Tyler Breeze Talks WWE NXT - Main Roster Disconnect, How He Feels Going Back To NXT
Tyler Breeze recently spoke with Newsweek to promote Saturday's match against WWE NXT North American Champion The Velveteen Dream at the "Takeover: XXV" event. Breeze was asked how he feels going from RAW back to NXT.
"I feel good. Even if you look back at everything I did," Breeze said. "Filming NXT when it was still becoming a thing, not being there for four years, I don't know how long it feels for everyone else but it flew for me until I stopped and thought, "holy crap it's been four years?" And then you pop back up down here and people make it known that they appreciate it. The fact that I get to do a Takeover, I've been wanting to do a Takeover for awhile, and I think especially Dream and me together is a perfect match and a perfect welcome home for me. I look forward to it."
Breeze did admit there's a disconnect between NXT and the main roster when asked if there's any pressure on showing what he can do since there is that disconnect.
"You're not wrong on the disconnect," Breeze said. "You can even look at some numbers. When you look at Tyler Breeze on RAW or SmackDown over the past year or so, especially with Dango, I will be very realistic?I'm at the bottom of the barrel in terms of how I'm used and stuff like that. But that doesn't mean by any means that the people are not stars. When I came back to NXT, I did an interview segment with Dream where I hit him with the phone and left him laying. The usual NXT stuff when it gets put on YouTube does like 60-70 thousand views. They uploaded me and Dreams segment and it got over 600 thousand views. If you want to attribute that to both of us or the combination of star power that RAW or SmackDown gives [someone like me] that's a big thing.
"I don't think the pressure is there, man. I'm different when it comes to that. I know people say "if you're not nervous when you go out there then you shouldn't be doing this." I'm different, I'm very confident in what I can do, how the crowd will react. I know my stuff. And luckily I have someone across the ring, in Dream, who knows his stuff as well. In terms of going out there with pressure, it's more I'm going to breathe a sigh of relief. Look around, take it in, smile and enjoy every second of it because I'm not worried about us not delivering. I know exactly what the crowd is going to get and what the crowd reaction is going to be. I'm amped for it. It's going to be a good form of stress relief for me."
Despite what happens in the match at Takeover on Saturday, Breeze said he will not become a nostalgia act. He was asked what's next for him after Takeover, whether he stays in NXT or not.
"This isn't one of those things where I'm a nostalgia act do that for the next 30 years of my life. I'm not going to do that," Breeze said. "I'm taking everything that you knew and everything that you've seen and adding new stuff to it. I have a different look, a bit more attitude and, in reality, you're looking at how in four years I'm a whole different person. I've grown up. As much as it's the same it's different. In terms of maturity, how you deal with people, the company everything. And my mindset changes. Going into this match and into this Takeover, which I think my last Takeover was Respect with Apollo Crews, I'm a totally different person and a very different performer. There is no reminiscing, there's excitement for what's to come and I'm not limiting it. If anything this is just a preview of what we can do."