reality TV, I had to do all these things. I had to be as loud as possible just to get the eye on me on the right night so that they would give me an opportunity to even come here.
But as an Australian it is tough because unless you are here or you go to Japan or the UK or you go to these places that everyone talks about, unfortunately you have a low ceiling and you have to do everything possible to kind of break through that ceiling and get somewhere else. And it was cool going home. And my coach from day one was Robbie Eagles who's killing it over in Japan at the moment. And getting to go back and work with him and just reminding myself, people in Australia are so talented. I genuinely think we're the best wrestlers in the world and we just don't get to should enough. So as an Australian, I think sometimes I got lucky. The right eye saw me at the right day, but also I'm very talented. So I'm not surprised.
Mike Johnson: During The Grayson Waller Effect with Bron, there was a lot of talk about viral moments with yourself, whether it be the Iron Survivor challenge or diving off the cage at WarGames. What would be your suggestion to those, not just in Australia but in the NXT system to find their moment that can go viral for them? What's your advice to talents to find and create a moment for them that resonates with the audience?
Grayson Waller: I wouldn't give people the advice to do what I do 'cause very few people who wouldn't do what I do. Jumping off that ladder at Stand Deliver, only I can do that. WarGames, people can jump off the cage but they're not going through the legs. What I do is unique, but there are opportunities and I think you have to take your chances. I think people here and people back home, wait. They wait, oh, when I get that chance I'm going to kill it. They wait and they wait and they wait and then the opportunity doesn't come and then they're not in that place anymore. For me, I take a chance. I get put in the WarGames, everyone thought I was the fourth best guy on that team. But then I went out there and everyone was talking about me at the end of the night. And that's what happens.
People here, they need to go out and take those opportunities. They need to find their own direction. I look at someone like Nikita Lyons. Nikita goes out and people talk about her. Whatever people want to say about her in the ring and things like that, people talk about her constantly. She has found a way to go viral and got people to talk about her. So now she gets opportunities and that's what people here have to do. And I tell them all the time, I can't give you this specific way because it's individual for every single person. But you can't wait. You cannot sit here and wait for chances because they don't come anymore. You have to find a way to take them.
Mike Johnson: The WWE Performance Center obviously a big part of your life right now. What's it like being under that roof and how do you think it's changed you, not just as a performer but as a person?
Grayson Waller: The PC has the best coaches in the world and I don't think it's close. You've got guys, you got Fit Finlay, Norman Smiley, Robert Brookside. I can keep going. There's just so, Terry Taylor. There's so many incredible guys who've done so much in this business and they spend their life giving it back and that's pretty cool 'cause that's something that's kind of rare in the industry sometimes is people who've done things giving back and they would do whatever it takes. Me personally at times it's frustrating because I know how good I am and I work my ass off here. But it is the best environment in wrestling. A lot of people say a lot of things about the PC, but they never been in the PC. They don't know what it's like here. They don't know how hard people work, who aren't even on TV yet.
And now they're bringing in these uber athletes. That's the new thing. They're bringing in the NIL program and these college guys and they come in and two weeks in they're good. And it boggles my mind and it kind of frustrates at times 'cause I had to work hard for so long to get places. But I understand because you have these people who are just, they have undeniable charisma and they have undeniable athletic abilities. So that combined with the best coaches in the world, that's a dangerous mix. And you've seen Bianca Belair and those kind of people come out of here, give it two years. You have no idea what's about to happen.
Mike Johnson: The Grayson Waller Effect has been a great platform for you. When I watch that, I feel like it's almost like a 21st century version of what Roddy Piper would do,similar to a Piper's Pit back in the day when I was younger. When it comes to being given that sort of platform and being given that trust by WWE to be given that amount of time to present yourself, what does that mean to you as a person? What was either the most, maybe the best moment about it or the moment where you realized this was really going to click for me and that this was going to help me be a better Grayson Waller on WWE programming?
Grayson Waller: If you look at people that have talk shows and that they all have something in common in they're just very good at talking. To get that type of TV time strictly on the microphone is very, very rare. And they don't put that trust in many people. And I think they put it on me because they know you put a microphone in my hand, I'm good to go. And it doesn't matter who I'm in there with. If I'm in there with Bron, I've been in there with Apollo, Cora and Roxanne. I can make that happen. I can make it a show. So I thought it was them showing huge trust in me to even give me that position. And I love it. I love wrestling. I love being in the ring, I love fighting. I love hitting other people in the face, but I love entertaining more than anything.
So you give me that show, graphics are sick, I get to ask questions and the best part is that I don't have to do the stereotypical questions of like, oh Cora, how are you feeling for your match? Roxanne, how do you feel, like I can go out and I can start pushing button, lad, and I can watch these fights happen in front of me and it brings me a lot of joy.
But I think my favorite one so far was actually the first one with Apollo just 'cause me and Apollo hadn't really had too much face to face and I got to say some things to Apollo that I know he didn't appreciate and he punched me in the face and that's kind of what I wanted. And the moment he punched me, I was like, I love this. I want to do this as much as possible. And luckily I've had a few opportunities to do it since.
