PJ Black Reveals He Turned Down Contract Offer to NXT, Says He’s Happier With Creative Freedom in ROH

– WrestlingInc.com recently interviewed PJ Black (aka former WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel) for WINCLY TV. During the interview, Black revealed that he turned down an opportunity to return to NXT. Below are some highlights.

PJ Black on starting in WWE’s developmental territory of FCW: “That was a dream come true for me and, in fact, that was the best year of my life. I moved to the U.S. and I had no bills. I didn’t have a car payment or a mortgage payment. They moved me to this house and Florida and I got to wrestle every single day with my friends. I went to the gym, to wrestling shows and tanned. That was my life for 10 months.”

PJ Black on starting on the main roster with the Nexus: “At the time we didn’t know how big it was gonna be and how cool it was gonna be. Later on, we realized that when people backstage that had been working there for 30-40 years came up to us and were like, ‘This is new. This is something different.’ I wish it ran a little bit longer as we didn’t even get the WrestleMania moment. But it’s all history now.”

PJ Black on turning down an offer to return to NXT and if he’s happy in ROH: “Totally, totally happy. So happy. I had an opportunity to go back to NXT. It was the same money for 200 shows more, so really that was a no-brainer for me. I have creative freedom and freedom outside because I do a lot of things outside of wrestling that they let me do whenever. And with creative freedom in wrestling – just to be yourself [is important].”

Black on why he prefers ROH: “I love the storytelling of ROH and the old-school Code of Honor of shaking hands before and after matches. I feel like fans appreciate wrestling different now than they did years ago. …As NXT shows, in-ring performance is very important right now and that’s what I like about wrestling; it keeps on evolving.”