Chris Masters reflects on WrestleMania 22.
Chris Masters has been involved in four WrestleManias, three of which came competing in the pre-show battle royal.
At WrestleMania 22, Masters had a bigger spot on the card, teaming with Carlito to challenge Kane & The Big Show for the WWE World Tag Team Championships.
Big Shake & Kane were victorious, but according to Masters, that wasn't the original plan.
"Carlito and me wrestled Big Show and Kane, and we were supposed to win the tag titles. That was my first lesson in professional wrestling that you don’t count your chickens before they hatch, ever. They said we were going to win the tag belts, which is kind of cool. Then it changed last minute. The reason I bring it up is, looking back, being the opening match on WrestleMania is really cool. Even when I watch it back, I can see how fired up I am. Through the roof. Just being able to open WrestleMania. Closing WrestleMania would be awesome, but most guys would tell you that you want to main event, co-main event, or opening match. Get the people when they’re fresh and ready and haven’t seen nothing," Masters said while speaking to Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl on In The Weeds.
Asked if he was given a reason as to why WWE decided to change directions, Masters replied, "Lots of moving pieces. Spirit Squad became a thing, and I think they started thinking they wanted to turn Carlito, which they inevitably did. Looking back, hindsight 20/20, Carlito was 100% right that the babyface turn was way too early. Sure, you could do it because people were cheering for him, but it would have been much better for him, not just staying with me, but we would have ran longer, he could have been off on his own for longer, but just having him as a heel longer would have been better for him. He wasn’t ready to be that type of babyface. They wanted him to be the type of babyface that he wasn’t, which is a fiery babyface. That’s not Carly. He’s got to do it like Carribbean Cool, which isn’t the overly pandering stuff."
Masters and Carlito would turn against each other following WrestleMania 22, leading to a match at Backlash, which was won by Carlito.
Elsewhere during the interview, Masters discussed his time with NWA coming to an end. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Watch the full interview with Masters in the video above.
