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Fresh off winning the NXT North American Championship, Leon Ruff spoke to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture.
Ruff revealed he found out about plans for him to win the championship the day of the show. At first he believed it was a joke, and someone was playing a prank on him.
He said he was told by NXT head trainer Matt Bloom he would be defeating Johnny Gargano for the title. After finding out about the news, he showed up to the arena early.
“I couldn’t believe it because at first I thought it was a joke. I thought somebody was playing a prank on the new guy; ‘ Yo, we’re gonna make him believe this and then we’re gonna see how he looks when we tell him no’ but when I found out it was real, I had to take a second to think because Johnny Gargano is somebody that I admire a lot. When I discovered who he was on the independent scene I started to watch a lot of his matches and his documentaries. I used to write a lot of notes about him, so not only to wrestle him on TV but to take the title from him it was mind blowing, I couldn’t believe I got the opportunity to do it and I felt really fortunate.”
Leon Ruff will be defending his North American Championship in a rematch against Johnny Gargano during this week’s edition of NXT on USA.
Check out the full interview below
Thanks to WrestleTalk for the transcription.