Buddy Matthews, formally known as Buddy Murphy in WWE, recently sat down for an interview with our very own Eric Novak. Novak spoke to Buddy about a range of topics including dream matches, winning the cruiserweight championship in front of his home crowd, and his future goals in wrestling.
When asked about who he wants to wrestle now that he is a free agent, Murphy called out both Kenny Omega and fellow former WWE star, Malakai Black.
Matthews replied “Who do I want to get after, like a dream umm I will say two alright, I will say Kenny Omega and I will say Malakia Black because there is unfinished business. I feel like him and I will be going back and forth for a while.”
Novak then went on to ask the former WWE star what the main differences were between NXT and the main roster. “When I was in NXT it was completely different then NXT is now” said Matthews “way back when I was in it they called it developmental and you strive to get to the main roaster when now I don’t think a lot of people care about getting on the main roster there just happy there in their lifestyle so there are kinds of pros and cons to that but, I feel the main roster it’s a lot more hectic. In NXT you sleep in your bed every night, you drive 10-15min to the performance center. It’s all very local on the main roster. You drive in the minimum 3-4 hours a night, you wrestle the towns you leave. You sleep in a hotel 4days a week. There are a lot of differences but, I feel like that’s what makes you a true pro of getting on the road, experiencing different avenues. Roman Reigns always told me “that every state is different and you got to read the crowds the same ” it’s all about adapting to who they want to see, that’s the difference.
In 2018, WWE hosted the Super-Show-Down PPV Live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. During the show Buddy Murphy won the cruiserweight championship in front of his home crowd.
“I don’t think it gets much bigger than that” Buddy claimed “It was my hometown, In front of friends and family wrestling on a card with legends like Triple H and Undertaker and stealing the show. Not only did I steal the show I won a title which I worked so very hard for, it wasn’t just oh it’s in his home town we’ll give him the title. You can see the hard work I did and I honestly felt like I earned it and I truly won it because I deserved to win. I wish I had more moments like that to show what I could do in a stage like that.”
To end the interview Matthews was asked about what his goals were now that he has been released by WWE, to which he replied “My goals are too, to be the best Version of myself, I’m 32 years old and I’ve spent 8 years with WWE so I have a lot to offer I feel. I’ve worked from the best and I’ve been in the ring with the best. I honestly believe that I can be the face of a company somewhere. I believe I can help a lot of people and pass the knowledge that was passed down to me like wrestling Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins being around those guys but, at the end of the day I want to make wrestling better”
If you use any quotes from this article then please credit Eric Novak of Wrestling Republic on the All Real Wrestling Podcast.
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