Big E recently spoke with TampaBay.com to promote tonight’s WWE SmackDown in Tampa, FL. The full interview is at this link and below are highlights:
The tag-team tournament will continue to decide who will face the Smackdown champions, the Bludgeon Brothers at Summer Slam. The New Day will face the winner of the Usos and the Bar match up this Tuesday. Is there one team over the other you would like to face?
We’re ready for whoever. The Bar was the team to end our reign as tag champs but in the same vain the Usos was our best feud and brought the best out of us. If forced to pick one, I guess I’d like to rekindle things with The Usos. We have a ton of respect for them. They’re extremely talented. And a lot of people are making a strong argument that they are the best tag team in the world right now. And we always want to go against the best. Regardless of who it is we’re excited for the opportunity.
How important is it for these young wrestlers to have a place like NXT?
I think it’s fantastic. It has become more than just a feeder system for WWE. It’s become its own brand. It’s really cool to see how a lot of our hardcore fans have really taken to the brand. It has such a different feel, which I think is great. It doesn’t feel like RAW, it doesn’t feel like Smackdown. There is so much talent there. I think it’s great to have it in Central Florida. It’s cool. When I was in NXT five years ago, we didn’t travel nationally. And not only are they traveling and doing shows around the country, but they’re doing tours of Japan and Europe. And people across the world have taken to NXT so passionately.
Factions don’t seem to last very long these days in the world of professional wrestling. Your team, The New Day, debuted in 2014. Why do you think the group lasted?
Honestly, one of the biggest things is we’re pretty selfless amongst ourselves. We wanted to make it clear from the beginning there is no leader. Not hogging the spotlight and believing in the group as a whole. With wrestling and entertainment as a whole, there’s always egos and it’s hard to remain humble, remain a group centric. That doesn’t always happen and for us it’s been fairly easy. There’s no bickering. There’s no battling. I’m not saying we don’t have different ideas sometimes. But were always able to discuss it. We’re always trying to think of what’s next. There’s no complacency. There’s no feeling we made it and it’s time to coast. We’re always trying to push for new ideas. Trying to get better in the ring. We fought tooth and nail from the very beginning. We weren’t three guys the office put together. We were three guys on our own, whose career was stalling. We needed to do something and that was what fortified it.
