Roderick Strong‘s time in WWE NXT was very important in helping him prepare for what he’s doing now in All Elite Wrestling.
AEW International Champion Roderick Strong recently sat down with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard. Strong was known for his in-ring work in Ring Of Honor, but got a chance to do more character work in NXT.
Strong was asked if going from NXT to AEW was easier than the transition from ROH to NXT. He agreed, crediting working with Shawn Michaels in NXT and his work with the Diamond Mine for helping to prepare him for what he’s doing now.
“100% and something I loved — working with Shawn [Michaels]. Shawn Michaels is the man,” Roderick Strong said. “Being able to work with him for those couple of years. Our class with him, four days a week for a couple of years, and then just constant conversation.
“When it came to the Diamond Mine stuff, giving me more of a chance to do longer promos, try to become more vulnerable, and stuff, it really prepared me for AEW and something that I’ve said. But like just having my son and doing things that I never thought I would do in public places because he asked me to do it really helped me not be shy and tense when it comes to that.
“I just didn’t realize how much value that had until I was there, man. I will pretty much do whatever. So it was so much easier. Going to WWE, I just couldn’t be who I was in PWG. I felt like I just had to be who I was prior and just trying to be the wrestler.
“Thankfully, I had the opportunity for them to let me tell my story of my childhood and crafting it for people to understand why I am the way I am more and how obviously, in my head, didn’t want to do it as a good guy. I wanted to do it as a bad guy. But it all eventually worked itself out.”
When asked if he has any desire to work with Stokely Hathaway again, Strong was all for it.
“Oh, of course. Stokely was awesome. Our little time together. It was during a challenging time for him, for me, for everybody. But he’s got a really good mind for wrestling. He’s funny as can be. And yeah, of course.”
You can check out our complete interview with Roderick Strong in the embedded video below.
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