As a guest on the latest episode of WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves, Pete Dunne joined the show to talk about the key differences between NXT and NXT 2.0. The former WWE NXT UK Champion mentioned the changed feel the brand now has but why it still is business as usual for the Bruiserweight.
“It’s a completely different scene there now,” Dunne said. “It continues to change but to me, it’s business as usual in a sense. I’m exactly the same and I’m going to be as competitive as I can, put on the best matches I can and it’s just a different crew of people to work with and do that. Still do me, the same style of match, the same style of thing but with a new cast of characters. I’m looking forward to new opportunities, to work with different guys, and also to show them what NXT is about.
“Preparing for WarGames, I know what I’m going out there and about to do. I think for a lot of these guys now, it’s about keeping that same standard that NXT has been known for. People knew those TakeOvers were going to be hard to follow and I want to keep it at that standard. Bring these new guys in and see if they can hang with us and the ones that do are still going to put out the same quality.”
Pete Dunne was a part of Team Black and Gold at NXT TakeOver WarGames when his team lost to Team 2.0 led by Bron Breakker. With Johnny Gargano walking out the door of NXT, Dunne spoke about wanting the buzz of NXT to stay with this new version of the brand.
“To me, the in-ring product has always been at such a high level and you could argue it’s the best in the world,” Dunne said. “I want to keep that. With newer guys coming in that don’t have the background that people like myself had, that’s going to feel difficult at first but if there was ever a place where hopefully we can manage that, it’s here. Just look at the Performance Centre, you’ve got access to William Regal, Fit Finley, all the way up to Shawn Michaels. You really can get the crash course in what this is and I just hope we can keep it to that standard. Even in this short space of time, we’re only one big event in and I’m not sure how long but it’s still a very recent change.
“You can see how much the audience gravitates to the Bron Breakkers, Carmelos. This is going to feel different for a while, there might be a bit of an awkward transition sometimes, but overall I hope there’s still that buzz about it and still that ‘I can’t wait to see what this guy does when he moves up to RAW or SmackDown.’ Hopefully, that buzz stays the same and in-ring quality can stay to a super high standard.”
