Former WWE Superstar Jaxson Ryker believes that the success of NXT during its black-and-gold era created frustration for Vince McMahon, particularly because Triple H and Shawn Michaels were producing a wrestling show that operated differently from WWE’s main roster programming.
Appearing on a recent edition of the “Developmentally Speaking” podcast, Ryker reflected on his time with NXT and explained why he considers that period one of the strongest chapters in the brand’s history. He said,
“And you knew that. We would go in and sell out arenas, sell out, you know, live events. And from what I heard, Vince could not stand it because the quality — because what Hunter did, and I loved it, is Hunter and Shawn, those two and some others behind the scenes were putting together the shows.”
“They would have our — they would listen to our input. Even me and the Forgotten Sons, they would go, ‘Okay, well, what kind of music do you like for your theme song?’ Or, ‘What do you think about — what would you want to do in this match, in this circumstance?’”
“Instead of, you know, at times on the main roster, Raw and SmackDown, there was a lot of, like, man, micromanaging your matches. And, you know, not all the time, but there was a lot of micromanaging.”
“And it was, you know, Hunter still had the ultimate say-so. If he’d go, ‘Eh, maybe you should try this,’ and if he did that, dude, half of the time what he wanted you to do was going to be better.”
“But he’s very open for your character, for you putting a match together, and, like, the product was just different. And I think that’s why Vince was irritated, because it was just different. People loved it.”
Beyond the television product, Ryker remembered NXT’s locker room as an unusually supportive environment. He said,
“Yep. One hundred percent. Yeah, man. Everybody had an opportunity. And that was the beautiful part about it. It’s just — it was, like I said, it was a family, too.”
“It wasn’t — nobody was out there backstabbing anybody. It was just, we got along together, we traveled together, and we put on a great show together.”
Ryker went on to explain that the physical toll of wrestling had become increasingly difficult to manage, particularly because some of his injuries were causing numbness in his arm and hand. He said,
“I think I had in the back of my mind that it was time to start maybe pursuing other things. My body, when I got released from WWE, my body was hurting real bad. I’d had a neck injury and a lower-back injury that was causing some — causing some numbness in my arm and my hand. Just really, really excruciating pain for the most part.”
“I always told myself years ago, if I got to where I didn’t enjoy it anymore or my body hurt really bad, I’d walk away on my own. I didn’t want to be 50 and crippled. And so when it happened, man, I was like, ‘Okay, well, what do we do?’”
“So, I was like, ‘Let’s just do kind of an independent run. I could go all over these places. I’ve worked for NWA and just do an independent run.’ And that’s basically what I did for the — well, I took three, four months off after they released me because I had a 90-day no-compete clause.”
“And then after that, I started — this was the beginning of 2022 — I started kind of what I called my retirement run. I had a series of six or eight matches and ended in August of 2023. That’s when I had my last match, man. So, I knew it was time to kind of walk away. My body was just not feeling good.”
“No, man. I get asked that quite often. And, you know, of course, when I had that last match and I did the old untie my boots and put them in the ring, and I get to the back and I’m like, ‘This is it.’”
“But I’ve gotten, even since then, three years ago, I’ve had people call me, buddies of mine, promoters, ‘Hey, man, would you consider one more match?’”
“And I am so content in my retirement life. ’Cause my body feels 100 times better, you know. I don’t ache and moan and groan anymore as much as I used to.”
“The wrestling business changed for me. And I think my views in life changed. What was important to me changed.”
“And so it was — no. I just, I sat back and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve given 23 years of my life to pro wrestling. I’ve escaped with — I mean, I’ve had broken fingers and nose and stuff, but never broken a neck or anything crazy.’”
“And I was like, ‘I’ve had a blessed career, and I’ve got to do a lot, a lot of stuff that a lot of guys never get to or never will get to do.’”
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