Posted on 11/05/125 by Colin Vassallo
Grayson Waller sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Anaheim,
California to discuss WWE’s recent trip to Australia and not
being a part of the Crown Jewel card, the rise of Australian
wrestlers, ending his alliance with Austin Theory and A-Town
Down, teaming with The New Day, what he really thinks of the
Canadian Destroyer, upsetting Taylor Swift fans, recently
debuting a new finisher, who his WWE dream match is, and
more!
On upsetting Taylor Swift fans:
“That was a beautiful thing. And it was just like, it’s
funny what we do. We talk for an hour today. You don’t know
what the 10 seconds of this interview are that people are
going to latch on to. And the same with any interview. I
just made a joke on The Bump that if Travis Kelce is happy
settling for a six, good for him, which is funny. That’s a
great line. I was pretty happy with that, but I didn’t even
think about it until all of a sudden, I have these cringe
mums on TikTok who don’t spend time with their kids doing
videos on me about how ugly I am. And they were saying some
wild stuff, like Swifty fans are mean. There was one lady
who was talking about how I had no lips. Never in my life
have I thought about not having lips, and I’m looking at the
mirror like, do I not have lips? They got my head a little
bit. But I doubled down on it too, because I think people
get stressed about when you annoy the fan base, especially
the Swifties. But I doubled down on it because it was so
fun. They were so angry and so upset. But there has been a
part two to the story. So recently, George Kittle invited a
few of us, it’s called Tight End University in Nashville,
and all the tight ends train together for a couple of days,
and they do a few events. And he invited us to this party
one night. So me, Bayley and Sheamus all went to Nashville.
Went to the party, and then Swifty and Travis Kelsey were
both there. Now in the back of my mind, she doesn’t know who
I am, but I’m like, oh, man, imagine if at some stage
they’re scrolling through their phone and they’ve seen this
idiot Australian has said a really rude thing. So I’m a bit
like man, I’m gonna have to fight Travis Kelce. I’ve said
multiple times, I’ll fight Travis Kelsey. And then I see how
big tight ends are and how big he was, I’m gonna win, but
it’s gonna be scrap. So I’m there with Sheamus and there’s
all these famous people up there. We met Theo Von. There’s
all the tight ends. Obviously, there’s just all these well-
known people. They all know Sheamus. Obviously, he’s pale,
so it’s like, you get this bright light in the corner of
your eye, like you’re opening up the fridge. So it’s kind of
painful for a second. So they’re all coming up and talking
to him, and then Kelce comes up. Here we go. And he was
super nice, Cena-esque. I’ll give him Cena-esque in the
sense. He didn’t have to come over and chat to us. Super
chill. Chatted to us for a bit. I was like, ‘Hey, man,
Jason’s done some stuff. When are we getting you coming in?’
He’s like football first type of thing. So he was really
cool. Didn’t get to meet Taylor officially. She did walk
past me at some stage, and I had to move and go, oh, sorry.
And she said, Thank you. So I think that’s the
reconciliation. A good sister, too. She was just up there. I
guess in my head, I thought, Taylor Swift, she can have all
this security around all this. She was just sinking beers
with the boys, just hanging upstairs. I was like, she’s
good, good for her. There we go, reconciliation. I think the
circle’s done. The circle’s finished. I was like, any, any
girl who’s that famous, who just sits drinking with the boys
and then goes down and does a song on the fly, that’s good.”
On his Mexican Destroyer videos:
“For some reason I think people forget how dangerous that
move is. Legitimately, because everyone does it. If you
watch an indie show, they’ll do it four or five times.”
You took it off the top rope:
“I got backstage, and some people weren’t happy with me.
They were like, don’t do that. Someone pulled me aside and
said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ It was just like, I
understand the risks involved, and obviously I don’t want to
take a move like that, but Penta is very good at what he
does, but it’s very dangerous and it’s scary to be in that
position. And I think sometimes we do so much wild stuff
that sometimes we forget to put in perspective how wild that
would be for someone off the street to be in that position,
that high up, taking something like that. So that was a
stressful thing. I think sometimes you go into, I don’t want
to say go into shock, because that seems super scary. But
when that impact happens and it’s like, Am I okay? Am I
okay? You do legitimately check yourself. Am I okay? Do I
feel okay? Obviously, adrenaline is a crazy thing too, so
sometimes you don’t feel stuff, and then a couple hours
later you do. So it’s like, sometimes it’s a real, you say
sell, but it’s real. I’m like, Am I okay? Am I okay? And
thank God I was.”
On a future dream match:
“I’ve said it a few times now. I’m gonna keep saying it.
Right now, I want Punk. I want Punk so bad, dude. Because,
as I said, as a ROH guy, I’ve watched Punk for a long time.
I love the stuff he did in Ring of Honor. I loved when he
signed his WWE contract on the Ring of Honor Championship,
that’s so good. And when he came back, because I said some
really mean things about Punk when he wasn’t here. I
remember I took a super kick from Jey Uso, and it was the
day that Punk left his last job. I took a super kick, and I
put a photo online of me icing my jaw with a Pepsi can,
which was just like, sometimes I like to have fun online and
cause some chaos. So when he was coming over here, I was
like, This is gonna be fun. What Punk are we gonna get? And
then we’ve got this real soft Punk. So I want to find out
who the real Punk is.”
Soft in what way?
“I’ll give some examples. I go to NXT last year, and he’s
there with Fraxiom watching their match back, giving them
some advice. And then Roxanne’s there and he’s like, ‘Hey,
Waller, want to come watch this match?’ What do you mean?
He’s really helpful backstage, and he’s super nice and all
this. I’m either gonna be really disappointed that he’s
softened, and this is the new Punk, and he’s just a really
nice guy now, or the real Punk is hiding in there, and I
want to be the one to bring it out. That’s what I want to
do. Because it’s like, I guess I was ready to fight him
backstage. I thought that’s what we were gonna do. I was
like this is gonna be sick, he’s gonna start causing chaos,
he’s gonna beat gonna beat up little flops backstage again,
I’m in dude. But now he’s just a really nice guy and very
helpful to everyone, helps everyone at NXT and does all
this. That’s not the Punk that I love. I want to bring it
back out, so I’m gonna get that opportunity. I’ve told him
to his face, I’m like, there’s gonna be a day where I’m
gonna stand across from you with a microphone, and I’m gonna
tell you exactly what I think about you, and I want you to
tell me exactly what you think about me. And I think that’s
gonna be magic, because I don’t think we’ve seen NXT Waller
on the main roster yet. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m being
very fun, but I don’t think they’ve seen how mean I can be,
how cruel I can be. When I really lock in on something, I’m
a different breed, and I don’t think I’ve been that recent.
Just talking about it right now, I can feel it inside,
that’s what I need. If you want to see a different side of
me, put me against that guy. I’ll show you the real me.”