Mike Johnson: As a pro wrestler, you get to control the emotions of the audience. What's the best part of being that antagonist and knowing that all eyes are on you and that you're going to advance things and make people want to see terrible things befall you, given what you're able to do on television and in the ring? What's the best part of having that sort of role? Because to me, Roddy Piper was the nitroglycerin that really set the explosion off for the first WrestleMania. What's it like being in that role where you get to govern the emotions of the audience?
Grayson Waller: I love people not liking me and that's been my whole life. A lot of people just are begging to be liked. I couldn't care less. I don't want people to like me. And that feeling when I look into the crowd and you just see the disappointment on their face that I've beaten one of their favorites is just like, it's complete ecstasy. I love it so much because that's what I want.
I'm unlike anyone else. Everyone else here, even the bad guys per se, they want to be liked. They want the crowd to cheer them. I do not want that. I want them to hate me. I want them to go home and just be so disappointed because Grayson Waller won. That's what fuels me, that's makes me do what I do, which is unlike pretty much anyone else. But that feeling when you loo k in the crowd and you can just see the disappointment on some fat bloke in a black shirt's face like, oh, it's a beautiful thing mate.
Mike Johnson: A lot of people often bring up that you did the Australian version of Survivor. However, I'm always fascinated by the fact that you got to play Ric Flair on Young Rock when that show was filming out of Australia. What was that opportunity like and have you ever crossed past with Flair and had a conversation with him about it?
Grayson Waller: It was really cool. That was my first time on a big budget kind of TV show set. Getting to put on the robe and the gear, had the wig on and everything, man, that was wild. And I felt that Flair was someone that I kind of had some similarities to. We are kind of big personalities, that type of thing. So that was really, really cool. And I haven't had the chance to meet him, which sucks.
The only time I ever saw him, we did, I think it was WrestleMania Backlash and there was a few of us dressed as zombies for the night and we walked past Flair and I just knew that was not the time to introduce myself to him because first of all, he wouldn't remember me. Second of all, I'm dressed as like a zombie. I got blood down my mouth. I look like a complete slob, but unfortunately that's the only time I ever saw him. So I got my fingers crossed that at some stage we get to cross paths.
Mike Johnson: Well, all pants always intersect in this world, so I'm sure it's going to happen. But you mentioned NXT Vengeance Day, going to Charlotte, which obviously big part of Ric Flair's career, Charlotte. Thoughts on NXT going back on the road for the big events?
Grayson Waller: This is huge for us. The premium live events that we've had here have been great. And those nights, the crowd's even bigger, the crowd's rowdy. It is loud here. It's kind of only a small kind of set, but man, that crowd gets loud here. But I think it's time for us to go back on the road and especially in front of those big crowds. Stand and Deliver last year was insane. It was crazy walking out in front of those many people. And it's wild to think that there's so many superstars backstage here at NXT who've only worked in front of pretty much the NXT crowd that is here in Florida. That's a crazy thing. So for them, that's an even bigger opportunity. But I think people have seen the show is getting better every single week. Talent's getting better. We're putting on some of the best shows in wrestling today and I'm excited to go to Charlotte for Avengers Day on February 4th. I'm going to show the world how good we really are.
Mike Johnson: Well, you're going to get a chance to show the world how good you really are one more time next week at NXT: New Year's Evil on the USA Network. Why should fans make sure they're tuning in live on the USA Network Tuesday?
Grayson Waller: Hands down, Grayson Waller is going to be the new NXT Champion. Bron Breakker has had that for almost a year. And we've seen it every show, Bron, Bron, Bron, Bron, Bron. And now it's time for Grayson Waller to take over. And this is when I think this brand absolutely goes off. We're about to rock it forward 'cause Grayson Waller is going to be the champion. And can you imagine the way I am and I haven't had that belt on my shoulder? Can you imagine what I'm going to do when I'm a champion here, when I can start doing whatever I want? This place is about to get wild.
Mike Johnson: Infinite arrogance is what I would think. I want to thank you for sitting down talking to us. Hopefully we will have the chance to do this again down the line. I want to let everybody know you can follow Grayson Waller very easily on Twitter at GraysonWWE, and it is a savage account. If you don't like any of his opponents, you'll probably like a lot of the things he's tweeting. And of course you can see him every week on WWE NXT programming Tuesday's on the USA network also airing on Peacock on the WWE network. Sir, thank you so much for your time and we wish you nothing but the best professionally and personally in 2023. Any final words for everybody as they prepare to watch you and Bron Breakker tear it up on Tuesday?
Grayson Waller: Hey, Bron Breakker can kiss my ass. I'm the next NXT champion, lad. You're welcome that I came on your show.
Mike Johnson: Someone who never tells us what he thinks, Grayson Waller, we appreciate his time and we thank you for your support at PWInsiderElite.com. Until next time, I'm Mike Johnson. We'll talk to you soon everybody.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
