Rohit Raju loves professional wrestling, and he wants to be involved with it however he can.
Raju, a former IMPACT X-Division Champion, left IMPACT Wrestling when his contract expired in January. He continues to compete on the independent circuit for promotions like Black Label Pro, Glory Pro, and AAW. He has also worked multiple tapings of AEW Dark.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Raju emphasized that he likes entertaining people through a variety of roles. He noted that he'd be open to managing or doing commentary because he loves professional wrestling. Raju shared that he's been through some tough times, but all that goes way when he's performing.
"I just love being me out there—whether it’s in the ring, whether it’s accompanying one of my boys to the ring, whether it’s being on the microphone—yes, I would love to do commentary, managing. I can’t get away from professional wrestling. I love it so much. It can be bittersweet at times. Sometimes I hate it. Steve Austin said something one time, and I’m just paraphrasing, he said, ‘You can be having the worst day ever, once that glass breaks and then he walks down the aisle, everything else disappears.’ I’ve had some of the worst crap happen in 2022, but man, when I’m in the ring; it’s the best place to be. So whether I’m in the ring, outside the ring, commentary booth, sign me up. I just want to entertain," Raju said.
Raju also described how he enjoys giving people advice after their matches, as he wants to help people grow. He explained that constructive feedback helps wrestlers make progress and deliver the best performances they can, and he considers being asked to share his input a sign of respect.
"Yeah, I love it. Some people will walk up to me like, ‘Hey, what’d you think?’ and I’ll tell them flat out, ‘This is this, this is that.’ I won’t crap on anybody, but you’re not gonna grow if you don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t ever want to go to somebody and say, ‘Hey, what’d you think of my match?’ ‘Oh, yeah, man. It was great.’ No. There was something. There’s things. So I always ask people I know are gonna pick it apart because I want to be the best that I can be. So I watch. It’s weird. There’s guys that I don’t know or just met walk up to you and go, ‘Hey, can you watch my match?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ Why not? So it’s cool that they respect you enough and want to know your opinion of their match. So I love it. I love wrestling. I love picking it apart. But I also love watching people and help people grow and seeing them become even better than what they were a year ago. I love seeing that," Raju said.
In the same interview, Raju described how he'd like to return to AEW. Check put his comments here. [Update once interview is live.]
Raju previously discussed his departure from IMPACT. Click here to see what he had to say.
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