In an interview with The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show to promote this weekend’s ROH events, former WWE superstar Matt “Evan Bourne” Sydal discussed the recovery process from his injuries, his thoughts on WWE NXT and much more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On recovering from injuries in professional wrestling: “Injuries are two-fold, as professional wrestlers we walk to the ring feeling completely invincible. When I step into the ring, there’s no doubt in my mind, there’s no hesitation, there’s no second thoughts, it’s a 110%, full force all the time. If you walk into the ring worried about your ankle, if you walk into the ring worried about your neck, that’s only going to increase the likelihood of something bad or something traumatic happening or getting worse, so when you’re coming back from an injury, the keys are that mental game, getting that locked up and then the physical game’s going to come, because as wrestlers, we know what we need our bodies to feel like. That first match back, it does not feel good, that second match doesn’t feel good, I mean, when I came back, I felt like I was drowning in a sea of super-athletic young wrestlers, these guys were taking me into the middle of the ring, taking me out into deep waters and seeing if I could sink or swim.”
On teaming with Jushin Thunder Liger: “If there was a Hall of Fame for Junior Heavyweights, he would have his own wing, he’s one of the guys who brought wrestling from Canada, Mexico and Japan and combined them into a really magical style of wrestling and that’s what connected with me when I was a young man, the style of Jushin Thunder Liger is how I’ve been molding myself.”
On his thoughts on the WWE NXT product: “It’s brilliant, this is a third brand that can tour, it’s a third stream of revenue for the WWE, it’s extremely cost-effective and you’re giving amazing talent that has a fanbase, a platform that can reach more people, that’s the beauty of NXT, because it just goes to show that the men who walk through Ring Of Honor are WWE caliber people, because there is no difference between Kevin Owens, your WWE NXT Champion and Kevin Steen, your Ring of Honor Champion or between Tyler Black, your Ring of Honor World Champion and Seth Rollins, your WWE World Heavyweight Champion.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
