Grayson Waller is the latest Australian pro wrestler looking to make his mark in WWE - and he might just be exactly what the new-look NXT brand is after.
The 31-year-old has had a quick rise to stardom since signing with the company six months ago, already contending for the NXT Cruiserweight Title last month.
Previously working on the independents here in Australia, the supremely confident Waller - formerly Matty Wahlberg - was scouted by WWE and has immediately made a strong impression.
Speaking exclusively to Sporting News, Waller opened up on his 'surreal' first six months in the WWE system and the challenges he has faced at the company's world-class Performance Center.
“It’s crazy – it’s very surreal that I have gone in six months from basically being in Australia to being featured here and now in such huge ways," he said.
"Wrestling for the Cruiserweight Championship recently, I couldn’t have scripted it better myself. If I put down the list of goals I had for my first six months, I have definitely surpassed what I originally thought I would have done.
“It’s a really cool experience here, the PC is fantastic. Being from Australia where I had to have a full-time job and wrestle, that was always tough. Now I have 100 per-cent focus on the wrestling and the PC system here is fantastic.
"We have personal trainers who run gym sessions with us and help us with that aspect of wrestling. We have literally the best wreslting minds in the world teaching us every day – William Regal, Fit Finlay and all these guys who have so much experience. We get to watch old wrestling tapes with them too and they give us advice.
"It is very surreal and very cool, just getting to live wrestling 100 per-cent with my life has been great. That aspect has been really easy, but the hard part has been being so far away from home with the way things are.
"Having that disconnection, timezones are crazy, everyone is stuck at home and I can’t go back home – that has been a little bit tough.
"Luckily there are a few Australians here who I am pretty close to and we kind of hang out together and stay tight, so we have our little Aussie family.
"Overall, the experience has been unbelievable."
Waller has been featured prominently in the past month or so on NXT, with the developmental brand undergoing major changes.
For over half a decade, NXT had been the landing spot for some of the best wrestlers outside of WWE, with major names such as Adam Cole, Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe all having major roles on the brand.
The recent changes are seemingly putting more emphasis on homegrown talent and athletes from other sports, as opposed to those who had plied their trade outside WWE for many years.
And while Waller was a standout here in Australia for companies such as PWA, his personality and experience outside the world of pro wrestling may make him the perfect fit for the new-look NXT.
“I absolutely love it – I think it’s fantastic. The vibe is completely different, you can even see with the audience it is more fun and the audience is having fun now," he said.
"I know a lot has been said about the colours and everything, but I think that’s kind of the vibe that it’s showing. It is giving an opportunity for people to show what they can do much earlier than they could before.
"In the last few weeks, you see Bron Breakker, who is an absolute monster of a human being, is already going to be challenging Tomasso Ciampa for the title and I think he deserves that. The Creed Brothers, Tony D’angelo, Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes, there are so many new names that traditionally wouldn’t have an opportunity to get on television so early.
"But because of the new NXT and the influx of new talent, they are showing how fantastic they are. I think seeing who they are personality-wise has also been really cool.
"Obviously they are great in the ring, but getting to see who they are outside the ring and their personalities, I think NXT 2.0 is really focusing on letting that shine.
“I think the beautiful thing with my character is, it’s not a character. Anyone who knows me knows that the type of personality I show and the type of swagger I have, that’s just who I am. I think one of the reasons I got to show what I can do so early, is because I’m just me and when I go out in front of that camera, that’s just me.
"I’m the same backstage as I am out there, so I wouldn’t say I had to work on it because this is just who I am. I love performing, I love going out in front of the crowd and showing what I can do. I love talking trash, I love saying mean things and that’s perfect for NXT 2.0.
“I think a lot of it is that there is a certain WWE style and that is something you have to learn. Getting to talk to them and put together what I have to offer and what they want, is something that we are communicating about.
"Getting to stand out as my person – I’m Grayson Waller, that’s who I am and I’m not a knock-off of somebody else. Little things like the hair, how you present yourself, the way you talk, all those little things – you are getting constant feedback and constant praise.
"When you do good things, they tell you. When you do bad things, you don’t get admonished and told you suck – you get told to maybe try it this way. It’s a really positive learning environment, everyone is kind of working together to make the product as good as it can be."
Some of that feedback that Waller alludes to will no doubt come from WWE Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest pro wrestler of all time, Shawn Michaels.
The former multi-time world champion now works as a coach for NXT talents, and Waller spoke about his interactions with 'The Heartbreak Kid' in recent months.
