Former WWE Intercontinental and United States Champion Carlito recently called in to the Chair Shots To The Cranium Show.
Carlito talked about traveling the world and working the independent scene. He noted he probably travels more overseas now than he did when he was with WWE. Carlito then commented on what he has learned since being released from WWE eight years ago:
“I think I’ve had time to really think about things,” Carlito said. “I enjoy the slowed-down pace. What I’ve learned is kinda like what I think the great athletes like basketball players and stuff what you start to learn as your physical abilities start to dissipate or whatever. You start to adjust to succeed otherwise.
“I feel like a much better wrestler just because of new ways that I have found to workaround situations and entertain people.
“It’s like a total difference performance now than when I was younger when I was just worried about how high I could jump or what flip I could do.”
When Carlito was getting his start in WWE, the company’s developmental system was still in Ohio Valley Wrestling. Today WWE has innovated NXT and the Performance Center. These tools weren’t at the disposal of stars from Carlito’s era.
He admits he has yet to see much of NXT but hears good things about it. Carlito did say, however, that there’s one issue he has with the system. He feels that today performers adapt to one system’s style as opposed to utilizing their own unique style of working:
“I don’t know much about NXT, I don’t really see much of it,” Carlito continued. “I’ve heard it’s a great product.
“I heard the [WWE Performance Center] is a state-of-the-art thing like you know, I wish we had that in our day — we didn’t have that — so you know they have a whole staff training. Not just wrestling, but weight training and all kinds of stuff
“I think it’s great. The only thing is I’ve always been a fan of not throwing everything into one bucket, like having different styles.
“I feel like a lot of those guys just go into a system and instead just work the system’s style and they start to deviate from what makes them unique.”
Discussion: What do you make of Carlito’s comments? Sound off in the comments!
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
