Tyson Kidd On Original Idea For In-Ring Return In WWE, The Reason Vince McMahon Turned It Down

In a recent interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Tyson Kidd discussed the original idea for his in-ring return in WWE, the reason Vince McMahon turned it down, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Tyson Kidd on pitching his in-ring return in WWE at last year’s Royal Rumble: “The truth is I won’t wrestle again. I tried doing one Royal Rumble and a lot of thought went into it, but it got turned down. I’m not mad at it. It’s kind of funny the way Vince laid it out. He’s like we can control everything we can in our power, but what if something happens? What if something we can’t control happens? I didn’t say this, but where my mind went was say someone jumped the guardrail and pushes me from behind while I’m on the steps or something, and it shocks me back. That’s just where my mind went. Then you fast forward three months after Vince and I had this phone call – that guy is taking Bret out at the Hall of Fame. I mind, I was like I had this vision and that was me getting taken down. As soon as I saw that, I was like this is exactly what happened in my mind. I don’t know if this was what Vince was talking about, but this is what I interpreted it as in my mind.”

Tyson Kidd on why he wanted to return in Phoenix: “Not just return but give me a chance to write the final paragraph of my in-ring chapter. For me, I feel like I have a funny connection with Phoenix. We had that WrestleMania there where we clotheslined Vince, and then the next night, Harry and I wrestled Miz and Big Show. And then I’ve had a lot of other matches there – I had a six-man tag there on Superstars once – myself, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel against The Usos and Trent Beretta. In terms of like hidden gems of my matches, that one probably takes the cake. That’s the first time we did the superplex to the floor, and we got a standing ovation from that.”

On why a Royal Rumble match would’ve made sense for his return: “I always had it in my head to at least approach it and see how I felt with my neck and stuff. I knew the secret with the Royal Rumble is that I could do it and not have to take any bumps. That’s the big thing – I can hit the ropes, I can springboard. That’s OK. Probably a springboard and landing on my feet is probably not great for my neck, but bumping is the thing that stops me. I train these guys and it’s so fun to be in the ring – it’s literally lit such a fire. It’s so crazy, and this pandemic caused some of my best work as a producer for some reason. It’s all just lit this fire in me. I can kind of chain wrestle a little bit with these guys and show them a couple of things, but when it comes to the actual bump – now I know how these super actors feel. I can do the scene, and then when it comes to the bump, it’s like, ‘Cut! Stuntman, I need you in here.’ I need a stuntman now.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling JR with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.