Chris Hero (former WWE NXT star Kassius Ohno) spoke to the Masked Man of Grantland.com this week \u00a0about his WWE release, the Performance Center, returning to the indies and more. Here are some highlights of what he said about:<\/p>\n
The pressure of going back to the indies:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m the prettiest girl at the dance for the moment. I know it\u2019s not going to last forever. I have to be on my toes. One very real thing is people asking, \u201cDoes he still have it in him? Can he bring to the table what he brought to the table years ago?\u201d It\u2019s inspiring for me. I want to show people that I have as much to offer as anyone in the history of wrestling. That sounds a little grandiose, but I feel like I have something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether WWE prefers homegrown talent to hiring wrestlers with indie buzz:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think they give a shit about buzz. They only care about their own buzz, which makes sense. You can\u2019t solely cater to the niche fan base \u2014 it\u2019s a tricky demographic to deal with. But you can see somebody get over with those fans and think maybe they can do it in WWE, too. And they see someone who has the passion to chase the dream, traveling around the world. If you have passion, if you\u2019re a good performer, those are two of the most important things in wrestling, and they\u2019re things you can\u2019t manufacture. Some people are naturals. Take Big E Langston; he has such a perfect match of athleticism and charisma, and he looks like an action figure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being released by WWE:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d been employed for 21 months. They knew what I was. They had a certain perception of what I brought to the table, and I guess they thought I wasn\u2019t going to be called up anytime soon. They had a pecking order, and certain guys who were going to be the next ones called up, and I wasn\u2019t in that group. It was a little vague, but I was told, \u201cThis isn\u2019t good-bye forever; this is good-bye for now.\u201d”<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting fired sucks for anybody, even if it\u2019s a job you hate. So the gut instinct is to be mad, but none of that will serve me. None of that will put any money in my\u00a0bank account. It\u2019s not hard to be positive because I do what I love. When I was 8 or 9 years old my mom would take me to Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio, to see Ultimate Warrior versus Andre the Giant or to watch Demolition versus the Rockers or to see the very first Survivor Series in Richfield. It would be completely different if I landed on my head and got injured so I couldn\u2019t wrestle anymore \u2014 that would be hard to deal with. But what was taken from me? A weekly paycheck?\u201d<\/p>\n
His fellow developmental wrestlers:\u00a0\u201cThe guys in NXT now \u2014 Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze, Scott Dawson \u2014 when they get called up, they could set the world on fire just like Daniel Bryan did. But Bryan did more than that \u2014 he set the locker room on fire. He was in the ring in the main event every week with so much intensity that everybody else realized they had to step things up. Randy Orton, for instance. He looks like he\u2019s wrestling with a new inspiration, and he doesn\u2019t need to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
* Very Revealing Photos of AJ LEE From WWE Live Events (NSFW)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chris Hero (former WWE NXT star Kassius Ohno) spoke to the Masked Man of Grantland.com this week \u00a0about his WWE release, the Performance Center, returning to the indies and more. Here are some highlights of what he said about: The pressure of going back to the indies:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m the prettiest girl at the dance for the … <\/p>\n