WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER has held the title for an astounding 763 days and counting. During this lengthy reign, he has often been viewed as the face of European wrestling in WWE. The Austrian native has helped establish NXT UK as a successful brand, and in an appearance on WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves, he explained the weight of his prominent role.
“It’s a big responsibility, of course,” said WALTER. “I always feel that, as the NXT UK Champion, then I will be the one that, when I have a match, my match will be the one seen by the most people, out of everybody else from NXT UK. So there comes a responsibility with that, to actually showcase what European wrestling is all about.
“And that’s something I would say I’m really proud of because I can still, I never had to change for WWE. I’m still the same person as I was three years ago, when I worked for everybody else. And just to be able to stick with that and still showcase wrestling the way I think it’s right, in my way, and actually get that attention for it and get the trust of people in WWE for it, that’s a nice accomplishment.”
Given his impressive reign atop NXT UK, many fans have wondered whether WALTER will move stateside, so he could work on the main NXT brand. In the past, WALTER has discussed his reluctance to do so, and he shared his mindset on the matter in this interview. The NXT UK Champion described how other international wrestlers might be more willing to make such a daunting move because they’ve always dreamed of working for WWE, but he doesn’t exactly feel the same way.
“I was never thinking about signing with WWE,” said WALTER. “That was never like a goal…I was happy in the process, like I think sometimes you get lost too much when you think about the future. I think it’s, and I have to force myself to do it sometimes as well. Sometimes your head is way ahead, your brain is way ahead of you, so I was trying to focus on what I’m doing right now.
“[Moving to the United States] is a big step, and I think most of the other wrestlers are willing to do [it] because it was their goal from day one, or early in their career, that’s where they want to go. And for me, for the most time in my life, it was never a realistic thing that I could actually ever wrestle for WWE or something like that.”
WALTER then described how, while WWE has opened itself up to the global wrestling scene in recent years, he has still been happy with his focus on working in the United Kingdom.
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