Grayson Waller has revealed some unknown details about his NXT pipebomb.
The Australian star made his surprise return to the developmental brand during the July 28 episode of the show. He cut a worked shoot promo during his return, airing his grievances on his main roster booking and calling out the NXT locker room. The promo was an instant hit, and it led to Waller winning the NXT Championship for the first time in his career during the Heatwave special on August 30.
During his new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the 36-year-old spoke at length about his NXT return. Discussing the NXT pipebomb, Grayson Waller claimed that a version of it had been in his head for months:
Shawn let me just go out and say what I wanted. 100%, he let me go out and say what I wanted. I had a version of that promo in my head for months because they’re your frustrations, you want to get them out. I remember I said to him after, he was like, ‘How’d you feel?’
Absolute Silence: Grayson Waller
Grayson Waller: NXT Championship, Pipebomb Promo, CM Punk, Leaving The Main Roster, Shawn Michaels
The former tag team champion also talked about his lack of success on the main roster. He claimed that he could see the writing on the wall for him as new NXT call-ups started getting more chances on the main roster and he slowly started disappearing into the background.
Grayson Waller explained that the NXT return promo was the most important promo of his life because he knew he would be done with WWE if it didn’t go well. Revealing the backstage reaction to the segment, Waller noted that he was met with absolute silence when he walked back because only a few people knew he would be saying something like that:
The most awkward vibe I’ve ever had in my life, because my name’s not on the run sheet. Nothing was rehearsed that day. There’s only four or five people who know that I’m doing that. None of the locker room knew that was happening. I was around that day, but I’m always around NXT. I just go watch the show, whatever. I came back to that curtain to silence, absolute silence, and I loved it because I was like, that’s how I know it hit.
You’re all sitting there thinking, ‘Is he talking about me?’ I could see they were kind of awkwardly looking at me, was he talking about me in that promo? And if you think that, yes, I was. But Shawn, I think he was very happy for me and very happy for his show because that NXT men’s division has been dog water for a while, and then all of a sudden, it just got rejuvenated in one moment, so I think he was thankful for his show.
The WWE star also said that he had forgotten how good he was until that promo and that segment completely rejuvenated him and saved his career.
