JTG Pitched a Tag Team With Darren Young, Wanted To Work With Booker T
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JTG recently spoke with Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda and answered several questions from fans. Highlights include JTG’s thoughts on his singles run, working with John Cena, and more.
Most memorable moment from 2010 singles run:
JG: “I had a lot of fun working on NXT, not the NXT that you guys know now, but it was when we had the rookies and the vets, they called us pros, my rookie was Jacob Novak and after he got eliminated, I took Darren Young under my wing. And we had a lot of fun, and NXT must transformed into something else, like me and Darren Young were tag-teaming, we actually came up with a cool tag team we pitched to creative. And you know, we was kinda gonna do an urban, like a black MNM, you guys remember MNM? Like the Hollywood, GQ model, they’d come out in black mink coats and shades and just be divas. We pitched a whole thing, we were going to call each other Devos, but during that time, I was on the singles run and hoping to get back into a tag team. But I stayed single.”
On working with John Cena:
JTG: “Yeah, it was a great fit. I remember the day they told us that we were gonna team up with John, they were gonna pair us with John, it was July 7, 2008, I believe, I definitely remember the date, and working with him was great behind the scenes, you know. We had fun, I learned a lot from him, and that was one of the very rare times that Shad and I main-evented on some of the house shows, and I think we were might have main-evented on Main Event, I’m not sure, it was so long ago. But I definitely remember teaming with him on Main Event and working like JBL and Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.”
On facing Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship:
JTG: “Oh that’s all in the works, man. We’ll see, I called out Cody Rhodes, he definitely heard it, he heard it from me, he heard it from the fans, so you know, like I said before, when I called him out on Mark Henry’s show, Busted Open Radio, you know, I planted the seed and the fans are watering it. And we’ll see if Cody Rhodes wants to give the fruit to the fans that they want to taste.”
On his WrestleMania dream match:
JTG: “When I was with WWE, one of my dream matches was to be with, to work Booker T. You know, I pitched a lot of ideas, I pitched an idea where Booker T took me under his wing, and you know, he got me to a certain level and then I wanted to ditch him, kinda like, what Rocky was that, [the] Rocky where Tommy Gun,,,? It was five yeah, I pitched a Rocky V type of storyline where Booker T, I had just broken up with Shad, the Cryme Tyme thing was done, and I was looking to change my look and take it to the next level and Booker T was my mentor. And I wanted to eventually build it up to, I turned my back and turned on Booker T and work him at WrestleMania.”
On whether WWE contacted him and Shad for a Cryme Tyme reunion:
JTG: “Yes, so this was last year, November after Survivor Series, they were in Los Angeles, I went to RAW and then the day after, they did a back-t- back show, they did SmackDown, I watched RAW in the audience, on the low, I didn’t want anybody to notice me. And then on Tuesday, Shad and I went backstage, and they hadn’t seen us, I don’t think they’ve seen us in a few years. And the head of talent saw me and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys look amazing, you guys stayed in shape,’ you know, ‘You guys stayed active.’ So we talked and he was like, you know, ‘The door’s always open here at WWE, we’d love to have you guys back.’ You know, ‘Send us a reel of all the stuff you’ve been doing on the independent scene and what you guys have been doing and what you guys have going on.’
“And Shad and I sent a reel and we didn’t hear anything back. And we saw them again at WrestleMania, and he was like, ‘Oh yeah,’ and they gave us the whole, ‘We’ll get back to you guys, we’ve been busy,’ blah blah blah, ‘But you guys look good, like we said, the door’s always open. And the fans would love a Cryme Tyme comeback.’ And it’s just been up in the air from there.”
The full video is available here:
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