In an interview with The Miami Herald, Uhaa Nation (Sesugh Uhaa) spoke about getting advice from WWE stars before he signed with NXT. Here are highlights:
On getting into sports: “I went to a military high school. Sports were my outlet and a way to get away from the military life. I wanted to play all year long. Athletics have always been my life. I didn’t want any point in time where I wasn’t doing something. I would go from one season to the next. At one point, I was doing two sports in one season.”
On pressure coming into NXT: “There is extra motivation for sure. It doesn’t take a lot for me to be motivated. First thing I’m thinking about when waking up in the morning is the want to learn something new or do better than I did the day before. As far as pressure, I try to keep a level head and not worry about what others say. I focus on what I got to do. I know what I bring to the table. I know there are certain rules and steps you have to take. I know I have to keep focused on not only what I want, but what they want for me. There are a lot of outside factors when it comes to this where people want certain things from you. You see people who may not live up to certain hype because all these people have these expectations for them, but they let outside forces affect them. I try to ignore that and do the best I can to the best of my ability, keeping in my mind that it’s not all on me. I also have to be patient and work with the coaching and rules that go along with being an NXT recruit.”
On getting advice from NXT stars: “Kevin Owens was one of the guys I talked to leading up to this process. There was also Finn Balor and Chris Masters, who I became friends with doing work in England. Just talking to them about not just the tryout, but being a part of the roster. Things you had to do to get here. One of the recent conversations was with Kevin Owens because he did one not too long before mine. A good friend of mine, Ricochet, offered advice as well. Kevin and others just told me to be myself and work hard, help other guys, be a leader and things of that nature. It was good to get to talk to them and see how they felt about the tryouts and being here. These were guys who have been on the indies for years and made that transition. In my mind, they made it possible for me to make that transition as well.”
