I don't think I'd be in WWE, and I wouldn't be in NXT, if it wasn't for my time in EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA and things like that.
When I was Cedrick Von Haussen, the champion of Liechtenstein, I was only 18 years old. I was super, duper young. I started traveling around for wrestling when I was 16, so I had only been wrestling a few years at that point.
It started with Dragon Gate USA, where I started as a guy on the pre-show and wasn't promised anything. I kept coming and doing what I do and ended up on the main show and eventually won their championship.
My mom made me a Shawn Michaels costume when I was a kid. I wore it every day and ran around the house dancing like him.
When I was younger, my favorite wrestlers were Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. I relate to them. I don't know what it was.
We've got a bunch of guys who have been travelling around the world for over 10 years, scratching and clawing, fighting, just trying to live their dream, just trying to prove people wrong, just trying to show that we belong, and that's kind of the essence of NXT.
