During the latest edition of the “After the Bell with Corey Graves” podcast, WWE NXT Superstar Odyssey Jones commented on working dark matches in WWE, what he learned from John Cena, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On working dark matches vs. NXT and 205 Live matches and how Austin Theory helped him: “The dark matches, there is just so much more energy, even compared to the Breakout Tournament. The dark matches have a weird intimacy to it. We just kind of play with things….I’m fortunate, a lot of my dark matches were with Austin Theory. He’s a prodigy, the kid is the truth. He’s awesome and working with him was definitely good for me. I haven’t even been working [in wrestling] for three years yet, so for me that’s a lot. To go to the back, the feedback is different because there’s not a lot of people on the [main] roster my size who are working my way, so the feedback is a bit different.”
On learning from John Cena: “To hear the mindset and psychology from people like John Cena, and Edge, and even Seth [Rollins]. Hearing the things they say is huge, even from psychology in the match. I remember being in the back in Gorilla with John Cena prior to his first promo back. I was actually in the dark match before, which is insane itself. I asked him what’s he thinking, and he instantly looked at the screen and jotted off so much stuff. Some of it went over my head, and maybe I’ll get to catch him one day. Some of it got in and one of the things that seeped in was him talking about hearing the crowd chant. Before the show, people were chanting and you heard some Cena sucks, others say let’s go Cena, so you started hearing them chant. He instantly started rattling off [stuff]. I’m not going to give out all the tricks because not every day do you get to talk to John Cena. He started rattling off, looked at the screen, instantly popped up, and saw people that I didn’t see. I figured my eyes would be younger and fresher than his, but I don’t have the eyes that he has for what we’re doing. He instantly just went boom, boom, boom. ‘Look at these kids here, look at this guy there, he’s wearing my gear so I’m going to know…’ I’m like, oh my god, this is insane.”
On Big E winning the WWE title: “I was excited. I wanted New Day to get back together. I’m hyped for him. I got to meet the dude and talk to him. He’s been great. He’s one of the people I talk to about movement-wise and what I’m working from a big standpoint. I haven’t had an hour sit down with him but small little tidbits here and there. I’m excited for the champ. I’m excited to see what he does with it. To me, it’s a long time coming, but everyone’s the best booker in their own head, right? I’m excited to see him have the title. I’m excited to see what they do over there. Bobby [Lashley] can bounce back. I still enjoy watching it every week, and I’m just going to patiently wait and see what happens.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
