Quincy Elliott on WWE NXT Didn’t Know What to Do with His Character, Apologizing for Any Drama & Negativity He Caused in WWE, Hiding a Knee Injury from WWE, & WWE Return Interest

A recent episode of the Developmentally Speaking podcast featured former WWE NXT talent Quincy Elliott as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Elliott’s thoughts about the development of their on-screen character in NXT.

“Pretty early honestly (is when I started to craft my NXT on-screen character). I signed with WWE in November. I was there in September. They kind of had an idea of my charisma and things I wanted to do. But the actual character that I presented on TV, I want to say around maybe my second match in WWE on Level Up, they kind of started to see, okay, this is a character here. It stands out. So I would be showing creative different things and you know, it just kind of happened with time.

Everyone (was supportive of the direction my NXT TV character was going in). There’s definitely people that definitely, you know, was like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ Or gave me a little side-eye but, the people that mattered really cared and really pushed me to just go out — one thing Shawn Michaels and everyone always told me, ‘Just go out there and be you, and if it’s too much, we’ll pull you back. But give us everything you got. Go out there and be you’ and I was like, ‘Oh, alright. Bet, man.’”

Elliott also gave their thoughts about their belief that WWE NXT officials did not know what to do with their character during their time on the NXT brand.

“It was just all over the place honestly. At the time, the company was trying to push me as a heel at first. But the live audience was reacting to me like a babyface. So it kind of forced their hand in a way and I honestly — I think looking back at it, I don’t think they knew what they wanted to do with me. I know they knew they had someone with charisma and got crowd reactions and I’m not saying that egotistically. That’s just what was happening at the time and the character was so thought-provoking and intriguing and different to what wrestling’s used to. So, they were just, you know, all over the place, seeing how it was gonna plan out, and then I had one match on Level Up in August 2022 where I just got a massive reaction. I came out on a moped and I got a massive reaction and I remember afterwards, the head writer at the time told me, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna be on NXT TV next week. Start thinking of vignettes and all that.’ So it kind of really happened really fast.”

Elliott also revealed that they are currently dealing with an injury for the reason why they have not wrestled since this past June in Mexico.

“I’m actually dealing with an injury right now. A little minor injury. Life’s a rollercoaster. So I feel like, you know, I don’t have the necessarily best luck but, once I’m healed up and ready to go, I’m gonna start putting a little fire to the flames.”

Elliott also gave their thoughts about being off of NXT television due to getting surgery and being involved in some drama on social media at the time.

“I ended up off of TV did a while with that, and then a bunch of drama went down, and I was just all over the place, just circling, trying to get that momentum that I had back.

At the time, I was dealing with some Twitter drama that got to the company. A lot of narratives that were put out there that just necessarily weren’t true or taken out of context. The company already had backlash for this character, so any negativity towards it was already gonna make them scratch their heads a little bit, but they tried to let me get my head right, keep working, keep training hard and give me opportunities here and there, but ultimately I feel like NXT started shifting towards, I guess you’d say energy and the way they showcase people was less character-driven. A lot of people that were on TV wasn’t on TV anymore. It was just all over the place, really, but I kept working, kept doing the live events. I started pitching new ideas. They were running with me as a heel on the live events and stuff. It was just kind of stagnant, just trying to wait for something to happen from January til September, when I was released.”

Elliott also gave their thoughts about being proud about how they had handled the drama.

“I’m honestly proud of myself because I could have crashed out and wilded out and said everything and trashed people, but I was just like, I’m gonna just be grateful for the opportunity. It’s frustrating, but not everyone can say they lived their childhood dream, and I got to live my childhood dream for two years. At the end of the day, if you would have told five-year-old me that I’d be in the room talking about creative ideas with Shawn Michaels, I would have been all over the place. It is what it is, but I’m grateful for the opportunity. I feel, in a way, I was misunderstood in certain aspects, and it’s just the world of pro wrestling. People are gonna cycle in and cycle out. I was just one of those people.”

Elliott also issued an apology for any drama and negativity they caused in WWE.

“I guess thank you. I’m very thankful. Thank you. I’m sorry if I caused any negativity for you, sorry for the headaches or whatever. But thank you, I appreciate it, you changed my life. Even if it was just two years, that two years changed my life, I learned a lot. I learned tools about pro wrestling that I’ll never be able to explain, but I’m thankful for, and I’ll try to pass that knowledge on as much as I can and keep that knowledge with me. But just thank you. WWE is a business, and business is gonna keep moving. It’s in the past, it’s coming up on a year since I’ve been released, so I’m learning to every day trying to move on.”

Elliott also gave their thoughts about how they hid a foot injury from WWE and underwent surgery for it after the NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 show.

“That was like honestly one of the most stressful times of my life (time period when he co-hosted NXT Halloween Havoc) because I was supposed to wrestle on Halloween Havoc. I would do something physical but at the time, I got injured. I got injured and I had a match in October — against Xyon Quinn — of that year but I got injured because I used to ride a moped. I got injured in an accident and I found out I was pretty much hosting the night before the match or whatever and I was injured and I hid it from the company. In October, I hid it from the company, which wasn’t the most mature thing to do, I will admit but I was like, I worked hard for this opportunity. I’m not just gonna throw it away. So I got injured and that was a bummer so, but the exciting part about that is I got to pretty much express myself on Halloween Havoc, do different costumes and things and it was a fun time but it was also stressful because I’m like, I just wanna be able to wrestle and show the world what I can do, you know?

It was very frustrating and I remember at the time, during rehearsals, because Xyon slammed me and I reacted like, ‘Ah!’ Then they figured out I was hurt so I was like, ‘Damn.’ But you know, it ended up working out. Everything still ended up working out but it was just like, I knew that if I was able to wrestle on Halloween Havoc or do something physical, maybe show myself off a little more, it would have been much more fulfilling but I’m grateful for the opportunity either way.

Honestly, no (WWE did not put more stock into me after Halloween Havoc). After Halloween Havoc, I had to go have surgery on my foot. So it was gonna be a couple weeks before I could even get back and do anything. So I was mentally frustrated with the world and at the time, six weeks on paper right now doesn’t seem like the longest time ever but when you’re — NXT’s on the go, it’s running every week. Six weeks is a long time to not be on television. So, I ended up off of TV for a while for that and then a bunch of drama went down and you know, I was just all over the place just circling, trying to get that momentum that I had back.”

Elliott also gave their thoughts about if they are interested in a potential return to WWE in the future.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I would love to do it, but there would have to be some conversations. There would have to be some conversations. When I started in WWE, I was 22, I was immature, I was not understanding the world I was in. It’s not that I’m saying that I don’t want to go back to WWE. I would love to go back. But I would like to go back feeling a little more secure with myself.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com 1 & 2