Tyson Kidd on His Transition to a Producer, Feeling Isolated During Injury and Being Able to Give Back

On the latest After the Bell, Tyson Kidd discussed his move to a producer role and what that process has been like. Kidd became a backstage producer back in 2017, two years after he suffered a career-ending injury in the ring. You can check out some highlights and the full audio below:

On his transition to a producer role: “So the transition was fairly smooth, to be honest. It was smooth in terms of, I like helping people with their matches. I liked helping talent with matches prior to my injury. Obviously, then it becomes now as a producer, it’s a lot more responsibility than just me as a talent. What I didn’t know, I didn’t realize how fulfilling it actually could be. I didn’t realize that like, I was told by the boss that – he said, ‘Now you’ll kind of be like me. We’ll vicariously live through the talent.’ And I thought those were just some words. And I’ve now come to realize that it’s very real. The fulfillment and the feeling is very, very real. When we lay something out and then the talent go out there – and I love being a part of the creative process with the talent of helping put things together and putting things in different places.”

On being able to give back by helping talent learn: “The two years I was away while I was injured and before I came back in this role, I felt very isolated and very like, on an island all to myself. And it feels good to be back amongst my peers and the talent, and the other producers that helped me a lot while I was a talent. So it’s cool to give back. Wrestling and WWE has given me a very good opportunity as a talent. I just wanna give back and give everything that I can now that I physically can’t do this anymore.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE’s After the Bell with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.