In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed Gabbi Tuft (former WWE star Tyler Reks). Tuft signed a developmental contract in 2008 and debuted on WWE’s ECW brand in 2009. Tuft left the company in 2012.
Gabbi Tuft on possibly returning to WWE 2024 Royal Rumble:
“Well, the possibilities of returning to the ring are absolutely endless. I did go by Dustin’s and I did hop in the ring. I didn’t bump. I didn’t run the ropes. There’s just a moment where I was there visiting him saying hi, talking to him, and I said, ‘Hey, buddy, do you think I stick a toe in the ring?’ They were doing their weekly YouTube taping and he said, ‘Yeah, come on, let’s go’, and the second I stepped in that ring, my heart center just opened and I felt all this nostalgia come back. That was the moment when I was like, yep, I think I need to do something about this. So I did have heart surgery in 2019 at Stanford. I had an aortic aneurysm. It’s genetic. My mom had it done a year before me, and actually on the 28th of this month, Stanford is reviewing all of my scans to determine what if any limitations I have in the ring. So once I hear back from them, then we’ll know exactly what my capabilities are in the ring. I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, something’s coming. I can’t tell you what, but something’s coming. As far as the Rumble, wouldn’t that be an amazing spot to just poke my head in?”
Gabbi Tuft on WWE character Tyler Reks having a start and stop career:
“Well, everything in hindsight is 20/20 as we say. In the beginning, I blamed everybody. You think about it like, ‘Well, it’s creative’s fault. They didn’t have anything for me’, or ‘They didn’t tell me who this character is supposed to be. They made this character for me. They didn’t tell me what to do with it.’ They just said, ‘Shut up. Don’t say anything. We want you to be ominous.’ Okay, that’s cool, but then when it didn’t work, instead of telling me, ‘Hey, we need this character to evolve’, they just took me off TV. I’m like, well, that sucks because I was really going places.”
“At the time, I was kind of bitter about it, but to be honest, I didn’t know who I was at the time. I didn’t know my value. I remember it was right before Bragging Rights. We were at RAW and it was leading up to it where we had SmackDown vs RAW. We had the entire roster on both SmackDown and RAW on the floor during the commercial break and suddenly they started passing the microphone around. I’m like, what the hell was this? I wasn’t told about this. I don’t have a promo ready. I don’t even know my character. I remember sitting there that whole time going, God, please don’t hand the microphone to me. I won’t know what to say. I think back on it. Nobody handed me the microphone, thank God, but I think back on it, and I go, well, I know who the heck I am right now. There’s no question about it. Oh my God, if you hand me a microphone now, I can talk for an hour, but back then, I just didn’t take the ball and roll with it. I always look at it like this. In life, we are in full control of every situation. We can always dictate the outcome to go our direction and I just didn’t have enough experience and I was not confident enough in myself. I could have taken that ball and I could have rolled with it at any moment. Instead, I was waiting for creative to do something with me. So looking back, I’m like, I could have done better. End of story.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
