Part 1: The road to NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III
Thursday
It's 6 a.m. just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and as I lay in bed, my alarm went off. It was Thursday morning, and I was just about to start one of the most important weekends of my wrestling career.
I got up early so that I could go to the gym, so I did about 30 minutes of cardio and then jumped into a full workout. I got home, showered, changed, and with my stuff that was already packed from the day before, I walked out the door at 8:20 a.m. to head for the airport, which is about a 30-minute drive.
I made pretty good time, got there, checked in and made my way through security. That's when I hit my first snag of the day. My flight was at 10:30 a.m. but it was delayed due to the weather, so much so that it was going to make me late for my first meeting. I ended up having to switch flights, and I eventually got on a flight at 12:40 p.m. We landed at LaGuardia at 3:45, and I got my bags and took an Uber to head to the Holiday Inn in downtown Brooklyn, where everyone was staying for this big weekend.
It was almost 5 p.m. by the time I got there, and there were already about 500 people standing outside behind barricades, all wrestling fans. That caught me a little off guard, because I knew they'd be there all weekend for all the shows, but those weren't starting 'til Saturday night. I mean, I figured some fans would show up Friday night, but this was crazy.
It's funny, because I don't even know my schedule as well as some of these fans do, and they're always there waiting. It's their dedication to see us and take pictures with us. I mean, I've been a wrestling fan since I was 5, but I never had that kind of want.
As I stepped out of the car, I stopped and signed some autographs and took pictures with as many people as I could, but I was in a hurry because I had to make a meeting with some folks from the Travel Channel. I went upstairs, changed real quick, threw my stuff down on the bed, turned around, ran back downstairs, got in another Uber and drove over to where my meeting was.
I walked in and met with some of the Travel Channel higher-ups and programming people, along with some friendly faces from Lucky 8, which is the production company that will make the pilot I'll be shooting. Lucky 8 also shot and produced my fishing show "Off the Hook" on Animal Planet a few years ago. It was cool to see a bunch of them who I hadn't seen in a while, like Greg Henry and Isaac Holub.
We had a lot of constructive conversations and brainstormed some ideas, enjoyed a meal and a couple drinks, but with everything else I had to get done this weekend, my night was over by about 11 p.m.
I got back to my hotel around 11:30, and by the time I got settled in, got my suit hung up and all my stuff set out for the next day, followed by a quick shower, it was probably around 12:30 or 1 a.m. by the time I lay down to go to bed.
I was already starting to feel it a little bit.
I'm from a small town, and living in Nashville is fine, but New York is ... different. There's something about the energy of New York -- it's really frenetic and everything is really fast-paced. It's always exciting to be there, but it wears me out every time. Just being there for four or five days is pretty exhausting. It's not a place where I think I could live, but I do like to go and visit.
To be fair, I never sleep well. I have trouble even when I'm at home, and I'm lucky that I don't require a lot of sleep to function at a pretty high level. When I'm on the road, three or four hours is typically all I really get. By the time I get to sleep, I usually only stay asleep solidly for three or four hours. With the first day of the trip in the books, I set my alarm for 6 a.m. once again.
Friday
Before I could get my mind back on NXT TakeOver, I had another busy day ahead. I packed a backpack with a couple of extra shirts, my iPad and a few other necessities, and I walked to the subway to head into Manhattan. I had a full day ahead of talking fantasy football on the FNTSY Sports Network, appropriately named the "Eric Young Takeover."
I was planning to take an Uber into Manhattan instead, but I was told that given the time it would take to get from Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan at that time of the morning, the best bet was to ride the subway. I'd only ever taken the subway once by myself and, of course, I got completely lost. I ended up in Long Island instead of Manhattan.
I downloaded this app called Moovit. It helped me find the exact train I needed to be on. It was an adventure. You pay your $3, you get on the train, and it's just crazy for me to watch how things work with the New York City subways.
There's a guy sleeping, and then there's a guy beside that guy who's sleeping in a suit and he looks like he's heading to Wall Street. They're on the same train as me, and then there's a guy two seats down from him wearing a hard hat and wearing old construction clothes. It's just a wild experience, and not something I get in my everyday life.
I arrived at the FNTSY network studios in downtown Manhattan at 7:30 a.m., and I'm going on the air at 8. I meet the guys and we talk a little bit. From there, I'm basically on air all day with them. We stopped for about an hour and a half for lunch, but other than that, from 8 a.m. until around 7 p.m., we were going full speed all day.
Rocking it with my crew on @FNTSYSportsNet pic.twitter.com/3otqTywELw
- Eric Young (@TheEricYoung) August 18, 2017
When I finished, I had dinner with a few good friends, and when it wrapped up around 8:30 p.m. it was pouring rain. I got an Uber to head back to the Holiday Inn in Brooklyn. I saw a few other superstars trickling in, like Big Cass, and with the weather, and the crazy fans, it kind of just hits me. Wrestling is basically taking over Brooklyn from Friday through Wednesday. It's just madness.
