Mojo Rawley On His Role In Snake Eyes, Looking Forward to Life After WWE

The former Mojo Rawley is appearing in this weekend’s new film Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, and he recently discussed his work on the film and more. Dean Muhtadi spoke with Wrestling Inc and you can check out the highlights below:

On being contacted through WWE to appear in the film: “Talk about a surprise. I was so hyped up it was such an amazing opportunity, I jumped all over it. No questions … There weren’t many wrestlers on the roster at the time that had the movie experience. It was also supposed to be confidential, initially. They wanted to keep it as a surprise to the wrestling universe until the last minute. Everyone didn’t find out until that second trailer aired so I really couldn’t ask anybody [for advice]… there wasn’t much time so I kind of came into this cold.”

On acting in the film: “I think life in wrestling helped me out and gave me a solid foundation. We’re in front of the cameras in the wrestling world, especially WWE. You know how many HD cameras are pointed at us in every single direction while you’re doing your matches. Getting a match 15 minutes before you perform and getting a script two minutes before you go live on air and be expected to memorize every word. On-the-fly thinking gave me a big leg up. I remember when the stunt director handed me my scene. I only had to watch it one time before I had the whole thing memorized and ran with it. They were blown away. You get one shot and sometimes one read before you go out there and do your thing. So I was pretty ready.”

On WWE’s promotion of films their talent is associated with: “I don’t know how much promotion WWE did for Sasha Banks when The Mandalorian came out. I think they kind of kept that separate. Sometimes they are all over it. Sometimes they don’t do anything with it. There were a lot of things happening behind the scenes too over this past year, then the release came.”

On looking forward to post-WWE life: “I was just so excited to be able to leave the company and do anything I wanted to do and revamp myself. For a long time, I was kind of stuck in the same spot. No matter how hard I tried and no matter what content I put on TV. No matter how happy they were with it, I was always kind of pigeonholed. So it’s time to grow and diversify and learn a few things. I just turned 35, so the clock is kind of ticking on starting a new industry. I’m just happy. The timing couldn’t have been better. A month after getting released from WWE it gets announced that I’m in the new G.I. Joe movie. To me, that’s the best time ever. Now I can take advantage of all this promotion and buzz and enjoy it and be part of it where if I was wrestling, I would be locked down 24/7 unable to really do anything to promote the film on my own accord.”