Donovan Dijak says his NXT run was a catapult back to the indies, and he's reaping the benefits.
Dijak, formerly known as T-Bar, returned to NXT in November 2022 and had a successful run on the brand. He was repackaged, and he consistently drew praise for his performances. He was selected by WWE Raw in the 2024 WWE Draft, but Dijak announced in June that the company was not renewing his contract. he then entered free agency, and he has been competing throughout the wrestling world ever since.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Dijak reflected on his NXT run.
“I was super happy with it, super happy. They gave me the platform to reinvent myself. They being Shawn Michaels, and to a certain extent, Triple H and Bruce Prichard, who ultimately sent me there. It was their choice to put me on NXT, but in terms of the way that I was presented on NXT, that’s Shawn Michaels and Johnny Russo. So credit to all of them. Without that opportunity, I’m in a much different spot right now. That whole year, I called it the best year of my career, and I still feel that way. Even right now, I still feel like I’m in the middle of the best run of my career because I’m physically healthy, I’m still, not as athletic as I was probably three or four years ago, but close enough [laughs], where the things that I can control are still completely up to standard in terms of footwork and violence. Those are still completely on point. I can still do all the corkscrew moonsault stuff off the top, I just don’t do it as much anymore [laughs]. I’m saving it for whatever biggest stage I can find. But yeah, the NXT run, I was given so many opportunities, so many amazing matches, and more than the matches, the storylines, I was so happy with the presentation of the story and the character and the stuff I got to do," Dijak said.
Dijak then reiterated that he enjoyed his time in NXT. He noted that it was a catapult back to the indies, and he was still reaping the benefits. Dijak stated that he was going to keep going and seeing what limits he could push.
“It was just great. It was a great way, again, I thought this was a catapult to the main roster. Turns out it was a catapult back to the indies, which is still great. It’s still great. I’m still reaping the benefits of it. I’m booked solid, everything is going well. I’m featured in the main event of most of these shows that I do most nights, wrestling for championships all the time. I have a wonderful opportunity with MLW now, so it’s going well. I’m super thankful that it happened because had it not happened, I would have been in a much different spot. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m not ready for it to end. So I’m gonna keep going above and beyond and outperforming and seeing what limits I can push and all the things that I just love to do in the pro wrestling business," Dijak said.
During the interview, Dijak discussed his MLW run so far. Check out his comments here.
Dijak is set to compete at MLW Slaughterhouse. More information is available here.
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