Tyson Kidd Tried To Get Cleared For a Royal Rumble Appearance In The Past

In an interview with Conversations with Love, Tyson Kidd revealed that he once tried to get cleared to wrestle in a Royal Rumble match but ultimately it didn’t work out. Kidd has been retired since 2015 after suffering a spinal injury when taking a muscle buster from Samoa Joe. In 2017, he was hired by WWE as a producer. Here are highlights:

On if he knew the plan for his team with Cesaro before it ended: “No, honestly. If I did, I’d have no problem sharing. I honestly don’t know anything in terms of long-term plans. I know when we lost the titles at Extreme Rules to the New Day in Chicago – which, that’s where I lost my tag titles with Harry as well, so there’s something about that building. No, those are amazing fans, I loved wrestling there, but I apparently can’t hold on to my tag titles there. That day, what I will say, that day I remember Cesaro and I wanted to go meet with Vince because we just wanted to get a grasp on where everything was going, and a lot of people came out of the meeting and they told us that the idea was we would be, we would kind of be the tag team, like the nucleus in the middle, and everybody would kind of work around us, through us. So, I don’t know. At least in April 2015, May, in that area, that was the plan. Those New Day matches were so much fun. Man, when I was home hurt, watching New Day, like how much – especially in like 2015, 2016, 2017, I was like ‘man, I want to be part of this New Day. I was a part of it. I want to be a part of this so bad.’ There was the one time that we (came) back after the 2-out-of-3 falls match in Extreme Rules in Baltimore, and I thought Vince was maybe gonna get mad at something, because he has a very good eye for this, and sometimes, something – you can do a 30-minute match, but something stuck out in his mind at minute six, and he can’t let it go, and you’re gonna hear about it when you get back. I remember we get back, and I thought the match was very good. He’s like ‘y’know, I’m going to have to start charging you guys!’ And I was like ‘oh, man, are we getting fined for something? What’d I do?’ And then, he was talking to New Day, and he was like ‘you guys are having way too much fun wrestling these guys,’ and points to me and Cesaro. I was like ‘yeah. I’ll take it!’”

On if he’s tried to make an in-ring return: “It’s funny, man, and I know it’s going to keep happening as different guys come back throughout the years. Like, when Bryan (Daniel Bryan) came back, I got a lot of tweets and a lot of messages, and now with Edge, and now I get a lot including both of them. I get it. The difference is I just have a very different injury. If you look at Edge, his neck surgery’s through the front of his neck because, as weird as this sounds – like, this sounds, I almost hate saying it, but like, where his fusions were, that’s almost the – this is the part I hate saying, because it just sounds so dumb, but it’s almost where the normal fusions in wrestling are, between your C5, your C6 and your C7. I have my C1 and C2 fused, which is as high up as it goes. That’s why mine’s in the back of my neck, they didn’t go through the front. But, my surgeon was amazing and he did save a lot of the muscle. And, I know – I get it. People will see, they know, especially I have Workhose Fitness, (a) supplement company that I’ve created. So, I post a lot of workout videos, and you see pictures of me in shape, and I am in physical shape in terms of working out in a gym. (It’s) very different than ring shape. I’m sure I’m in horrible ring shape right now, but I do attack that damn assault bike daily, so maybe I would be alright. But, (it’s) very different between looking good wearing a pair of shorts in my garage and wrestling in a ring. It’s very, very different. I did, one time, over the past couple years look into maybe doing a little something in a Royal Rumble, just kind of as that, so that could be my last chapter, so the last time you see me is, y’know, this little thing, and it didn’t work out. I did look into – I did get looked at, and things are good, but things are not at that level in terms of my neck, and y’know what? I’m at peace with everything. I haven’t wrestled in five years almost. June 1st, 2015 was my last match, and I’m at peace with it. I love what I do now, and being a part of working with the talent. Right now, at the moment, I’m working with a lot of the women and it’s very, very cool because they’re on a curve, and they’re almost playing catch-up. Like, I was explaining this the other day, and I’m sorry this is such a long answer.”

On professional wrestling being called fake: “I mean – so, predetermined is not some secret. It’s not letting the cat out of the bag, it’s long out. I’m not obviously – I’ve never in a match purposely tried to injure somebody, hurt somebody. I want – my job and my goal is to – there’s many. I want to entertain the audience. I want the people to get their money’s worth. And, I also want to come back, and my opponent (to) come back to guerrilla in the exact same shape we left in. We’re just going to be more blown up, we’re just gonna be tired, and that’s it. In terms of that word, I get it. I get why people use it. I – there’s some ignorance to it, and I get it. Wrestling is not for everybody. So, someone who says that, obviously wrestling is not their thing, that’s fine. I’m a giant UFC fan. Huge. I watch UFC all the time. People get very funny – it’s almost like, which is big right now because of this Last Dance documentary, it’s like Jordan versus LeBron. Just because – if you think one guy’s better than the other, you’re not actually – that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re insulting the other. If I’m a fan of UFC, I can also love wrestling the way I’ve loved wrestling my whole life. You don’t have to pick one or the other, and I think people get defensive and that’s when they start throwing those kind of words around, which is, y’know, it is what it is. I’ve had people say it to me, not meaning it in an insulting way. They just say it like ‘oh, but that stuff’s, like, fake, right?’ But like, it depends, like, yeah – again, I’ve never really tried to piledrive somebody, but at the same time, I have rods and screws in my neck, and they’re really there! A lot of times, it’s just kind of ignorance, and not always hate. Sometimes, it is trying to be hateful, so that person that’s saying it out of hate, they just – they don’t matter, to be honest. No matter what you say, you’re not gonna change their minds, so it doesn’t matter.”