Grayson Waller Says His NXT Return Promo Was Inspired By a Triple H Comment

Grayson Waller says the closing line of his NXT return promo came from comments Triple H made about needing to rattle the cages. Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on What’s Your Story?, Waller explained how that idea pushed him to stop sitting quietly backstage, revealed that Shawn Michaels hoped one of the NXT roster would slap him after the promo, and talked about the honesty that made it connect with the crowd. You can check out his comments below:

On Where the ‘Rattling the Cages’ Line Came From:

“The ‘cages rattled’ line is from an interview Hunter did about Cody. They were talking about when Cody left and how sometimes you’ve got to go rattle the cages. I watched that somewhat close to when I did this, and I took it to heart. I was like, ‘They’re right.’ I’m sitting backstage. I’m saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’ I’m quiet, I’m doing my job, and I’m not making any noise, and no one’s listening to me. So I took Hunter’s advice, and consider your cages rattled. That was my version of doing that and getting them to pay attention. I’m not going to sit back and be quiet. I’m going to go out and tell you what I think.

“It’s like teaching at school. You don’t pay attention to the good kids. You pay attention to the naughty kids.”

On Shawn Michaels Letting Him Say Whatever He Wanted:

“I did a promo which was hidden from everyone. No one knew I was going to do it. I wasn’t on the run sheet. There were three or four people who knew it was happening, which I loved. And then Shawn let me say whatever I wanted, which is so rare. He was like, ‘Just go out and talk how you talk to me. I want you to say that to the world.’ You know how rare it is in wrestling to be sent out there and say whatever you want to say, to have someone trust that I would cause chaos, which is what I wanted to do, but not burn down the building.”

On Being Honest About His Failures:

“I’ve never felt more like I was pouring my soul out, and I was honest too, because something I learned, not directly from Punk but from watching his stuff, is that for this to work, you have to be honest. If I went out there and said, ‘I killed it on the main roster, I was the man,’ that’s not true. My favorite line from the entire promo is when I talked about my stuff with the New Day. When they lost the tag titles, we were dressing for a funeral every week, which was so much fun. Silly hats, all that. The line I had was that every week I was dressed in black, I was dressed for a funeral, but the only thing dying was my career. That hits, but it’s true. I felt like if I didn’t admit to my faults and admit to my failures, no one would believe the rest of what I was saying about being about to change everything.”

On Michaels Hoping Someone Would Slap Him:

“I told Shawn what I was going to say, just to make sure he knew and to cover my bases. What I said to Shawn was, ‘When I come backstage, I hope one of these kids comes up to me and says something.’ And Shawn said, ‘I hope one of these kids slaps you across the face.’ He wasn’t joking. He looked like he wanted someone to hit me, and no one did. No one came up to me, and no one said anything. I came backstage to awkward silence. I know people have said things, but no one said it to me.

“But some of the kids have taken it on board, and I can see the change in them. There’s one kid, Shiloh Hill, who I think took it very personally, and I didn’t even think of him when I said those things. But he thought I did, and he found it disrespectful because he turns up every day. He never takes days off. He works his ass off. I think that’s the magic of what I did. If you think this is about you, it is about you. If you think it’s about you and it’s not, use it as fuel to get yourself to the position you need to get to. I think it’s raised the game for the entire roster, because you’ve got to think, Shawn Michaels let me go out and say that about you. Why did he let me do that? I was saying it, but I don’t think I’m the only one who was thinking it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What’s Your Story? with Steph McMahon with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.