AEW and Ring of Honor breakout star Wheeler Yuta recently spoke with
Watch the full interview here, with highlights below:
Claudio Castagnoli Joining BCC
At AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door, Claudio Castagnoli made his debut against Zack Sabre Jr. He replaced Bryan Danielson in the match as Zack’s mystery opponent.
He was also named Bryan’s replacement for the Blood & Guts match. He received one of the biggest pops at Forbidden Door and lit the wrestling world ablaze with his debut.
Claudio was also announced as the newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club.
The youngest member of the Blackpool Combat Club, Wheeler Yuta, spoke with Jaychele Nicole for SEScoops to talk about his reaction to BCC gaining a new member.
Yuta had the following to say:
Yeah, Claudio was someone that I've always really had a lot of respect for as a wrestler. He's, he's incredible. Yeah, he, he's someone that I've really, really appreciated and knowing that he ended Regal's career and it only made sense that he would be someone that could fit in with our club, he does our style."
Wheeler Yuta on Claudio Castagnoli joining BCC
"He can do so many things. He's absolutely incredible. So, it's really great to have him now as a mentor as someone that I can talk to on my team and hopefully learn from and it's been just great to have him here so far.”
Career-Defining Match With Moxley
Yuta also talked about his career-defining match with the now Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley.
Moxley inducted Yuta into the Blackpool Combat Club following their match on the April 8 episode of AEW Rampage in Boston, Massachusetts. For ROH Death Before Dishonor, AEW will be returning to Massachusetts but this time heading to Lowell.
Yuta reflected on the match and how he feels about returning to the area.
“Yeah, I'm really excited to be back in that area. Massachusetts will be in Lowell for Death Before Dishonor. And then right after that, we'll be in Worcester for Dynamite. So I'm really excited for both of those.
"Before I got to AEW, I made a lot of my mark on the independents around that area. So it was really cool to have that match with Moxley in that crowd. Seeing a lot of familiar faces was really, it was really nice.
And yeah, that was really the career-defining match. For me. It's what sort of kick-started where we're going now and I'm really excited for what the future holds, but it wouldn't happen without that match,” the ROH Pure Champion said.
Yuta on his match with Jon Moxley
He continued to talk about working with Moxley and being in the ring with him, “Yeah, there's something different when Moxley comes out. It's kind of a surreal experience. And I felt that both from being in the ring watching it happening and then also as him as my teammate, so it's very, it's very comforting to have him on my side now instead of against me, but no, Moxley just brings things to another level. And he did that for me. He did that for me.
"And that match you mentioned before and I think he's done that for a lot of people. He just had a match with Takeshita recently, that was awesome. And Moxley just, he's got another gear that he's trying to sort of impart that wisdom on me now.
"So I think that's my next thing is to find that next step that next level and guys like Moxley, Danielson, Castagnoli they all have. So that's what I need to find.”
Training With The Blackpool Combat Club
He also was able to pull back the curtain and talk about what it is like to train with the Blackpool Combat Club.
He said, “Yeah, those training classes are a weekly occurrence. So we're there every week. It's Regal, it's Bryan, it's the BCC and we're running class, we're training, we're learning.
"And yeah, that's something they really instill is you have to prepare. So every little piece of information they can give me I try to get and we do that every week.”
Yuta continued and shared some lessons he’s learned from the group so far:
“Yeah, there's, there's countless like little techniques that they've shown me and I could go on for days about that. But I think the main thing that we've we've talked about is just the mindset of knowing that when you're in the ring, you're trying to hurt that guy.
"For us in the Blackpool Combat Club, our thing's we're trying to leave a mark on you, trying to leave a scar.
"So whether it's, you know, a literal scar that you see on your forehead, or maybe it's a limp, maybe it's something that you get up every day and you go, 'Oh, wow, I wish those guys hadn't done that.' That's the mindset. So that's what we really try to focus on. And that's, that's been the biggest lesson they've taught me.”
Participating In Blood & Guts
Lastly, Yuta reflected on participating in Blood & Guts a few weeks back. He talked about preparing for and recovering from the brutal match.
He said, “Yeah, the recovery was definitely hard, just a lot of kind of waiting for things to heal. But getting prepared for that match was just knowing that you're going into a fight, knowing that you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to hurt people, you're gonna get hurt, it's not going to be fun. You're just going to have to go in there and give it all you got. So just having that mentality going in, I think was the biggest thing.
"We've done all the physical preparation, we've done everything we can do. So going into that match, it was just the mental preparation of knowing not to be scared by the structure, just knowing you're gonna get hurt, but you're going to hurt people. And I think that's how we want.”