WWE NXT UK star, Eddie Dennis recently spoke with Give Me Sport about his career in wrestling so far and joining the NXT UK roster.
On his wrestling idols:
“When I was growing up, my favorites were your Stone Colds [Steve Austin] and your Shawn Michaels and people like that,” Dennis recalled. “As I got into pro wrestling, and you talk more about influences, then I probably got interested in independent wrestling and it was your Chris Heros, your Nigel McGuinness’ and people like that I took influences from as opposed to being just a fan.”
Joining the NXT UK roster:
“I left teaching in the July and I set myself targets to see where I was in the first 12 months to assess if this was a viable option. One of the big targets was to get a tryout with the WWE. I tried out in the November and William Regal ran my tryout, so I met Regal there and made my initial connection with the WWE, but was very much of the mindset that something regional to the UK would have to launch for me to have a real shot at being involved.”
Why fans should watch next week:
“I’d tell them [fans]to tune in on Wednesday and they’ll realise it’s a WWE level of production, but it’s got a distinctly British feel to it. It’s almost entirely British talent – we’ve got a couple of international talents – but its very much got a British flavour to it but that WWE sheen and polish on the top of it. So, if you’re a fan of British wrestling, there’s no way you’re not going to blown away by what you see on Wednesday and hopefully, it’s going to open a bunch of other peoples eyes who weren’t aware of how terrific the British wrestling scene is.”
His injury:
“But then in January, I ruptured my pectoral muscle, so I couldn’t wrestle for six months,” Dennis explained. “During my road to recovery is when the WWE contacted me about the formation of NXT UK and being apart of that and that’s why when the second UK tournament came along, I was under the employment of the WWE but I still wasn’t cleared to wrestle.”
Give Me Sport