Grayson Waller says he was “100%” close to being released by WWE before he went back to NXT, and he credits Shawn Michaels with the chance that turned his career around.
Waller, now the NXT Champion, told Chris Van Vliet on Insight that he could feel his spot slipping after The New Day left WWE.
Asked if he was close to being released, Waller said: “100%. Like if you look at the like, I could feel it, especially when the New Day left. I could feel it because when the New Day left, Oba destroyed me… but then when I didn’t do anything for like another month, I was like, ‘Not a great position to be in.'”
“I know I have a lot of value to the company, but in that position, you know, there’s other people who could also add that value,” he continued. “So, I had to do something because I’m not going to sit back and let my dream disappear if I didn’t do something about it.”
Oba Femi squashed Waller on the April 27 episode of Raw, eight days after beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston’s exit from WWE came to light on May 2.
“I could see the writing [on] the wall. Like they’re bringing up these kids from NXT who are super talented, and they’re giving them all the chances. And I’m in the background, and it’s like disappearing,” Waller said. “Like I was gone for sure. So when I say I took a risk to go to NXT, it’s a risk because you never know if it’s going to work out.”
He said the move came from a call from Michaels, and that it was his choice.
“Shawn called me and asked me to come and meet up with him,” Waller said. “I wasn’t told to do anything. I was asked. I was given an option by Shawn, and I chose to go and do that, so I didn’t look at it as a demotion because I’m on TV every week.”
“I hate putting people over, but I’m going to put Shawn over for a second… Shawn Michaels is the only person who believed in me multiple times in my career, and like this NXT run, like if it wasn’t for him, I’m not here,” he added.
Grayson Waller on “the most important promo of my life”
Waller said his July 28 return promo on NXT was the turning point.
“That is the most important promo of my life because if it didn’t go well, I was like I was done, and I could feel it. Shawn let me just go out and say what I wanted,” Waller said. “I forgot what I could do. Like I forgot how good I was until I did that, and then like I came back, and it’s like NXT is like saved my career, like 100% saved my career.”
He said only a handful of people knew the promo was happening, and none of the locker room did.
“I came back through that curtain to silence, absolute silence, and I loved it because it was like that’s how I know it hit. Because you’re all sitting there thinking like, is he talking about me?” Waller said. “And if you think that, yes, I was.”
In the promo, Waller called the NXT men’s roster soft, lazy and complacent, and said only about 10% of the roster was ready for a call-up, “and they’re all women.” He told Van Vliet he meant it, and that he was grateful Michaels didn’t hand him a script.
“I can’t do fake,” Waller said. “When you mean it, when you feel it, not when you read something off a paper that a little dweeby writer wrote for you.”
John Cena and CM Punk both praised the promo publicly. Cena wrote on X the next day, “Effort + Authenticity = Respect. It appears @GraysonWWE has found his WHY. Eager to see what he does.”
Effort + Authenticity = Respect
It appears @GraysonWWE has found his WHY. Eager to see what he does. @WWENXT https://t.co/hRViQbxnuN
— John Cena (@JohnCena) July 29, 2026
Punk shared a clip of the promo on his Instagram Story with the caption, “Frustration distilled and funneled into a bullet aimed at the competition.”
Grayson Waller on CM Punk
Waller called Punk the best promo of all time.
“Hands down. Like obviously, there’s people you know, Roddy Piper and those kind of guys who I probably haven’t watched as much of because it wasn’t my time. But for me personally, I think CM Punk is the best storyteller when it comes to promo game of all time,” Waller said.
Waller confronted Punk backstage after an NXT live event in Petersburg, Virginia, on August 15, and WWE NXT posted video of the exchange two days later. Waller said Punk is used to younger talent treating him as a hero.
“He loves the kids like looking up to him. Like they’re all fans, and to be fair play to him, he helps out at NXT a lot, and he’s helped a lot of these kids,” Waller said. “But I’m not a fan. Like I’m on the same level as you.”
“I could have tweeted it. I could have done some like silly Instagram post, but I went up to him to his face and said, ‘Hey, this is what I think,'” he continued. “A lot of the new kids are scared of Punk. I don’t think they go at him the way they should.”
Asked if he could see himself going head to head with Punk on the microphone, Waller said: “I’m going to. It’s happening.”
Grayson Waller on the WWE Championship
Waller said he wants the WWE Championship down the line, and that he is following the path Finn Bálor took.
“I’m not down in NXT to stay in NXT. I’m down here to reestablish this championship and then reestablish myself,” Waller said. “So when I do come back to the main roster, like I hope they’re ready for what I am bringing because like I see a gap. I see a gap in the market for a guy like Grayson Waller.”
Waller returned to NXT on July 28 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. He won the NXT Championship at Heatwave on August 30 at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas, pinning Tony D’Angelo in a four-way that also included Cruz Montana and Zilla Fatu. He has previously said he never got a chance to show WWE who he was on the main roster.
Waller defends the NXT Championship against D’Angelo at NXT Halloween Havoc this Saturday, October 31, from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The show airs at 7 p.m. ET on The CW and ESPN Unlimited.