“I’ll tell the story – the first person I kind of met at the PC was Shawn," he said.
"We were filling out some paperwork and he walked in, said hello and walked out. That’s been my hero for so long and he’s just there.
"Now that I’ve been doing some stuff on NXT, Shawn has pulled me aside a few times and given me some advice and some pointers.
"His advice is so valuable – there are very few people in the business who have done as much as he has, so his advice is gold.
"He might only give you one thing; he might say one sentence – but that’s something you will think about all week.
"Having anything to do with Shawn Michaels has been incredible."
Waller's move into the WWE system will not come as a huge shock to anybody who watched him in his formative years - but his recent performances on NXT aren't his first on TV.
Back in 2019, Waller was a contestent on reality show Australian Survivor - and while it was a lifelong dream, he also believes it helped fast-track his rise to stardom
“I made the decision to start looking for the opportunity to go on Survivor, because I thought it would be a great connection for my wrestling career," he said.
"I am a huge Survivor fan, so it was a life goal too, but I also knew it would present me in a different way and get more eyes on me than I could just from independently wrestling in Australia.
"I think that being on there, showing what I can do and being comfortable in front of the camera, it has opened a lot of eyes and gave me a new audience that I didn’t have previously.
"All the confidence coming from that kind of set me up for eventually getting here."
Another major factor in Waller getting to WWE and now putting on show-stealing performances inside the ring is his mentor and trainer, Robbie Eagles.
Currently the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in Japan's major promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Eagles played a major role in Waller's career and it's something 'The 21st Century Success Story' is forever grateful for.
“He was actually here the last two weeks, he was wrestling for New Japan Strong...he came in early to come and stay in Orlando to hang out with us," Waller said.
"Getting to see Robbie again, he was my day-one coach and the first person I saw when I walked into a wrestling centre. Since then, he has been my number-one mentor and he is the reason that I’m here.
"He is the reason that when I get to wrestle Roderick Strong, I show that I belong on his level. I genuinely feel that if it wasn’t for Robbie Eagles, I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be in the position I’m in.
"Having him here in Orlando the past couple of weeks was really cool, it was kind of like a little dose of home. We kind of had a laugh thinking about how he is the NJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion, and I was wrestling for the Cruiserweight Championship. Imagine if we had the two most prestigious junior heavyweight belts in the world?
"Unfortunately I couldn’t make that happen, but just the opportunity to be there, it was very crazy for us to think about where we’ve come from."
With so much hype and excitement around the new-look NXT and Waller's recent performances, the sky is the limit for another one of Australia's elite wrestling exports.
Waller believes he can match it with anyone in NXT or WWE's main roster inside the ring - and he's looking forward to the journey that lies ahead and further laying a platform for Aussie stars to move to WWE.
“It sucked (wrestling for the title) and this is the reason why – that dude hits hard. Roderick Strong is a different level of human being, he is an absolute beast," he said.
"Getting in there with him, all of a sudden I realised like man, when you get in there with the top dogs, it is not fun. Obviously afterwards, the experience of being in there and having the crowd behind me and wrestling on TV was great – but at the time, I was kind of just fighting for my life and trying to survive and make sure he didn’t beat me up too much.
"Afterwards I am really proud of the performance I put on, he’s a guy I have looked up to for a long time and I think I showed everyone that I am on his level now.
"I am on the level where I should be performing for championships and performing on live TV every week. At the time, there were moments where I was like this is rough.
“Goal-wise at the moment, I just want to establish myself as one of the best in NXT. I had my opportunity against Roddy and I think I showed what I can do, and I want to keep doing that against the best they have.
"If that’s against someone like Tomasso Ciampa or Johnny Gargano who have both been around a while, or if it’s against someone like Bron Breakker, who is new but is pretty damn good. I just want to show that I am as good as it gets and Australians are as good as it gets.
"I want to use me to show how good the Australians back in Australia are and I want people to go ‘wow, there must be some hidden gems in Australia’ and then they go look and find out. Australian wrestling is world-class.
“Johnny Gargano is the first name that comes to mind. I have been a huge fan of Johnny for a long time and he is basically the measuring stick when it comes to NXT. He has done everything it takes and he is the locker-room leader, he is the guy in NXT and I would love to jump in there with him.
"On the main roster there are so many guys – AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins – just so many incredibly-talented guys that I want to test myself against and get in there and punch in the face basically.
"There’s so many that I can’t name them, but they are probably the main ones."
You can catch Grayson Waller every Wednesday on WWE NXT at 11am (AEDT) live on FOX8.
