Pete Dunne On Wanting to Stay in NXT, His Team With Matt Riddle, NXT Moving Out of Full Sail

Pete Dunne spoke with CBS Local in New York about his team with Matt Riddle, the idea of NXT moving out of Full Sail and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On maintaining his vegan diet on the road: “I think when it’s supposed to be hard on the road to be a vegan, I think the key to that is it’s hard to be healthy on the road. That’s the overriding thing, as opposed to it’s hard to be plant-based on the road. So the good thing about it is that it keeps you healthier, because those temptations generally aren’t there. If you’re in an airport and you’re hungry, sometimes, obviously, I have to go without, but eventually I’ll find a healthier, more nutrient-dense meal. So it really has opened my eyes to nutrition from a different perspective. I think a lot of wrestling revolves around the bodybuilding-type perspective on nutrition, whereas I have a different approach; I’m way more focused on longevity and making sure I get those micronutrients in and eating a bunch of organic good as often as I can. The main tip I would give people is do your best to meal prep, because you don’t know when you’re going to get, or where you’re going to get a healthier meal from. But generally, it’s okay.”

On if he has a stigma over his diet: “It’s more legitimate questions now. When I first went vegan, back when I was on the independents, there was a lot of people confused by it, whereas now I feel like people are a lot more educated, probably because movies like The Game Changers. Also, it’s just way more available, every restaurant you see now will have a plant-based option. So people definitely are just way more interested in it now.”

On the idea of moving NXT out of Full Sail to other venues: “So there’s two sides to that, right? When we travel every weekend and we’re out in these different towns, seeing the numbers that show up and how into the shows they are, I love the fact that we get to travel around and bring NXT to these fans in different towns that love what we do. But, at the same time, Full Sail has always been the home of NXT, so many great moments and memories have happened there, it would be a shame to see that go. I think, for me personally, a middle ground would be nice, where we still run out of Full Sail fairly often, but then, every now and again, like we’re doing tomorrow at the Performance Center, we change the scenery, the environment a little bit. But definitely, there’s positives to both sides.”

What about the creative process at NXT gives it such a unique flavor, compared to Raw and SmackDown? It really is night and day, and you’ve been on Raw, obviously, so how different do you see that creative philosophy from a talent standpoint?

On the difference between the creative process at NXT and Raw or Smackdown: “The great thing about NXT is the fact that we get to really be ourselves. The reason that myself and Matt have connected so much with the audience lately doing this tag stuff is because I really am being me, that’s the way that I am, and Matt is definitely being himself. That has that comedic side to it, right? So all I can say, I think the reason that NXT does so well with the audience and feels the way it does is because we’re being ourselves and we’re going out there and putting on the matches that we want to put on and wrestling in the way that we want to. There’s a lot of freedom here, and that’s a real positive.”

On his first impression of Matt Riddle: “I would’ve met Matt years ago on the independents … I remember being a big fan of what he does, obviously his style of wrestling matches nicely with the way I do, and we’ve had some good, fun matches on the opposite sides of each other. But I never saw myself being a tag team with him. Obviously, we’re a completely unlikely duo, so I never really saw that being something that I would do, and Matt said exactly the same. But now it has happened, I’m really glad it has, because it’s a fresh start in my career, it’s something new to focus on that isn’t based around the U.K. title, which has been the bulk of my run in WWE. And I really feel like we’re creating new moments and memories for the audience that are going to last a long time.”

On how long he expects the BroserWeights to last: “I guess the idea with these kind of tag teams that seem a little bit thrown together, there’s always the expectation of, when is this all going to fall apart? But honestly, it’s worked out so well, and it’s connected so well with an audience, I don’t want it to end, and Matt’s the same. It feels like we could keep pushing this, we can keep going with this, and we can help to build this whole tag division based around us. Obviously the Undisputed ERA has done a great job with that tag division for so long, but now it feels like it’s a fresh start, and we can push forward and really build a solid tag division behind us.”

On if he wants to move onto Raw or Smackdown: “No, it’s always been the case for me that I want to stick around in NXT, at least for now. Not saying I never want to move to a different brand, but I feel like there’s still so much to do in NXT, it’s still fresh, it’s still new. Even though I’ve been a part of it for the past three years, it’s changed and stuff so many times, especially just going weekly on TV recently and NXT U.K. being so early in its beginning. I feel like there’s just still so much more to do here. And then as for my personal life aspect, I have a one-year-old baby and stuff now, so for that reason, with me being able to spend a little bit more time with them helps. It really is the perfect balance for me right now. I’m in love with it all.”