Posted on 8/06/126 by Colin Vassallo
Joseph Sawyer, the man formerly known as Joe Gacy in WWE,
sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, Florida to discuss
him and the rest of the Wyatt Sicks being released by WWE,
the group’s incredible debut, winning the Tag Team
Championships, memories of Bray Wyatt, his controversial NXT
persona that became mainstream news, being part of “the most
illegal move in wrestling” viral video, the Wyatt Sicks
having their own attraction at Universal’s Halloween Horror
Nights, what’s next for him in wrestling and more!
Did you have any idea that this might be coming? That you
might get released?
“So I think there was a little inkling. I don’t know. As far
as the group, I don’t know if anyone else in the group felt
it, but I think I had a little inkling. We were in Las
Vegas. It was WrestleMania week, and we were doing
SmackDown. It was supposed to be the big blow-off match with
MFTs, so they told us we were doing a street fight. So it
was the week before we were supposed to do a promo to hype
up the match, this and that, and we did it. We actually
pitched a way to do it, and they really liked it, and we
shot it, and it was actually the first chance, really, for
each of us in the group to have a little part of the promo
because they kind of kept us quiet a lot of the time and let
Taylor do a lot of the talking. But we did one where we each
had a little piece that we got to write ourselves and came
off good. The writers said this was great, we need more of
this, and then they cut it from the TV and they just aired
it online. So I think we were all a little like that’s kind
of weird. Then they told us, ‘Oh, it was a timing thing, ran
out of time.’ I was like, okay. These are kind of things I’m
looking back at now and kind of realizing I think the ball
was already kind of rolling.”
“Then I guess the big thing. So in Vegas, we were actually
originally planned to make an appearance at the Tony
Hitchcliffe show he was doing. There was supposed to be a
thing where we were, I guess, originally pitched to come out
and like kidnap him. It ended up being, Undertaker gave him
a choke slam through a table. So instead of that, it was
supposed to be something with us. Then they told us, I think
it was the day before, it’s not happening now. We’re like,
okay, no problem. And then going into SmackDown, us being
the babyfaces, they didn’t allow us to use a lot for the
match. In my head, I was like yeah, there’s like stuff going
on for the main event. I understand sometimes they have
things planned for other people they don’t want us to touch.
That’s totally fine. Then the big thing was, and I’m not one
to complain about this type of thing, but they had MFTs
going over on us, and as us being the babyfaces, and this
being the blow-off, we’re all kind of a little confused
about that decision. Even some other guys in the locker room
were like, it’s really weird that they’re over on you guys.
So you know, it was fine, but I think just the overall
vibes, just interactions, small interactions I had
backstage, and that whole weekend seemed a little off. So I
don’t know. I had this sixth sense that something was
coming, and I didn’t know what it was, and I just hoped
we’ll get through this, and then post WrestleMania, we’ll
hopefully move on to the next thing and get something good
going. And that is not what happened.”
Can you pinpoint the moment when the Wyatt Six started
losing momentum?
“I think, in my opinion, it’s because they didn’t really
allow us to develop individually. So I think a lot of the
focus was on Taylor, which obviously makes sense. He’s the
leader. I do feel like that if they allowed us to develop a
little bit more individually, like even our first VHS tapes
that were put out early on after the debut. I know Rowan had
a chance, his VHS vignette was a little longer than ours.
But I filmed one where I cut a whole promo, and they just
didn’t use it. They just had me humming and rocking back and
forth. I just feel like if we had the chance to develop a
little more, get a little bit more connection with the
audience. Unfortunately, there was a time when Taylor had to
take some time off because of a health issue. They kind of
pushed pause on us, and I think that not allowing us to have
that little development where we could have carried things
on a little bit on our own, he took the time off, we could
have still carried on and done stuff creatively without him,
and then could have had a big moment when he came back. I
think that was maybe the beginning, because I guess in their
eyes, there the group was Taylor, which I do to an extent
understand, but I think we just weren’t given the chance to
develop ourselves so we can also become more of a presence
in the group.”
How did you get approached for this?