I think it's a neat idea, but I feel it would be pretty exhausting for wrestling fans. Some people will go to all the shows, four nights in a row, which is absolutely insane to me. I don't know how you have the energy to do that. It's an exhausting thing. Sitting in the crowd, standing in line, and then yelling and screaming during the show. The level of dedication from wrestling fans -- it never ceases to amaze me.
I get into my room, and that's when I finally start thinking about the next day. The jitters are starting to set in. I usually don't get nervous anymore, not at this point in my career. I never really was a nervous person. I think I talked about it when I talked about Shawn Michaels, but I felt like I was pretty good at wrestling right away, advancing pretty quickly even within the first few weeks and months. It's something that I've always been very comfortable with, but when I get the jitters, it can really hit me.
I remember my first time being on TV was a big deal. First time being on a pay-per-view was a big deal. First time in a big marquee match, and my first time in a title match. I remember always having nerves for those big moments. The last time I remember being this nervous was for my NXT debut, when I made a surprise debut against Samoa Joe, who had just won the NXT championship.
I had been on TV for long enough that I thought there would be a reaction, but you just don't know until you walk through the curtain. It's always kind of that unknown. When I walked out, people went absolutely crazy. As you can probably tell and see, with the way crowds are nowadays, it can be tough to get that kind of reaction.
That was a very cool moment for me that night, sitting there in my room by myself and packing my bag, thinking about the match, where I am and how far I've come. It's good, because usually when I get nervous I'm better -- I don't know why, but it helps to focus me.
There was a lot to think about. I feel that, with these TakeOver events, it's wrestling, wrestling, wrestling -- and don't get me wrong, we have some of the best wrestlers in the world, so that's the way it should be. But with so many talented technical stars, it can be hard to compete with that. We want our match to be good, of course, and we want people to enjoy it -- and we felt that the way to do that was to find ways to make it feel different from anything else on the show.
Being in that position, in a NXT tag team title match at a TakeOver, is a lot of pressure. I put a huge amount of pressure on myself for it to be right, and especially in this spot because I have twice -- maybe even three or four times -- as much experience as anyone else who's going to be in that ring, and they're going to look to me to lead.
I'm not really a rah-rah guy or anything like that, but I know what's expected of me. It's incredible to have a company of this size trust you. In this business, that is the ultimate compliment.
Then, of course, wrestling in New York City is huge too. The energy will be crazy. It's the first night of four nights, and it's been built up for months and months and months. New York City is the mecca for pro wrestling, and while Madison Square Garden played a huge part in that, for NXT, Barclays Center has become our place, our MSG for NXT. This is the third year, and that first TakeOver was a monumental turning point for NXT -- the night they decided it's a third brand, and not just the minor leagues.
Yes, it is a developmental territory and a lot of the guys are there to learn. But for guys like me and Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe, it's more than that. It's not that we, at this stage of our careers, can't learn. I learn something almost every day in wrestling, but NXT has become something else entirely from what it began as.
The crowds are going to be great. They're going to be rowdy. They're going to be totally into it on the first of four nights, and they have all the energy in the world.
Saturday
I was pretty pumped by this point, and that only made it harder for me to sleep. It took me forever. I set the alarm for 7, probably slept two-and-a-half hours, and I was up long before it went off.
I messed around and I watch some football on my iPad, taking some notes about fantasy football and trying to kill some time. Then I went and did a quick morning workout, which was crazy because it was already going to be a really long day.
#NXTTakeOverBrooklynIII #SANitY SET.....EXECUTE....REAP! 8/19/2017 @WWENXT @WWE #NXT #WWE spread the madness! RT pic.twitter.com/mTlbTKTH8p
- Eric Young (@TheEricYoung) August 18, 2017
Not wanting to go too hard too early, I didn't push it too hard -- just a little bit of cardio to get the blood flowing and a small circuit workout. I've been really focused on diet and my workouts leading up to this moment. About two months out I set a plan in place, and I feel I'm in the best shape I've been in for at least three or four years. I'm pretty happy with that at 37 years old, especially because it's not as easy as it used to be.
There was still some more time to burn, so I took a shower and then chilled in my room, listening to podcasts and music. It finally gets to be 11 a.m., so I got up and started getting my stuff on, as the bus was supposed to load up at 11:30.
As I really started to dig into this huge day, my mom was never really far from my mind. After beating cancer twice, she passed away during her third battle a little over a month ago. Toward the end, she started to get better and I thought she was going to beat it again, so I started making plans. She wasn't a wrestling fan, but she loved to watch me live, which is a very cool thing.
Watching me perform, especially at this level, was a big deal to her. I wanted to make a plan to fly her to New York. I was going to fly in early and let her come to New York for the show -- live that and be part of everything with me. She was super-proud of me.
"I wanted to do something special because I wanted her to be with me. Whether I did all of these things or not, I felt like she was going to be there anyways, but she loved polka dots ... so I bought a polka dot shirt to wear under my suit."
