WWE SmackDown Superstar Butch, the former Pete Dunne, recently spoke with Metro UK’s Alistair McGeorge and revealed how confident he is in the new direction he’s taking with his main roster gimmick, noting that a lot of that comes from being inspired by William Regal and Bryan Danielson.
“My biggest inspirations in wrestling are people like Regal – some of his best work was the straight-laced stuff later in his career, right? But earlier in his run he was the commissioner doing all sorts of funny stuff. People like Daniel Bryan, when he was here – part of what got him where he was, was the stuff with Kane. Everyone has variety, you can’t just be one thing forever and I’ve been with the company for six years,” he said.
Butch noted how he was presented in the same way for the most part since 2016, besides his WWE NXT tag team with Riddle, and he’s now embracing the chance to shake things up with Sheamus and Ridge Holland.
“It’s refreshing for me personally, to be able to focus on something else and have a different approach to it. And sort of broaden my horizons with wrestling because it’s been so long,” he said.
Butch is grateful for how some fans are so passionate about his previous work as The BruiserWeight, but he feels like people are being won over with his current character.
“It will never be forgotten but people appreciate the Pete Dunne BruiserWeight stuff, and they will also appreciate the work that’s gonna be done under Butch,” he said. “I’m just looking at it as an amazing opportunity, and just embracing and having fun with it. Working with Sheamus and Ridge is great too, so I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
