Posted on 8/19/126 by Colin Vassallo
Je’Von Evans talks Orton match on NXT, Elimination Chamber,
OG Cutter, and more
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Colin Vassallo
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Colin Vassallo
08/19/2026
Je’Von Evans sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Minneapolis,
Minnesota to discuss starting wrestling training at just 13
years old, wrestling Randy Orton on NXT, being the first
person younger than the Elimination Chamber to compete
inside the structure, possibly being the youngest World
Champion in WWE history, his unbelievable jumping cutter on
Bravo Americano, why his match with El Grande Americano was
stopped, and more!
There are a few numbers that get thrown around a lot. 23,
you could be the youngest Intercontinental Champion. 24, you
could be the youngest world champion. 26, you could be the
youngest WWE Champion.
“I am very, very locked in and focused on that, because I
feel like I have an opportunity to recreate history, and
it’s cool because, as I said earlier, I have so much time.
To me, with these goals, I don’t have so much time. In
general, I do, but bro, everybody’s trying to compete for
something. So, of course, I have a year to be the youngest
IC Champion, but I still gotta go through Chad Gable. I’m
pretty sure Ethan Page wants that. I’m pretty sure Dragon
Lee wants it. I want to be World Heavyweight Champ. I’m
pretty sure Oba and Trick want it. I’m pretty sure Seth
wants it. I have people that I have to go through.”
So when you found out you’re getting this match with Randy
Orton in NXT, what are you feeling?
“So honestly, they tried to surprise me, but I knew before
it was gonna happen, and I’ll tell you why. So before the
match, and not before the match announcement, maybe like a
couple days, we had like promo class at NXT, and I’m talking
to the writer, and I’m like, ‘Hey, do I get new gear for
this show?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, we’re working on something…’
Whatever, whatever. All right, cool. Say less. Then it was
me and Cedric versus No Quarter Catch Crew, I believe, and
before the match, Randy Orton follows me on IG. All right,
that’s cool, that’s cool. Then I’m about to go out, and I’m
not gonna say their name. Actually it already happened,
right? I think it was just Harlem Lewis. Maybe it was just
him. But he’s like, ‘Yo, did you see this post?’ And I’m
like, ‘What post?’ ‘You going against Randy Orton?’ This was
before the match. I’m like, ‘I am?’ He shows me the post,
and I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s fire, whatever.’ Then I go have
the match, and then the ref is like, ‘Hey, stay here, just
react to whatever’s on the screen.’ I was like, all right,
cool, and then I look at the screen. It’s the post that I
saw before the match, and I was like, Yeah! So, Harlem Lewis
it’s your fault, and you’re probably gonna get heat for it.”
So you’re giving the RKO guy a version of the RKO.
“Exactly, which is pretty insane.”
You guys missed the finish of that match with the RKO. I
could just tell how much it was getting to you.
“I was pissed.”
Had you walked through it earlier in the day?
“No, we didn’t. It was literally just us saying, ‘Oh, this
is gonna be a cool idea. Let’s do it.’ He was like, ‘You do
like the spinny thing, and I catch you.’ I was like, ‘Yeah,
I was thinking the same thing.’ But I think just like
position-wise, we didn’t try it before the show. It was just
kind of like a thing we had an idea about. It took me a
while to watch that match because of that. I didn’t watch
that match for months. But also, it’s cool to look at it and
be like that was just a real moment. Everything in wrestling
is not pretty. We’re still fighting at the end of the day. I
just love now I can look back at the moment, kind of like
this. But I still look at it like okay. But I can look back
at it, and say, dang, I learned from that moment. Then even
if we hit that smoothly, we probably wouldn’t have got Randy
Orton moment saying, ‘Hey, bro, you’re the man.'”
So at the end of the match, you say to him, “I’m so sorry.’
What’s he saying to you?
“He was like, ‘Hey, don’t worry, bro, you’re the effing man.
Raise my hand, bro.’ Of course, I was still pissed, but in
my head, I’m like all right, bro, Randy just said I’m the
man.”
When you hit the OG cutter on Bravo Americano where it’s top
rope to top rope, what a shot!
“I’m a nervous guy. All right, I was so nervous about that,
because, of course, you know I jump high, and then he had to
jump literally maybe a couple milliseconds before I jump. We
had the timing off perfectly. Then we did it, and I was so
proud. I was so proud about that. Because I knew that if I
messed up, then of course the fans would be like, ‘Oh,
Je’Von needs to stop doing the dumb stuff. He needs to calm
down.’ But because I hit it correctly, now everybody’s like,
Oh, that was fire!”
You had a match against El Grande Americano on Raw that had
to get stopped. What’s the story behind this? Why did the
match stop?
“So basically, I think before we went to commercial, me and
Americano butt heads, and for a couple seconds I was like
seeing stars or whatever. But I’m from the indie scene. You
get hurt, you keep going unless you can’t go no more. So we
butt heads, and I was kind of stunned for a little minute.
But then I continued, and then we went to break, and so I
went to the ref. I’m like, ‘Hey, look, I’m seeing stars, but
I’m good.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ And then I’m like, ‘I was
seeing stars, but I’m okay.’ He said, ‘Do we need to call
medical?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, we don’t. I just got here,
dude. I’m okay.’ Then he’s like, ‘No, we gotta call medical
because it’s a head injury.’ So we got medical, and then
they were asking me questions, and I was like, I promise,
I’m okay. But because we hit heads and because I was seeing
stars, they had to call the match off. I just got stunned.
I’ve been through worse. But head injuries are nothing to
play about.”