Timothy Thatcher On Reinventing Himself in Pro Wrestling NOAH, If He Still Talks With Triple H

Timothy Thatcher has kept busy in Pro Wrestling NOAH following his WWE release, and he recently talked about reinventing himself there and more. Thatcher spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview, and you can check out some highlights below:

On reinventing himself in Pro Wrestling NOAH: “Well, thankfully as I said, Noah and I kind of share the same mindset. So I didn’t really have to invent myself or reinvent myself too much. It’s just kind of getting back to doing it again, because WWE and “NXT” I left being an in-ring competitor; I was working as a coach for a while. So the hardest part of that was getting back now to wrestling at a regular basis again. So that was the biggest goal. But no, Japan’s been great. Noah’s been great to me, really enjoyed it.”

On his GHC Heavyweight Championship match at Global Honor Crown: “They [fans] should tune in because Kiyomiya is definitely one of the rising stars over here in Japan. This is his second reign as GHC Champion. His first one was when he was 22. He’s the youngest champion ever. He had a hell of a first run and he just started his second one. And he’s already had… just after I challenged him, he had an incredible match with Kazuyuki Fujita. Brutal, brutal. So I intend to bring the same sort of intensity, maybe a little more focus on submission stuff … I’m the first foreigner to get a title shot at the GHC Heavyweight Belt since 2017. And Eddie Edwards actually was the last one to do it, and he actually won the title. But no foreigners had a title shot since then. So it’s a bit of a historical event. It’s kind of leading Noah to a new regime and a new direction, which I’m very proud to be a part of it and I think my bout with Kiyomiya will be an excellent clash of styles.”

On if he’s surprised that Shinsuke Nakamura is booked for Great Muta retirement show: “Yeah, of course Nakamura is a big star for them [WWE]. And I know when we started in NXT, I know previously that they were allowing… obviously the NXT guys sometimes could go other places and do other things. After I got signed I was allowed to go back to Germany and have one more match in WXW, which is greatly appreciated. But then that kind of stopped, obviously COVID kiboshed a lot of stuff. But as you move up the thing, obviously Nakamura is big SmackDown star and all that stuff. That’s a different thing than allowing some of your NXT stars to go out to different places. So it is incredible that it happened. Yeah, that’s very amazing. So it’ll be great, January 1 will be, that’ll be an epic contest I think.”

On if he’s still in contact with Triple H: “No, he’s a very busy man. His and I relationship was obviously a boss and employee relationship while we were there. He’s a very nice man and he’s been very kind to me. As you said, everyone at WWE honestly was very kind to me. I’m very grateful for my time that I got to be there. But no, once you leave a place ,that’s in the past now and if our paths cross again, then we’ll have conversations again. But he’s got a lot on his plate now, especially since he’s in charge of the whole thing. That’s quite the undertaking now that he has to do. So he doesn’t need to be hearing from me.”

Well of course that’s the WWE side of the coin, but man, everybody’s getting in on this. It’s not just WWE and Shinsuke. You’ve also got the door swinging the other direction here. You’ve got Darby Allin and Sting also coming in to tag team with Muta. How does it feel, man? I’ve never seen anything like this with all the companies converging at once. Does it feel special to you to be in this moment where all these people are coming in and affording you and Noah these opportunities right now?

On both AEW and WWE having talent at the Muta show: “As I said, the power of Muta, isn’t it? Because he’s done so much all over the world and all different things, he’s bringing all these people together. So yeah, of course it’s always incredible. It’s always wild when different companies are able to just … They want to come too. It’s not like… it’s on their own volition. Sting wants to be a part of Muta’s retirement thing. Nakamura wants be part of Muta’s thing. It’s pretty incredible and Noah just happens to be the company that hosted and kind of has been Muta’s home for the past few years.”

On the possibility of an AEW and NOAH crossover show: “Of course, obviously AEW has many talented wrestlers there. I believe Noah has a lot as well. And I think some people would line up very well. I know recently like Masa Kitamiya has been asking for a match with Eddie Kingston and stuff like that. So those are very cool things to think about if they could happen and stuff. And I think they would be wonderful for people to see as well.”