New Smackdown Live star Tye Dillinger was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone. You can check out highlights below, and the full interview at this link.
WWE developmental career:
"In the beginning, there was a great deal of frustration. Developmental was so different at the time. Now, I don't even consider NXT a developmental system. It's its own brand. So many guys were able to develop a following while in NXT. Look at guys like Finn Balor, or Kevin Owens, or even Seth Rollins in the early days. Look at the Royal Rumble. I came out at the number 10 spot, and there was a great reaction. That's just a testament to how far NXT has come in a very short amount of time. My first time around in WWE, there wasn't the WWE Network. We weren't as big. It was much harder to crack through and get to the audience. There was much more of a competitive nature. It was just really hard to break through that glass ceiling. Now, we're worldwide. NXT is worldwide. It's still competitive to get to the WWE of course, but with that following, we want to put on a great product no matter where we are. There's such a big difference between then and now. I wake up and thank myself every day that I was given a second opportunity."
Potential Smackdown opponents:
"I've been thinking about this, and I have a top four, in no particular order. One guy I had on the list actually just got shipped over to Raw, and he was at the top of my list, and that's The Miz. Miz is one guy I'd like to work with, because I think we could do some pretty incredible things. At the moment though, on Smackdown, in no particular order: Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton and AJ Styles. Ziggler I've known for years. We used to work together way way back in the FCW days. Tyler Breeze is an incredible talent. I worked with him a little bit in NXT, but not to the level where I had hoped. That guy is severely underrated as a talent. AJ Styles and Randy Orton, I've never worked with them before. I don't need to give you any of their accolades, the world knows them already. Those two right now are the best at what we do in this industry. They're the top of the top."
