During a recent appearance on the “After the Bell with Corey Graves” podcast, Carlito commented on his WWE return, why he decided to come back, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his WWE return at the Royal Rumble: “I felt like I was home. It’s funny, after all these years – 10-plus years – to come back, a lot of stuff has changed. But at the same time, a lot of stuff is the same. To see all the people backstage, they are still there from when I was there. To me, that’s crazy. Not only that, but they were there before I was there. Just to see them was cool, and to see a lot of old faces that are still around. And then to meet all the new kids – not only that, but some of these new kids I wasn’t even meeting. I had seen them other places, but now they’re all grown up. They’re big stars. So, it’s crazy to see where they began to see where they are now.”
On the biggest differences backstage from his era in WWE: “The biggest thing is just the culture in the back. It’s a lot tamer, and I think a lot healthier in the back. It seems like the guys are genuinely healthy in the back, so that was a good thing to see…I feel like the guys are smarter now. It seems like they’ve been taken care of now. The wellness policy is another good idea just because we were crazier back in those days. I think it’s a good thing to have that under control and make sure everyone is on the up and up and taking care of themselves. Like I said, sometimes we’re on our own worst enemies.”
On the biggest differences in the product: “It’s just the athleticism. Guys are way better athletes than my time. It’s a very different product. I was thinking about it too, and when I see stuff on Instagram, a lot of my old stuff will pop up. I’m like we can’t get away with that these days. They say that the business has changed, but also society has changed….some guys are supposed to be offensive and supposed to be bad guys. I’m like ‘I’m supposed to make you mad and suppose to offend you.’ It’s just weird. It’s a different culture now.”
On what brought him back to WWE: “I just didn’t like the way things ended…I didn’t expect it to take 10 years to get back. I just wanted to, at least if I came back one time, I just wanted to leave a better taste, feel like bury the hatchet or whatever. Just everything is on the up and up – happy to be back, happy to be around, and if that was my last time, I was just glad to finally get a chance to come back and end things better terms.”
