Blake Christian on his run in NXT and whether he would return, working with Paul “Triple H” Levesque and William Regal, a gimmick that was pitched for him that another wrestler is using now

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Blake Christian
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com

How much he was used throughout his time in NXT: “I think everybody wishes they could be used more, you know? I know a lot of people get bitter about certain things like this, I’m not bitter at all. I’m very grateful for the time that I had and the stuff I got to do. Anytime that I was told that I’m getting this amount of time or I’m having to do this, I always tried to push the boundaries a little bit. I had pushed so much that they eventually gotta give me something. No matter what amount of time that I had on screen, I always made the most out of it no matter what. Do I wish I could have been used more? Of course, but I’m not bitter about the amount of time that I got.”

On a potential return to the company: “You know, I feel like there’s a lot of things that I need to do out here first, but I’m not opposed to ever going back to WWE. Never say never.”

On Triple H and NXT: “Triple H was there [NXT] when I started. Obviously, the first match with Kushida or whatever. This one gimmick was pitched to me that I was totally okay with, you know? At the time, I wanna be on TV and used the best way I can so maybe this is it so they pitched it to me and Triple H shot it down. He’s like, ‘No. This guy’s a wrestler, let’s let him wrestle. Put him in there with Kushida,’ and I’m very grateful for that. I got that opportunity. But when 2.0 came around, that’s when Triple H was out with the heart issues or whatever. He was recovering from that and really, we just — we didn’t take our business to him because he’s recovering with his family so it was Shawn’s show. So Shawn [Michaels] was running things and we had made a video for Triple H and stuff like that but, yeah, Triple H was there for the beginning of it, not towards the end.”

On a planned gimmick change: “I prefer not to [say what the pitched gimmick was]. It’s out there on TV now but, yeah, the guy they gave it to is a tremendous wrestler and I love him to death so very much. I’m very thankful that they gave it to somebody that would do well with it. When we first talked about it, it was like they were shooting it down because that’s not what NXT was but NXT became something different when it became 2.0. It was more colors, more young audience, stuff like that. So, the gimmick very much hit this 2.0 audience and they were all for it, even John Laurinaitis was high on me too, but, you know, things just don’t work out and sometimes you get cut. It’s okay, it’s a part of life. I knew what I was signing up for when I signed that contract. Like I said, I didn’t wanna live my WWE career in fear of getting released. I wanted to have fun so, it is what it is.”

William Regal being good him: “Even when I got released, he shot me a text and he’s like, ‘Anytime you ever need me to watch some of your stuff, anytime you need anything, just reach out to me’ so, he’s always been very good to me.”

Keeping his name in WWE/NXT: “I asked [if I could keep ‘Blake Christian’ in WWE]. But my real name is like that so they’re like, ‘Oh, we can’t own a real name.’ But, I did ask them. But yeah, it just didn’t work out.”

Other topics include breaking into the business, WWE, NXT, Triple H, getting signed, getting released, Game Changer Wrestling, Jon Moxley, Matt Cardona, Minoru Suzuki, IMPACT, ROH, AEW, Tony Khan, and more. H/T Andrew Thompson for partial transcription.