Things obviously didn't work out the way I had hoped, and with her passing, I wanted to do something special because I wanted her to be with me. Whether I did all of these things or not, I felt she was going to be there anyways, but she loved polka dots. At her celebration of life that we had up in Canada, everyone wore polka dots, so I bought a polka dot shirt to wear under my suit.
I thought that would be something special for me to do, something kind of comforting. The shirt was kind of crazy, but it was cool for me to have the space and the ability to do that. Any of the guys that asked me about it, I told them the story and they were like, "Oh man, that's awesome." It was a very cool thing, a very emotional thing for me that whole day.
So I went downstairs, and at 11:30 we loaded onto the bus and headed over to Barclays Center. That place is massive. The bus goes in a side door and there was an elevator just for the bus. It drops you down into the basement level, which is underneath, and there's this huge rotating wheel that the bus pulls onto so it can turn it around.
If there was any way of forgetting I was a part of a WWE production, in an arena that's still pretty new in the heart of Brooklyn, it was a helpful reminder. The massiveness of the WWE was very apparent when we stepped off the bus. There were 15 semi trucks parked underneath that were full of gear and light rigs; there were cases everywhere, and so many people and moving parts.
I looked out on the floor, that empty Barclays Center, and I was thinking about how, in six or seven hours, it would be completely full and all eyes would be on the ring. And I'd be in that ring.
So I found the locker room, and the madness of the day began. We got an email the day before, running down everything we had to do. There were digital scans and facial scans for a video game that's coming out, which took 20 or 30 minutes, and then I met with WWE's travel department to work out some travel stuff for upcoming shows for basically the end of August, September and October. They're developing this new travel app, and I'm going to be kind of a guinea pig to test it out.
It's another reminder of the vastness of it all. They're building and developing their own travel app because so many people are going so many directions that it's easier to have it all organized in one place.
Once that was all done, it was already 1:30 or so. I headed over to catering to eat my first meal of the day. I've been doing intermittent fasting, so I had a pretty big meal because I knew I was going to be really busy for the rest of the day. Once I got a good meal in, I went to track down all the guys to start talking over what the plan is for the day.
Hunter [Triple H] and Matt Bloom gave their input, and then we were on our way. The craziest part of this particular match and this night was that I wasn't even advertised to compete. All of the hype has based around Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe -- they're the tag team portion of SAnitY, or so everyone thought, and Nikki Cross and myself were going to be causing mischief on the outside.
At the last minute we pull this switcheroo, the third phase of Eric Young's "master plan." It's a very cool story that had been playing out for months, and now everything finally comes together on this night.
That's the beautiful thing about wrestling. You can't just go in and do a wrestling match just for the sake of doing it. To make it special, you have to have all of these elements and beats and story points that you have to hit on, because that's what drives pro wrestling, especially in the United States. It's all about the story.
It's never as simple as, "Oh, well, I'll do this move, and then you do this move." It's always way deeper than that. When you get really good at it, you learn not to put all your apples in one basket, learn how to manage your time, and figure out ways for each individual or team to shine, if that's the story being told.
It's this constant juggling act of push and pull, give and take, to figure out what's best -- first for the company and the product, and second, for both teams going forward.
Our opponents, the Authors of Pain, were undefeated, and they've had the NXT tag titles since January. It's a big deal to have this chance to perform with them, and we want to make sure that it's right.
Around 4 or 4:30, we had to run through our entrances. Even though we've done it the same way 1,000 times, there's a lot to deal with. The ramps are different lengths. The aisle is a different width. The ring is a different distance. The hard camera is set up on the right side rather than the left side. The cameramen are a huge part of what we do. Sound guys, lighting, it's all important. In the big leagues of wrestling, that's what it's about.
Your entrance sets the tone. It tells people who you are and what you're about. The WWE takes that part of the show very seriously, which makes me super-happy because it's always something that I've enjoyed. For me, it's not a small detail.
There will be people in the crowd who have never seen us before. When we come out, you hear that music and you see this image of who we are and what we are, how we walk and how we carry ourselves. You're telling people without words what you stand for. To the WWE, guys like Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode, and with us and Authors of Pain, NXT is where these entrances get developed.
Now they're all up on the main roster, and it's even bigger and better. It's almost 50 percent of the battle before the bell even rings.
Practicing entrances seven times during the day could be tedious, but it's a huge part of what we do and even more proof for me that the WWE doesn't leave anything out. No detail is left unconsidered.
By 6 p.m., I headed back to the locker room and put on my gear. I started getting my mind right. I knew that at that moment, people were starting to pour into Barclays Center. The doors opened, and more than 15,000 people will be inside the building -- which is insane. This was it. A couple more hours, and I'll be out there working, in a match for the NXT world tag team titles.
A chance to hold a WWE championship, and to win it in front of one of the biggest crowds I've ever performed in front of. This is a massive honor, to be sure.
Check back on Friday as Eric Young recalls the rest of his remarkable weekend in Brooklyn, including the NXT tag team championship match between SAnitY and the Authors of Pain.