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Earlier today, PWInsiderElite.com spoke with WWE's Kit Wilson. Here are some highlights:
Facing Rey Fenix on this week's edition of WWE Main Event on Rumble and the opportunity it provides: "Well, that's the thing, right? Rey Fenix has been on this incredible run with the AAA Cruiserweight Championship and he's been proving that each and every match. He gets described as a workhorse around our parts. So, to get in the ring and to showcase myself and to let the audience in to let them love me, that's a two-in-one for me. I get a few benefits from that myself, you know."
What he hopes WWE Main Event brings to its now home, Rumble: "look, they clearly care about sports, and we are sports entertainment at its finest. And I think any platform that wants to highlight that and highlight the company—WWE is exploding right now, so the more the merrier. And I think the show is getting better each week, I think it's finding itself, and honestly, you see things that you don't often get to see on the Raws or the SmackDowns, be that big or small. You know, this week I know we have Austin Theory performing tonight at 8:00 PM, but also by Austin Theory's side you get Maxxine, who's recently turned, dare I say, to the dark side, and we get to see her wrestle regularly on Main Event, which we don't get to see on Raw, you know? We get to see this new side of her. So, I think the app itself is highlighting the show Main Event, but it's also highlighting our superstars in ways you might not see as regularly."
Keeping himself prepared for whatever role WWE needs him to fill: "It's interesting, because I found myself kind of entering that position, and then here I am now getting mentored by The Miz, and that is a man who has done that for 20 years straight, you know? He gets given a little, and he makes it a lot. He gets a segment, and he turns it into a Miz segment. So, you know, I think the key is to stay ready and to just be prepared for anything that's going to come for you, because that is the crazy, the fun, the exciting thing about the company itself, you know? Whether you're a performer or a viewer, you don't know what's going to come next. So, if I arrive at SmackDown and I get told I've got Oba Femi, you know what? I'm going to grab the microphone, maybe I'll have his first match on the main roster, but I'll try and open him up, you know? I'll read him some poetry. If Jelly Roll comes to town, maybe I'll be his first singles match, maybe I'll hit him with some slam poetry, and I'll elbow drop him as well, you know? You've got to stay on your toes and be prepared, and I think that's what I'm always trying to do. And I'm excited about it, you know, it excites me, so I want to do more."
Adjusting to his singles role: "it was a big adjustment for sure for so many reasons, you know. The mental game is just as strong and needed as the physical in the ring. So, I needed to change my in-ring moveset, my in-ring style, and very much the mental game. So, it was a big challenge, a big undertaking, but again, I'm thankful that so much of that I got to figure out on Main Event, and I got to figure out myself so that when I came to SmackDown, and when I almost, dare I say, re-debuted on SmackDown against a returning Matt Cardona, I stole the spotlight. And I did that because I had that time to refocus and change my mindset."
What he discovered about himself in the process: "I guess as a tag team, so much of the act on the TV is about the team, and you don't get to go into too much detail about yourself. So, you're right, I had to dig deeper, and I had to figure out what part of myself I wanted to explore and expand on the TV show. And that very much was the impetus and the catalyst for the toxic masculinity character, you know? Now I'm going around screaming "You are toxic!" to the people that deserve to hear it, but there's a reason behind it, and that is because I got to open up this side of myself, and because of that, I think we've got a lot of great stuff on the TV shows, whether it's the entrance music, the hip shaking, the poems, the in-ring action. It's just been a fantastic experience to kind of explore that through digging deep, as you said."
Being mentored and paired with Miz: "This man is a wealth of knowledge, let me tell you. It's unbelievable. And people kind of say it or we talk about it, but this man is a genius, and he truly is a two-time Grand Slam Champion for a reason, and he truly has been at this for 20 years straight, injury-free, for a reason. And it doesn't matter if he's WWE Champion, United States, Intercontinental, it doesn't matter what he's doing, he's always going to deliver and bring. Has he ever done wrong? I just don't know if he has. So, it's been unbelievable to learn under him, and feel like I'm now following in his footsteps. One day, The Miz won't be able to be an in-ring performer, so I hope I can kind of cover the base for him, you know? I hope I can do him justice."
The most important aspect of helping someone else establish themselves in WWE, such as Kit did with Danhausen: "that's a great question. You know, they do call me the "Hip Shaker," but alongside that, they call me a "Moment Maker". So, I guess it makes sense if Danhausen's going to have his debut match, again, it's probably against Kit Wilson, as with so many other people this past year. I think what it is, is again, I'm an entertainer, so I want to win the match, I want the gold, I want the glory, but I also want to entertain the audience. So, I think sometimes my behavior can encourage or inhibit my opponent's behaviors, you know? I think I'm quite good to work alongside and work with. So, I think when someone you like is opposite the ring of Kit Wilson, I think you're going to see the most of both of them. You're going to see creatively what they want to do and how they want to do it, and I think you saw that from Danhausen."
Wrestling talents with different styles: "It's something I love about this company, and again, as a performer and as a fan, it's the meeting of the minds, and it's the different cultures merging together and meshing, and it's so fun in so many different ways. Very much when I was in NXT UK, there was a heavy lean on the British style, which is very technical, and people call it human chess. That wasn't necessarily for me; I learned it, but I knew that wasn't where I wanted to go with it. But now being on a bigger platform within WWE, it's amazing to wrestle performers from Japan, from Mexico, from all these different continents, and it's the meshing of styles that you don't find out until you're in there, until you're struggling, again, until you're digging deep and you think you're going for one thing, and then a luchador like Rey Fenix is going to come out of the sky with something when you've previously been working with a ground-based, hard striker from Japan like Kiyoki. It's a thrill as a performer, but it keeps you on your toes."
What poet he suggests to those wanting to get into poetry: "Wow, that is a fantastic question. Well, let me say a modern—because we talk about poems a lot, so you think about a lot of old, centuries-ago poets or stuff you learn in school that bores you. But to a modern-day audience, I think if you check out Lin-Manuel Miranda. Known for a lot of things, but known for Hamilton, he's a modern-day poet, and I think he's a great place to start."
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