WWE star Xavier Woods was recently interviewed on “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet.” We have some highlights below but make sure to scroll down for the entire interview.
Xavier Woods on what is next for him after WWE:
“Definitely G4 is the job that I’m going to be transitioning into once I’m done. I’m also learning bass as well. I have aspirations to be a studio basis. So for all you artists in the next five or seven years, hopefully by the time you guys are big, I understand how to play bass and you hit through Atlanta, I’ll play the bass for your album.”
On how the trombone was introduced into the New Day Act:
“We were trying to see what they would say yes to and things that we could do. They had an idea, I think it was after we won the titles and we were in New York, I think. They were like, ‘Hey, we want you guys to come down and sing a song, maybe like New York, New York.’ We’re in the car and we got this text at the same time. I go to the guys like, ‘Do you think they’ll give us a trombone because I can figure out how to play that on trombone’. The guys were like, ‘Yeah, Let’s try. Let’s see.’ We’ve had a good streak of getting, yes. We texted them back and we all kind of like waiting with bated breath and then they go, ‘Yeah, we can get you a trombone.’ It was like, what are we doing? What door did we just open? I figured out how to play it during the day and then we played it during the show. It was just ridiculous. One of the crew guys was down at the bottom of the ramp and I’m supposed to give him the trombone after we do our promo and we can do our match. But in my head, I was like, man, I’m literally never going to be in this situation again where I’m able to take my passion of professional wrestling and my passion for music and trombone and experience this feeling again, so I’m going to keep this trombone and I’m going to play with it during the match and see what happens. I started playing it during the match, and one of the camera guys is like, crying, trying to record what’s happening. We go to a commercial and he goes, ‘You gotta keep playing that trombone. Vince is losing his mind, crying, laughing, like, he’s loving this.’ I was like, perfect. We got in the back and everybody in gorilla was laughing. Vince was like, ‘That’s yours now. I never want to see you without a trombone now.”
On getting rejected by WWE when he first applied there:
“When I sent my stuff the first time, I sent a full resume, cover letter, all that stuff, and got made fun of by a bunch of people. It’s like, is this not a job? This is what I was taught. It’s a profession. I’m supposed to come to you and speak to you respectfully and show you where I’ve worked before and what I’ve done and why I should be working here. I don’t understand why I’m getting made fun of, but I did that and brought stuff to them. WWE was the only group that sent me a letter back. I sent them to indies all across the place and overseas and WWE was the first place to send me one. They just told me at this time, you’re not the type that we’re looking for. We’re looking for guys over six feet tall, but try again in a few years.”
“I got lucky enough to get a job at TNA like six months before I graduated college. Once my run ended there, I sent my stuff to WWE again, and luckily, like they said, they remembered me sending in the resume last time because nobody had ever brought resumes. They would just send tapes or DVDs. Remember LightScribe DVDs? I took my eight by 10 and LightScribed it on the DVD with my name, my phone number, my contact, and all that stuff. If you wanted to contact me, you could have because it was all over that folder. They said they remembered that and then the fact that I went somewhere else to try to get some more experience. They appreciated that. I got the tryout and then it just kind of kind of went from there.”
Woods said he didn’t know that Kofi Kingston was going to win the WWE Title before the match:
“I said, ‘Do not tell me because if the outcome is told to me, and then it changes mid-match. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. So don’t tell me a thing.’ I knew what we had to do at the end, but I didn’t know anything after that.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Also, be sure to subscribe to “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” on your mobile device by clicking here if you have an iOS device or here on your Android device.
