In a recent appearance on the “Celebrity Jobber” podcast, Xavier Woods recalled his first match for Impact Wrestling and how AJ Styles helped him secure a contract with WWE’s rival promotion.
Woods replaced Pacman Jones to team with R-Truth against Styles and Travis Tomko at Bound for Glory 2007. Woods said,
“I was in college, I was a senior, and my goal was to try to get a contract with a major wrestling organization before I graduated. I ended up getting a shot on a big show because a guy by the name of AJ Styles vouched for me. He vouched for me, and I was in this match, sight unseen, and they let me wrestle on TV on the largest show of the year for them and I was in the first match against AJ and his tag team partner, and I was teaming with R-Truth. After that, I got a contract, and I hit my goal. I was a contracted TV wrestler before I graduated college because AJ took a chance on me. One of my good friends, Sal Rinauro, he hit me up and said, ‘AJ has been in a tag team for a minute, he wants to go back to singles and get in ring shape for that. Do you want to come train with us?’ It was about two hours from where I was. I asked my boss, I worked in a daycare at the time, she knew how much I wanted to be a wrestler. She gave me the week off work, and I went up there every day and we worked out for four or five hours each day. After that, he called me up and said, ‘Are you busy this weekend?’ ‘No.’ He got me on the show and we went from there. It’s nothing but love to AJ.”
In a recent appearance on the “Lazy Booking” podcast, WWE alumni Tyler Breeze revealed the advice Dolph Ziggler shared with him when he moved up to the main roster in 2015.
Breeze debuted on SmackDown that year and began a feud with Ziggler. Breeze said,
“I remember Dolph explained this to me before — as soon as I got up to SmackDown, actually. He went, ‘Look, man,’ he goes, ‘This is the thing. You can see very clearly who their guys are, and you can see very clearly who their guys are not. You and me? We are not their guys.’ I was kind of in that same category. KENTA comes over from Japan [to “NXT” in 2015], I’m working him for like six months and showing what he can do.”
In addition, Ziggler told Breeze that not being the top guy also has its own benefits. For instance, guys like Breeze and Ziggler get to have a cult following with fans who remain loyal and rely on them for good matches and promos, irrespective of their wins or losses.
