Kemo
12-12-2015, 12:19 AM
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with Kerrang.com to promote the ongoing NXT U.K. Tour. During the interview, the current NXT Women’s Champion spoke about NXT’s growth over the years, the first-ever NXT U.K. tour, her faorite all-time WWE theme songs and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On the importance of NXT:
“It’s really important. Like, even when I first started to where it is now, it’s kind of like a whole different place. If you look at the roster now and WWE, its kind of everybody who’s come from NXT and there’s such huge stars, and it has a lot to do with where they come from and how we’ve been coached and trained and the Performance Center and everything we have there. It’s all the tools we need to have everyone succeed up here, and it’s obvious that NXT works.”
NXT’s growth over the years:
“Yeah, it’s amazing just to see how much, not just in Florida, that it’s grown. When I first started in FCW, we had 12 people there and I wasn’t even used to that. I came from independent wrestling and I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy! How many people out there?’ And then to see it grow and grow and grow, and then just in Florida we’d have sell-out armories and that was a huge deal. And we used to have to bring people into Full Sail, names, to just draw an attraction just to have fans there, and now we don’t even have anybody from the main roster. It’s just us. And now we’re outside of Florida and to see how many people actually show up and sell out buildings of, like, 1,200 people, and the Barclays Center [in Brooklyn], it’s great – it’s kind of like that ECW feeling and it’s really special.”
NXT’s roster enjoying the first-ever U.K. tour:
“I think everybody’s so pumped, everybody keeps talking about it. I’m texting everyone back home like, ‘I can’t wait until we get to come out here!’ because once Sasha and I are in the ring, just doing this stuff, once we’re both in the ring, everybody here watches NXT. I expect nobody to know who I am when I’m coming out on this tour. But everybody knows who we are when they watch NXT. And I’m just so excited for everybody else to be able to share that, because it’s gonna be crazy. It’s the first time ever that we have the special there, and it’s sold out at Wembley Arena. It’s gonna be amazing.”
On her favorite WWE theme songs of all-time:
“Do I have to go in order? No? Steve Blackman, I don’t know why, I just thought it was so cool the way it started out. It doesn’t even have any lyrics, but I just loved it. This is embarrassing because he’s right there (motioning to Michael Hayes, ex-manager of The Hardy Boyz], but The Hardy Boyz. I was just a huge Hardy Boyz fan – and that didn’t have any lyrics, either – but just the guitar in it and everything, it’s just… ahh, it felt so cool. The Rock’s, because right when it’s like, ‘If you smell…’ you just get out of your seat! [Stone Cold Steve] Austin’s, Glass Shatters. I guess it’s how it always starts out, and it’s always unexpected. You don’t know when he’s gonna come out and it just hits and you’re like, ‘Ahh!’ This was never a favorite growing up, but just recently… The Undertaker. I started to really appreciate him. I was like, ‘Man, this song!’ It’s like watching a movie – watching him come down the ramp and watching him get into the ring. Everything he does goes with the entrance song, and he’s had it forever.”
On the importance of NXT:
“It’s really important. Like, even when I first started to where it is now, it’s kind of like a whole different place. If you look at the roster now and WWE, its kind of everybody who’s come from NXT and there’s such huge stars, and it has a lot to do with where they come from and how we’ve been coached and trained and the Performance Center and everything we have there. It’s all the tools we need to have everyone succeed up here, and it’s obvious that NXT works.”
NXT’s growth over the years:
“Yeah, it’s amazing just to see how much, not just in Florida, that it’s grown. When I first started in FCW, we had 12 people there and I wasn’t even used to that. I came from independent wrestling and I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy! How many people out there?’ And then to see it grow and grow and grow, and then just in Florida we’d have sell-out armories and that was a huge deal. And we used to have to bring people into Full Sail, names, to just draw an attraction just to have fans there, and now we don’t even have anybody from the main roster. It’s just us. And now we’re outside of Florida and to see how many people actually show up and sell out buildings of, like, 1,200 people, and the Barclays Center [in Brooklyn], it’s great – it’s kind of like that ECW feeling and it’s really special.”
NXT’s roster enjoying the first-ever U.K. tour:
“I think everybody’s so pumped, everybody keeps talking about it. I’m texting everyone back home like, ‘I can’t wait until we get to come out here!’ because once Sasha and I are in the ring, just doing this stuff, once we’re both in the ring, everybody here watches NXT. I expect nobody to know who I am when I’m coming out on this tour. But everybody knows who we are when they watch NXT. And I’m just so excited for everybody else to be able to share that, because it’s gonna be crazy. It’s the first time ever that we have the special there, and it’s sold out at Wembley Arena. It’s gonna be amazing.”
On her favorite WWE theme songs of all-time:
“Do I have to go in order? No? Steve Blackman, I don’t know why, I just thought it was so cool the way it started out. It doesn’t even have any lyrics, but I just loved it. This is embarrassing because he’s right there (motioning to Michael Hayes, ex-manager of The Hardy Boyz], but The Hardy Boyz. I was just a huge Hardy Boyz fan – and that didn’t have any lyrics, either – but just the guitar in it and everything, it’s just… ahh, it felt so cool. The Rock’s, because right when it’s like, ‘If you smell…’ you just get out of your seat! [Stone Cold Steve] Austin’s, Glass Shatters. I guess it’s how it always starts out, and it’s always unexpected. You don’t know when he’s gonna come out and it just hits and you’re like, ‘Ahh!’ This was never a favorite growing up, but just recently… The Undertaker. I started to really appreciate him. I was like, ‘Man, this song!’ It’s like watching a movie – watching him come down the ramp and watching him get into the ring. Everything he does goes with the entrance song, and he’s had it forever.”