Tony D’Angelo opened up about being the first one to take the blame when WWE NXT’s TV ratings weren’t where they were expected to be during his run as NXT Champion.
D’Angelo was a guest on the Battleground Podcast, where he talked about the responsibility outside of the ring that comes with holding the NXT Championship, including commercials and media appearances. The pressure was a lot more than he expected.
“Uh, you know, well a lot comes with it,” D’Angelo said. “Um you’re you’re the guy you know what I mean? The brand is on your shoulders. You know you’re the at the forefront of everything at commercials, media, uh you know all this stuff. And it it’s a lot more stressful because, you know, I’m trying to be PC here, but um crap rolls downhill.”
When it came to the TV numbers specifically, D’Angelo added:
“So, uh you know, if the show’s not, you know, doing numbers or whatever, who’s the first person they look at? It’s me.”
“So, which is fine, you know, and I appreciate Shawn and everybody, you know, telling me that, you know, my shoulders are strong enough to to carry it and that’s why they did that and that’s why I won. So, I’m okay with that. But, for sure, there’s a lot that goes on uh that you don’t really know until you’re champion.”
In August, Shawn Michaels said on Busted Open he had a talk with D’Angelo about criticism of his title reign. Michaels compared it to his own run as WWE Champion, when he was labeled “the worst drawing WWE Champion of all time.”
According to Michaels, creative trusted D’Angelo to lead the men’s division while NXT was going through a rebuild of its roster.
In an interview with Denise Salcedo on Tuesday, D’Angelo brought up how several veterans being called up to the main roster made his job harder. He believes his title run would have been viewed differently if it had taken place at a different time.
D’Angelo won the NXT title at Stand & Deliver on April 4 in a fatal four-way match against Joe Hendry, Ricky Saints and Ethan Page.
D’Angelo is now set for another title shot against Grayson Waller at Halloween Havoc. The show takes place on Saturday.