During a recent interview with Pwinsider, WWE NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed revealed what Triple H told him backstage after his title win, who he’d like to challenge next, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On getting to share his title win with his wife: “It means a lot to me. Apart from the 14 year journey that she’s been by my side, I’ve been with my wife since we were teenagers, so we’re high school sweethearts. We’ve been through a lot of crazy things in our lives to the point where we’ll probably write a book someday, but on my 14 year journey to get to where I am, she was the one person always stuck by my side and supported me becoming a pro wrestler, being an independent pro wrestler, to going to Japan, all the time away to hopefully realize my dream of getting into WWE. And now I am standing there as the North American champion, and I got to bring her into the ring and share that moment with her. And you can’t script those things, they’re just real and authentic and it meant a lot to me.”
On how the success of Rhea Ripley, Indi Hartwell, and himself is a pivotal moment for wrestling in Australia: “I think it’s a very pivotal moment in the wrestling business for Australia. I think for a long time Australia sort of got put on the back burner. People recognized the talent from the UK, Japan, Mexico, and of course here in the USA, but forgot about the rich history of Australian wrestling and the fact that we have a lot of untapped potential and talent in our country. And as a child growing up, watching wrestling, there really wasn’t any representation of my country or fellow countrymen doing things. So the fact that myself, Rhea, and Indi are now all champions, I hope that that not only inspires the talent back home, those guys that are grinding, to hopefully get to somewhere like a platform like NXT, but also kids back home that one day might want to become a professional wrestler or have dreams of being a WWE that they can go, “Hey, look, they’re from Australia, they’re doing it. Maybe I can do it too.”
On potential challengers for his title: “Well, there’s a few people I’d really like to face. Two names that come to mind, Pete Dunne, I’ve never wrestled a singles match with Pete Dunne and Tomasso Ciampa. I’ve never shared the ring with Ciampa either. So they’re two people that I think I’d like to share the ring with. Whether that happens, I don’t know. I know Johnny wants a rematch and I’ve had some pretty good matches with Johnny, so I’d be happy to do that as well. I’m going to be there tomorrow night, NXT TV, I guess we see what happens.”
On his biggest accomplishments since joining WWE and what Triple H told him backstage after his title victory: “I mean, winning the North American championship is definitely up there, but I think the best experience for me is just to have that stamp of approval that what I’ve been doing for 14 years, my journey to get to here, is all worth it and I’m doing the right thing. When I got backstage after winning the championship on Tuesday, I was embraced by Shawn Michaels and Triple H. And as a kid, that’s dream stuff to be able to even meet those people, but to have them embrace me, congratulate me, and then Triple H said to me, “This is only the beginning.” That stuff is probably the biggest thing to me.”
