Joaquin Wilde Thanks WWE For Reinventing His Gimmick

During a recent appearance on the Out Of Character podcast, Joaquin Wilde expressed his gratefulness to WWE for reinventing his gimmick and booking him as an aggressive heel.

Wilde previously played babyface and comedic roles prior to signing with WWE in 2019.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On playing such a different role in WWE than he previously did: “Yeah, I kind of realized that’s like one thing I hadn’t done in my career, was play a serious badass heel type of wrestler. It’s — yeah, I’d done comedy, I’ve been a crazy lucha babyface. I’d done all kinds of different stuff, but I had never been a super serious, aggressive type of character. And I love that WWE has given me an opportunity to show that side, and I’m loving it.”

On WWE reinventing him: “Yeah so that’s crazy. Some people, they come to WWE and they just kind of get to do the same thing that they were doing on the independents, or wherever they were at previously. My journey was very different. It was, I get to WWE, and they just completely change everything about me, and I think for the better.”

On getting put in his place by Terry Taylor: “One crazy story that I think about all the time, I’d only been here in WWE for maybe like a month or two, so super new. Terry Taylor was a little intimidating to me at first, just because he was just like — I don’t know. People respected him, there was just a lot of respect, I guess, is just the word that comes to mind when it came to Terry Taylor. So I was a little intimidated at first. I said, ‘I want to win this guy’s approval,’ you know what I’m saying? So we get to a show and say my hellos to everybody. I go up to Terry, shake his hand. And he shakes my hand and just kind of like, holds it and then goes, ‘What’s that thing that you do?’ And I’m a little obnoxious at times, so I do it like full commitment right in his face. [Simulates air horns]

“And he doesn’t sell it at all. He’s just still shaking my hand, and he goes, ‘Do you think you’re gonna main event WrestleMania with that?’ And I just started busting out laughing, thinking this is like a joke. He’s not laughing. He’s still shaking my hand just like, glaring at me. And he’s like, ‘I’m serious.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know.’ I just kind of walk away awkwardly.”

On how that interaction helped him: “But then it just kind of got me thinking, like, ‘Yeah is what I’m doing now going to work long-term? Is this something that is going to get me to a WrestleMania level?’ And yeah, at that point I started really second guessing myself, second guessing what I’d done my character. And tell you what, I was so thankful when the opportunity for Legado — I was so thankful to be kidnapped, you know what I’m saying?’ Because it gave me a new energy, a second chance in all this…. The best part of it all was like, I feel like I did eventually win his approval. He’s a coach, a mentor, someone that I’ve learned so much about wrestling from.”

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