“Yeah, so I think powers that be kind of knew what was
coming. So my tail end of my run at NXT was a little bit of
almost like yeah, do what you want. So for a little bit of
time there, I kind of just had fun. I did me, and Shawn
Michaels had his input. Obviously, it was mostly his idea,
but he kind of let me loose a little bit, I think for the
first time, because I feel like he probably didn’t even know
when the call-up or when it was actually going to happen.
Because when I first heard it was supposed to happen sooner.
So a guy named Rob Fee, who was in creative, reached out to
me and kind of gave me the heads up and was like, ‘Hey,
don’t be upset if your time on NXT TV starts going down a
little bit. This is what’s coming.’ So he kind of gave me
the heads up about it, and I was like oh, okay. And then at
that point, it was like months. It was months later that any
movement happened on it. But yeah, I mean, I think it was
more of a, ‘Hey, this is the idea. This is what they want to
do.’ I’m just like, oh, this is crazy. Yes, let’s do this.”
When you debuted on NXT, it was a pretty controversial
character. You had this character that was like talking
about this is a safe space. I just feel like it ended up
going out into the mainstream media too.
Yes, yes, it did. Well, that was a crazy time. So I get
hired in 20/21 post-COVID group to come into the Performance
Center. Almost for a year, I’m kind of just there, doing
classes, meeting everybody, trying to find my way on TV. I
guess in my head, I’m like, all right, well, I’m here, so
now I have to figure out how I get on. So it did start, my
technical first debut was we had the tournament, the NXT
Breakout Tournament, and I had a match and I went out first
round. That was still when it was like black and gold era,
but then they kind of told us like, hey, things are
changing. We’re going to be starting like a new version of
NXT, and then that’s when the conversation started for the
new character. It began as Shawn Michaels’ full idea. He
kind of saw it the way he explained it to me was more of
like a Scientology-type thing turn into a social justice
warrior kind of thing, but the whole idea was always going
to be that it would eventually turn into kind of a cult
thing.”
I saw some comparisons to Right to Censor:
“It was always supposed to be like I have this nice smile,
I’m a nice guy, but there’s just something underneath that’s
not right. That was always supposed to be the idea. So the
debut, I did my first promo, I did a match against Cameron
Grimes, and it was well received backstage. Everyone was
super happy with it, and then I think the next day it got a
bunch of headlines. I think the headline might have been,
‘WWE pokes fun at the woke left.’ I saw that and was like,
oh, well, that’s not what it was supposed to be. So the word
is, this is when Vince McMahon was still in charge. He saw
the headline and got very upset. Shawn Michaels called me
and said, ‘Hey, Vince is not too happy with what happened.
Unfortunately, we’re gonna have to take you off TV for a
little bit, and I was like, okay.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t worry,
we’re gonna figure it out.’ I was like, okay, understood.”
That’s got to be scary
“I was scared. I made my first debut. Thought it was
awesome. I knocked it out of the park, and now, oh, now I’m
off TV. So the idea was the next week they were gonna kind
of Easter egg me in a backstage, we shot it. I was just
backstage somewhere hugging somebody, I think it was. Show
starts, they do like the pre-show stuff around 7:30. TV
starts at eight, I think it’s maybe 6:45. I get a text to
come to Shawn’s office. I go in Shawn’s office, and it’s him
and one of the head writers, and they have, I believe, Bruce
Prichard on the phone, and they’re just typing this promo,
and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And they’re like, ‘All
right, so we’re gonna have you go out and cut this promo
today. So it turns out Vince saw the headline and kind of
freaked out, but then he actually went back and watched it
and apparently loved it.’ So he was on board after he
actually watched the actual promo. So they typed me out like
a three-page promo, and I had to remember it in 30 minutes,
and that was probably the most stressful time in my life and
career ever. I just locked myself away in a corner
somewhere, just kept going over it, going over it, going
over it. And there was a writer at the time there named Jim
Smallman who kept checking in with me, like, ‘You think you
got it?’ You got it. I’m like, I think we’re gonna do this.
I went out there and did it; it wasn’t word for word but
Vince was happy.”