To start things off, how cool is it to yell out Kinshasa in a (Shinsuke) Nakamura match?

[laughs] I remember the day that Nakamura arrived in NXT in Dallas last year. Before his match I knew we were going to change the name of his move and I asked him what he was calling it now, and he wasn’t sure what he was calling it. He thought maybe Kinshasa, and I remember he was busy with a million different things, so I said “Hey, is it okay to call it this?” and I ran it up the ladder and I figured, if I shout it loud enough it’s gonna stick [laughs]. He hit it that night and I, at the top of my lungs. I’ve followed Nakamura for quite some time. I’m a pretty big fan of Japanese wrestling and I just shouted it, similar to the way they do it and it caught on. I love it, it’s my favorite thing. Actually, I have people in my ear sometimes telling me, "okay, take it easy."

With TakeOver taking place Saturday (1/28), what’s going to be the match everyone will be talking about come Monday Morning?

I hate to discount any of them. I think Nakamura and (Bobby) Roode aren’t going to disappoint, but I think in my opinion the match that really has potential to steal the show is Roderick Strong and Andrade “Cien” Almas. From a technical prospective and to have time and in that sort of atmosphere, both of those guys are going to rise to the occasion, and I think those two are going to open a whole lots of eyes. Roddy is relatively new to the company and Cien hasn’t really found his footing until recently, so I think both of them sort of have that chip on their shoulder to prove and show the world what they’re capable of, and I honestly believe that that match is going to have a lot of people talking afterwards.

Just like Jim Ross is known as being the voice of The Attitude Era, you’ve now become the voice of NXT. How do you handle that responsibility?

I’m honored and flattered that you would refer to me as such. I try not to think about it, man. I have the coolest job in the world now. I get to watch wrestling and I get to be around my friends and travel and tell jokes. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It’s been a long road to get here. I just try to make sure that the stuff that comes out of my mouth, I think is quality. If I make a joke, it’s something I generally think is funny or I think other people are going to find funny. If I tell a story I want it to be something impactful. I try not to talk for the sake of talking, because sometimes you get caught in that trap and it doesn’t really add anything and if anything, it can take it away. I try not to speak unless I have something to say. 

What’s the difference calling the action between RAW and NXT?

The atmospheres are totally different, usually. At this point on RAW, when you get that big main event style match, it’s usually you’re two and a half hours deep into RAW and you’ve seen a ton of stuff. The matches are still incredible but there’s so much going on, they’re just completely different products, RAW is its own thing. NXT is more of a strip-down wrestling show. The atmosphere, especially at a TakeOver is indescribable. I’ve been in arenas on back-to-back nights where a crowd was red hot and then the next night for the pay-per-view, they’re hot at points and they like certain things but there’s not that sustained rumble of “Oh man, we’re witnessing something special.”

It’s different audiences if you know what I mean. Not everybody that likes NXT watches RAW, and a lot of people that watch RAW have no idea what NXT is, so they’re completely different animals. I just try to look at everything the same way though, because the guys that are in the ring I feel that we owe them the honor of trying to tell their story. No one out there is playing games, you know what I mean. Everyone is out there every night giving it their all, they’re on the road all the time, they’re beat up and I have a different respect because I did it at one point, so I try and give them the most respect that I can and try and make the entire thing better.