Xavier Woods Explains the Creation of the UpUpDownDown Channel

– The eSports Observer recently interviewed WWE Superstar Xavier Woods, who discussed the creation of his gaming themed YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown. Below are some highlights.

Woods on creating his UpUpDownDown YouTube channel: “So I actually didn’t want to create a YouTube channel. I had zero intentions of doing that – it wasn’t even like a thought on the radar. I wanted to create a show that was like a Travel Channel-type show [where] you go to different cities and try different things…because as we were traveling for WWE what I would do most nights is find an arcade bar in whatever town we were in, go check it out, play the games, you know, play with people.”

Woods on how negotiations with WWE about wanting Superstars to not be in character for the channel: “It’s one of those industries that people have a lot of questions about and we never really want to ruin the magic, we want people to still have their child-like awe when they see the show. And from my end I really wanted to make sure that everyone was able to be their genuine selves in this space so we don’t have to worry about good and bad guys, and what happened last week on RAW, SmackDown, and NXT. Someplace where we can all enjoy video games and talk about our experiences with them and just have fun.”

Xavier Woods on how he envisioned the channel: “I never wanted it to be something where someone could say ‘oh all of this stuff was handed to you.’ I worked from the ground up on this channel…I understand how every little bit of it works. And that’s no shade to people on YouTube or in the gaming space who have a team that does everything for them, but for me, it was important to actually know how to set up all my stuff for a live stream.”