Bobby Steveson wishes that he learned more from Roderick Strong.
Throughout his early days in NXT, Bobby Steveson, then known as Damon Kemp, was paired with Roderick Strong, Ivy Nile, and the Creed Brothers in the Diamond Mine faction. Kemp made the most of his short run with the faction, teaming with Roderick Strong on numerous occasions to face teams like The D'Angelo Family and Pretty Deadly.
While speaking to Fightful for a new interview, Steveson talked about wishing that he picked Strong's brain more and how teaming with him was great.
"Yeah so I think the one regret I have is not asking him a lot more questions about his work and learning what wrestling was. Because at the time, dude, I think I was five months in when I got to wrestle with Diamond Mine and I didn't know the etiquette of pick the veteran's brain and just like get to know their background and how they work, what you can work on, taking them aside and like getting in the ring with them. So I was still learning what the business was. So I didn't know how to approach them, like asking, cause I didn't want to seem like a bother. So that's one thing that I do regret because, like I said, I didn't come from a pro wrestling background. So I knew who the stars were growing up, but I wasn't the guy that was watching it religiously. It wasn't because I didn't like wrestling. It was just wasn't what I was into at the time growing up. But now that I look back and I seen, I obviously wasn't watching NXT until like I started getting the hiring process and I watched every show and every Monday and Friday night show. So like you look back now you get to see what him, what he did and Undisputed Era and just like going back and watch some of his matches. I was like, ‘Man, I really wish I was able to like get in the ring
with the guy and just pick his brain and just like learn more.’ I’m not saying I was being nonchalant in any way or shape or form. It was just more so just like showing up to work and then doing what we had to do for promo or do the match and then just be done with it. So I wish I was able to just pick his brain more. I think that just came with inexperience too, just like not knowing what pro wrestling was and just how to go about it. But teaming with him, it was great. Just so much experience ‘cause, like I mentioned, five months in, you tend to walk your matches through step by step. A guy like that who's been doing it for so long with the pedigree he has, he's not gonna wanna talk about everything step by step by step by step by step. So that was a big learning thing for me too, is just like, ‘Hey, when we go out there, you don't necessarily have to call your shine in the back. You can call it out there,’ but obviously him, his experience was way different from mine."
Steveson went on to talk about teaming with Roderick Strong for a match against the Creed Brothers at NXT Great American Bash in 2022.
"Then we did the Great American Batch with the Creeds. No, he didn't really call us, he just kind of went out there and just did it. I was still new, so I'm like, ‘Hey, wanna punch you here, do this, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.’ Then him doing it, he just went out there and did it. So I was like, ‘Oh crap, this is like, if I can just learn to go out there and just like do it and like be able to call a lot of things out there, it would probably take like so much stress off in the back.’ Having it be like, ‘Hey, cut off is this, I’m gonna punch you here, you're gonna roll here, I'm gonna punch you here, kick you here’ versus just going out there and then just doing it so it feels a lot more organic and then plus just take so much stress off the back. It's like the last thing for me was wanting my matches to look so choreographed. I did not want that. So I eventually got to the point, I'm sure a lot of people get a point too, you just comes with the learning of what wrestling is. You're not gonna be calling your matches in the out there when you're two months in, [when you’re] brand new. So eventually it helped me a lot with working with him just to make it a point to like, even on the house shows, just to like, ‘Hey, I'll call my shine to you out there. I'll call the heat to you out there. If we screw it up out there, it's a house show, but it's also a learning opportunity too.’ So being able to work with a guy like that, it really helped a lot. Even though he doesn't know it, it helped a lot."
Elsewhere in the interview, Steveson joked about being written off of NXT TV in the deadly parking lot. Learn more about those comments here.
Furthermore, check out Fightful's full interview with the former Damon Kemp in the video linked at the top of this article.
