Juice Robinson says coming to NJPW changed a lot.
It has been since 2015 that IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson was in WWE wrestling as CJ Parker. He left WWE and almost immediately ended up at New Japan Pro Wrestling eventually becoming United States Champion at the G1 Special last weekend. In an interview with UpRoxx, Robinson said in WWE he worked as a heel and in NJPW he became a face. That change alone affected how he performed in the ring. While at WWE, Robinson said he knew CJ Parker was a dead end.
"You know, I loved NXT. Just, I just knew I was dead in the water, so I had to get out. So it wasn’t that it was bad, it was I turned it bad because I got sad. You know what I mean? So what was happening to me on a daily basis… it wasn’t like I was going home every night and crying in my room. I was still having fun and getting along with the coaches and the guys, and having fun at shows and stuff, but I just knew that CJ Parker was never going anywhere," said Robinson.
While at NXT, Robinson had a hunch that he would be fired soon because he felt like there was no "upward movement" for him with that company. In the rest of the interview, Robinson talked about working his way through the ranks at NJPW.
The full interview is available at UpRoxx.com.
