Paul Burchill worked in WWE from 2005 to 2010, and he was a recent guest on the “Under the Ring” podcast to discuss his favorite parts of being in the company, his mindset there at the time, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his favorite parts of being in WWE: “The camaraderie, the locker room, the friends I made. At the time, with a lot of people there, you’re very focused on staying there as opposed to enjoying the moment and almost stepping what the norm is to stand out and I think at the time, you don’t stop to smell the roses enough. You’ll hear a lot of people say that. You’ll always hear people say about their time there, whether they enjoyed it or hated it or this and that, or I didn’t get an opportunity. Now, there’s plenty of times where you look at someone there and you’re like, ‘Well that person got the rocket strapped to them, why couldn’t this person see what a star they were, or why couldn’t this person get the opportunity?’ There were times when you look at people, maybe they were a star somewhere else, and you’re like, ‘Why are they not seeing it in them? Why are they kind of hamstringing the person and not giving them the exposure they should?’ Honestly, by you being let in the door each week, you get an opportunity.”
On the mindset there at the time: I think at the time, the culture for a lot of people was, ‘I just need to stay here and try to maintain my position here and do what I can’ as opposed to, ‘This is where I am, how do I step outside of the normal comfort box and stand out.’ It was definitely the people and the relationships that I forged. Afterwards, you kinda look back and say, wow, that’s a lot of traveling, I probably didn’t appreciate the cities and some of the places I went to enough because you were kind of in and out. You kind of get in this rhythm of, it’s very weekly and it becomes a slog for a bit. Definitely the different characters and relationships I made.”
