\nJack Gallagher recently appeared as a guest on Ring Rust Radio for an interview. Below are some of the highlights.<\/p>\n
On the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and his character: “I was first approached by William Regal who had sent me an email saying that there was something, nothing specific, but something coming up and that my style in particular and the way I carry myself probably best translated in a live environment, compared to sort of seeing me work out in the ring and go through drills and the usual try-out stuff. So, he had been helping me in that manner. I was overwhelmed because wrestling in the Classic was the first time I had ever competed in America at all, so I actually had no idea how Americans would take to me. Typically speaking and historically speaking, the English are put as the villains in your films over here, so I thought a very typical English person would get booed out of the building.”<\/p>\n
On how British wrestling has changed following WWE’s increasing participation in the scene: “I think it\u2019s mostly positive because trying to think for worse, how it is negatively affected, I\u2019m not sure about the worst because I\u2019m out of the scene. I think from looking outside of the scene now, it seems like it goes from strength to strength. A lot of people here who have been forced to pursue this part-time can now do this full-time. It has more exposure, more potential for travel which means more potential for earnings, so people can earn a better wage, and also it\u2019s a glass ceiling that has been broken. It\u2019s a path people can travel now. When I was beginning to train, I was thinking there were guys like Doug Williams who were phenomenal performers, but they still weren\u2019t in WWE. Doug is a big stocky guy and whatnot and skinny little five-foot-eight me didn\u2019t even have the dream or thought that I could make it to WWE. I thought at best I can make it to Japan and work there. Now you got guys like me, guys like Noam Dar, obviously Zack Sabre Jr. who competed in the classic, Pete Dunne the UK champion, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, more than a handful of guys that have proven that there is a path from the training school to the top of the business and that\u2019s the main takeaway I think.”<\/p>\n
On creative input he has towards his character and promos: “Not to plug the documentary, but a lot of this is talked in the documentary. A lot of what you see on screen isn\u2019t fictitious, it\u2019s usually just me being me. The lovable side is me on a good day and the side that\u2019s been hated or as my wife affectively refers to is Angry Jack. In terms of creative input, you\u2019ve got to understand that the majority of the writing staff is American and North American. They are very aware that none of them grew up in Britain as a young British lad, so when I say to them this is what I would probably say, I would not use this word, I would use this, or I wouldn\u2019t do this I would do that, they are very open to it because I have a very clear idea as to who I am as a person and a fictional character. The relationship with Vince McMahon, he is surprisingly approachable. Growing up watching WWE or WWF as I did growing up, you think of Vince McMahon as this larger-than-life scary character. He is a larger-than-life character, but he is very welcoming, surprisingly charming, he sits down and if he has time in his busy schedule, which is rare, but if he has time in his schedule, he has time for anyone.”<\/p>\n
On changing his character and challenges he has faced establishing himself as a heel: “I\u2019ve always preferred being a good guy, but I think a lot of that has stemmed from being a smaller competitor. There\u2019s a certain amount of menace that is difficult when you\u2019re being villainous. I think every good and interesting bad guy in fictional history has had a certain amount of menace and danger to him. In terms of overcoming that physically that\u2019s kind of difficult for me since I\u2019m a smaller guy. I tend to default to things like Hannibal Lector and people like that for influences; kind of an intellectual sort of scary people. It was a strange trait and change I thought myself. I was enjoying what I was doing but then again, I thought this was something no one is going to see coming so it\u2019ll probably work when I did a little bit of a switch.”<\/p>\n
On working with Brian Kendrick: “When we first arrived, and I say we as the British group Noam, Zack and myself. When we first arrived in America, the people that we were driving to the classic with because we all carpooled were TJP and Brian Kendrick. Brian was one of the first American wrestlers I had any interaction with in WWE. In fact, after my first match here, Brian got my contact information and complimented me, and we had a little bit of a talking about wrestling now and again and the business of it even before the cruiserweight division was a thought in anyone\u2019s mind. It\u2019s been really wonderful for me because I get to pick his brain and he obviously has the experience on me and in a strange way as well it occurred to me that when Brian first started in WWE his mentor was William Regal and he sort of has a reverse situation now where he\u2019s mentoring a new little William Regal in WWE. I enjoy the sort of mirrored aspect of that.”<\/p>\n