WWE NXT Superstar Dante Chen was recently interviewed by Yahoo Philippines and discussed his debut for NXT on Tuesday night and being the first official WWE Superstar based out of Singapore. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his NXT debut: “When I saw all the support from online social media after my debut, it was very heartwarming. But at the same time, I don’t want this to be the pinnacle of what I have achieved in the WWE. I wasn’t thinking too much about celebrating after my debut, in fact I was already thinking about the next things I would have to do to make the next step (of my WWE career). I get it that it’s very exciting for me and for Singapore for this moment to happen, but I have to continue to do things that will be able to keep eyes on not just me, but on NXT.”
On getting word about his debut the day it happened: “I didn’t even know that I was scheduled to compete, or even who my opponent will be, until the very day itself. I was asked to be at the arena at 11am, and a couple of hours later, I was told that I would be making my debut facing Trey. There were only a couple more hours to prepare by then. I’ve known Trey as we’re all under the same umbrella of the WWE Performance Center, so we met and had a quick huddle to work out what we wanted to do in the match. Then it was like ‘good luck and see you later’.”
On learning at the WWE Performance Center: “I’ve been competing in Singapore for many years, and I found myself plateauing in terms of improvement. So I came into the Performance Center with an open mind to learn as many things as possible. Sometimes, I even had to un-learn what I’ve been taught in the past, and re-learn the basics again, just to get things right. My daily routine consists of ring trainings and gym sessions. On Sundays, we have what we call ‘style sessions’ whereby we watch footage and analyse what we did right or did wrong. On top of all these, we have training matches a couple of times a month. It’s a lot of things to learn, but it was really eye-opening for me.”
