On the pressure of performing to the fans’ expectations at Bound For Glory:
“When it comes to pressure in that respect, it’s really just self-induced pressure. I mean, it’s our love and pride in what we do that pushes us to try to steal the show every time we go out there. And ever since Frankie and I have had the opportunity to be the tag team that we know we could be, ever since we got the chance to wok with Samoa Joe and Magnus and then having the belts and working with Kurt and AJ – it’s our desire to be the standout on the show that makes us work so hard. You could say the same thing about Kurt and AJ and Chavo and Hernandez, you could say the same thing about everybody in the IMPACT Wrestling locker room. It’s our desire to keep pushing forward and getting better that makes our product and specifically, our matches in the last couple of months so standout. And when you get to an event like Bound For Glory, which is our culmination of a whole year’s worth of work, you better believe that we’re all looking at not just bringing our A game, but our A+ game.”
On his role in the Claire Lynch storyline:
“As far as Frankie and I were concerned, our main goal was to try and come out of it looking like the crap-stirring scumbags that we wanted to play. Every time we went out there with a promo or any sort of interaction, we were looking to see how quickly we could get people’s ire raised. Whatever positivity there was at the beginning and then what some people sort of perceived as missteps in the angle, it didn’t matter to us how that was going. All that mattered to us was that at the end of each segment or episode of this particular saga, Frankie and I came out looking like the dastardly dudes that we are. I thought that it went very well.”
On the purpose of the storyline and what it accomplished:
“We went into this storyline trying to push the envelope and step outside the box. Not so much that it got people changing the channel, but enough where people were guessing and trying to see what happens next. This isn’t standard stuff; this is something that we’re experimenting with. So I think that even when those perceived missteps happened, people still wanted to see how this was going to progress, how this was going to affect the AJ Styles that the fans have come to love and the tag team of Daniels and Kazarian that they’re slowly growing to hate. I feel like we’ve come to a position now that no matter what we do, the minute we walk up the ramp and the lights are on us, we got people wanting to see us get beat and pay for our crimes. That was the whole point, to get these people so incensed with us that all we have to do is raise our arms in the air or smile a certain way at the camera to get them angry at us."
On the abrupt ending to the storyline during the summer:
“I think people misunderstand what happened behind the scenes as the reason that it ended. My understanding of it from the beginning was that it was going to end when it ended. All the pertinent players weren’t there when it ended, but that didn’t affect the way it went down. The major guys were myself, Frankie and AJ. The focus started and ended there. Everything else was just incidental, in my eyes. I was very happy with the way it ended because AJ got his vindication and with Frankie and I, our reputations are what they are and what we built them up to be. Now we’re moving forward with not just us against AJ, but us against the entire IMPACT Wrestling locker room.”
