Christian Cage On Promo Lesson He Learned From Vince McMahon, Samoa Joe’s WWE Release

In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Christian Cage discussed Samoa Joe’s WWE release, a key promo lesson he learned from Vince McMahon, and much more. Here are some highlights:

Christian Cage on Samoa Joe’s WWE release: “That surprised me. Joe is a super-talented guy. You see it in the ring, and obviously he has tremendous verbal skills. He was a natural as a commentator as well. When you have that kind of multi-talented individual who can wear a lot of hats, that’s invaluable. He truly is, in my eyes, a top performer. He’s not going to have any shortage of suitors when the time comes, that’s for sure.”

On when he plans to retire from wrestling: “I signed a multi-year deal with AEW. I am committed to getting through that and then we’ll see where I’m at. I haven’t put an exact date on it yet, but I know I am closer to the end than the beginning. In a way, my body has been preserved for the past seven years. I feel great in the ring so we will see what happens. Getting this back is a huge gift, and I won’t take it for granted any time I step through these ropes. I am taking it one step at a time and am thankful for every moment I get.”

On one key lesson he learned from Vince McMahon: “One time, I was doing a promo on Raw, and I had memorized words I was going to say. It was Edge and me, and Mick Foley was going to come out and interrupt it. Midway through talking and I just went blank and couldn’t remember anything. Edge was looking at me like ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I started fumbling words. They say you can’t see the faces in the crowd, but trust me when I say I saw every face in that moment. I started to panic and it wasn’t good. When Foley came out, he said something like ‘Did you forget your lines?’

“The next day, I walk in and I saw Vince. He said ‘Great stuff last night.’ I said ‘ Really? I forgot everything.’ He said ‘You’re a heel, right?. When you’re a heel, you can get away with anything. If that ever happens again, step back, take a breath and look at your partner. Ask him what you were talking about and go back to it. Act like these people don’t get to hear you talk until you’re ready.’ It was a big lesson. From that point on, I stopped trying to memorize things. You have to go out there with your own voice and some bullet points of what you want to talk about.”