In an exclusive interview with PWMania.com, Scott Mitchell (ScottsScoop44) sits down with Wild Boar where he talks about his time in WWE NXT UK, working with Primate, working with Mark Andrews, his release, and more.
Signing with WWE and NXT UK
When Wild Boar first signed with the WWE, he remembers being brought out to the O2 in London where he and everyone else who signed would watch Smackdown and the 205 Live tapings. “It was cool to sit in the crowd and watch,” says Wild Boar. “I never really got to go to a WWE event before that, so I was really excited to attend.”
For Wild Boar, things came out of nowhere and also happened very, very quickly when he signed with the WWE. “I remember at the time asking myself if this was real or a scam,” Wild Boar tells PWMania.com. “It was so surreal to me. There was a little bit of doubt in my head, but it was real and very cool.”
Over the course of his time in NXT UK, Wild Boar got to work with the likes of Dave Mastiff, Jordan Devlin, Mark Andrews, and the Grizzled Young Veterans. “It was great,” says Wild Boar. “Everyone who I was signed with, I worked with previously for a long time. When we were all brought in we were brought in having already worked with each other in the past on the indies. To do it on WWE TV with all the production and everything was very cool.”
Wild Boar worked a lot with Mark Andrews. “We started together and I have known him almost all my life,” states Wild Boar. “To get to wrestle him, and also team with him in WWE was a lot of fun.”
One of Wild Boar’s biggest moments happened at a show WWE had in Cardiff. “Mark Andrews and I started training there together, and it was awesome to see Wild Boar vs Mark Andrews on the same card as Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro. It was just mind-blowing to me.”
Forming The Hunt with Primate
Debuting in March of 2019, Wild Boar would go on to team with Primate and the two would wreak havoc over NXT UK. “I really enjoyed doing that,” says Wild Boar. “Primate and I get along great outside of wrestling. He’s a good friend of mine. In the ring, we gelled together quite well. He’d ask my opinions and advice because I’ve been doing it longer.”
Primate is a very physical wrestler who can do almost anything. “When it comes to physical ability, he’s unbelievable,” says Wild Boar. “He’d pick my brain wrestling-wise, and I would pick his brain with certain things in matches because he was more physically able to do things than I was. Between my wrestling and his physical ability, I think that’s what made us so good. We’re doing some stuff coming up as well on the independent scene.”
Over the course of their time in NXT UK, The Hunt got to work with the likes of Gallus, Imperium, and Pretty Deadly. “Pretty Deadly was originally brought in to help me and Jake initially,” says Wild Boar. “We had their first match in NXT UK. They’re a fantastic tag team.
“I really enjoyed our stuff with Imperium as well,” says Wild Boar. “It’s great to see Kaiser doing great stuff as well on Smackdown. Gunther hits hard. He hits. They make you fight, for sure. For me, my favorite tag matches were against Aichner and Marcel. It was such a learning experience. Primate and I hadn’t tagged that many times and we were kind of thrown into the deep end a little bit.”
“So, working with them definitely helped us a lot as a team. I loved NXT UK for the sense of I worked with a lot of them in the first place. It’s such a snug, hard-hitting style, and that’s what Gallus was. It’s something I’ve always wanted to get done when I wrestled. If they wanted you in a certain place, they put you there. The last match we had with Gallus was my favorite match we had with them.”
Teaming With Mark Andrews, Dog-Collar Match with Eddie Dennis
“When I was doing all that, was in the lead-up to working with Eddie Dennis in a dog collar match,” says Wild Boar. “That was also on the backend of when I injured my knee. I was out for about 15 months due to a torn ACL. After being off for that long, I really zeroed in on my training methods, nutrition, and just how I thought about wrestling. I really zeroed in on where I was mental.”
“When I was coming back I had so many things I wanted to do and that I was preparing for,” says Wild Boar. “I was tagging with Mark, and he’s incredible as well. He has a fantastic mind for the business. I was working with people who could take me further. I feel like I was very lucky that after such a big injury I got to do what I got to do and got to finish it in the manner in which I got to finish it. For it to culminate in a dog collar match with Eddie, is something I’m very proud of. Personally, I’m very proud of myself to get back to that version of myself. I do feel like I’m the very best version of myself.”
Wild Boar enjoyed his dog collar match with Eddie Dennis a lot but wasn’t prepared for just how much of a physical toll it would have. “It hurt. It hurt a lot. I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn’t think it was going to hurt as much as it did. It was great. It may be the proudest of a match that I am.”
Wild Boar Gets Released from WWE
For Wild Boar, learning from the likes of Shawn Michaels, William Regal, Matt Bloom, Robby Brookside, and the rest of the NXT coaches, and working with the entire NXT UK roster, has made him such a better wrestler than he was going in.
“That’s something that I’m massively grateful for,” says Wild Boar. “I can now do everything that I couldn’t do for the last 4 and a half years. I’m very excited that I get to show what I became in the past 4 and a half years. I’m really looking forward to getting out and wrestling as much as I can. I want to wrestle everywhere, the States, Canada, Japan, and just in the UK too.”
What’s Next for Wild Boar?
Coming back to the independent scene, there are a lot of new talents who Wild Boar never got to face. “Being under contract afforded me a lot of good things. When I had that injury they really helped me out over at WWE. I couldn’t have asked for better care. I’m very grateful for my time there.”
“On the flip side of that, there wasn’t a lot of chance for me to wrestle how I really wanted to,” says Wild Boar. “Now I’m hustling to get work and show the world what I’ve become in the past 4 and a half years.” One wrestler who Wild Boar wants to go up against is Jonah.
“I’ve been watching his stuff for the past couple of years since he was unfortunately released, now he’s killing it,” says Wild Boar. “I’d love to wrestle him.” Wild Boar would also love to go up against Jeff Cobb and ELP just to name a couple.
You can check out Wild Boar’s Big Cartel by clicking here.
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