Dante Chen was awestruck by The Awesome One.
Dante Chen is one of the new superstars trying to level up on NXT 2.0. As part of the new strategy for NXT, many main roster WWE Superstars have made the move over to NXT, for several weeks at a time in some cases, and in the process, they have left an impact on some of the superstars that grew up watching them.
Fans saw this exact story play out with Cora Jade against Natalya but Dante Chen says he was really excited to see The Miz when he appeared earlier in the year to host episodes of Miz TV.
Speaking on The Kick to the Gut! Podcast, Dante admitted that he does have favorite wrestlers but his big dream match would be a match for a championship.
“Honestly, the only dream match that I have in mind is whoever the champion is at the time,” he said. “To be very honest. I have favorite WWE Superstars. I have favorite wrestlers in mind. But I've never thought about stepping into a ring across from them before. Like, it all depends on the stakes of the match for me, that will be what makes a dream match for me.”
Furthermore, Chen explains that he was most interested in WWE during the 2010s and grew up watching The Miz’s rise to fame.
“I really only thought of one era where I watched the most, what really got me into it. That would be the 2010 era of WWE… That wouldn't be necessarily when I think I would've thrived, but it's just the era that I feel like I was the most engrossed with WWE that era was when I re-ignited my interest for wrestling.
When asked about potentially facing names like Apollo Crews, who just made his return to the promotion, that is when Dante said he was really excited to see The Miz and that The Miz is someone he would like to wrestle as well.
"[Apollo] recently made his return. So Apollo Crews is definitely up there, but someone else would be someone that I actually enjoyed watching as a kid. It would be The Miz. I was kind of awestruck to see him there at the performance center. So, that was cool to see him. I really enjoyed his work, again, back in the 2010 era, when he was Mr. Money in the Bank and when he cashed in and became WWE Champion, he was someone that I looked up to as well. So, The Miz might be up there as well,” Chen concluded.
For now, Dante Chen is trying to rise through the ranks of NXT on the Level Up program, which can be seen every Friday night on WWE Network on Peacock.
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