Big E. Says He’s Ready For His Singles Run: “I Feel Confident”

Big E. discussed his newly-minted singles spotlight in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. The Smackdown star talked about getting time to shine on his own with both Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston out due to injury; you can check out highlights below:

On getting a singles spotlight: “This is all kind of coming out of nowhere. I feel confident that I am ready for this. The interesting thing and weird thing is we don’t have that organic response. I hope people enjoy this run, I hope it’s good and entertaining, I hope all of the people who have clamored for this for years are not disappointed.”

On representation in the industry: “I will say, all of us, truly talented, hard-working Black entertainers, none of us want to get opportunities because we are Black. I’m certainly not saying this is the case now, but I want to show people that I am worthy of this opportunity and this spot. I [also] think representation matters. It matters to see people like you, who look like you, doing well. I never wanted to be put in the box where they say ‘This is how a muscular Black wrestler should perform.’ As much as I love Ron Simmons, I never wanted to be a copy of Ron Simmons or of so many of the Black wrestlers I watched as a kid. I wanted to be a one of one. I wanted to be someone who cannot be easily replaced because what I do is different than what anyone else does.”