LJ Cleary Reflects On WWE Tryout Experience, Meeting Childhood Hero John Cena

LJ Cleary talks about his experience attending WWE’s SummerSlam week tryouts.

The week of WWE SummerSam in New Jersey, WWE would hold their latest set of tryouts for both US and European based talent. Several Irish wrestlers made the trip over, including Lyra Valkyria’s partner LJ Cleary, who has made a name for himself in both the European and Japanese wrestling scenes.

While speaking to WrestleMobs of Bodyslam and Irish Wrestling and Entertainment, LJ Cleary reflected on the recent WWE tryouts he partook in, labeling them an ‘unreal experience’.

“The tryout itself, unreal experience. Like I could say that again, like I talked about- I’m not the most, I’m not a very anxious or stressed person. Like I was just like, ‘I’m just gonna go’ and the way I had it in my head was like, I’m just gonna go and do some wrestling training for a few days for the biggest company in the world. Like, you know, for me, I’m very much like, once I’m in a ring, like it doesn’t matter, like who I’m wrestling or like what the logo is on the turnbuckles or on the canvas. Like it’s, I’m just doing the thing that I love. Then to have the experience of, I’m pretty sure I posted publicly where I’m pretty sure there’s a video out there as well, that on the last day, John Cena came and gave us (a talk), and me being the type of person and fan that I am as well. Like Cena is- I always say like, my three favorite wrestlers are like Cena, Jericho and Zack Ryder, like all for different reasons, Zack Ryder, Matt Cardona, all for very different reasons. But Cena is like my childhood hero. Like  I am the target audience for like when John Cena was becoming the guy, I was six when the spinner belt was (debuted) and like, like that’s my WWE title. It’s so funny. Obviously there’s the argument of like, you know, I completely understand it, another generation may be like it’s the worst looking thing ever but to me like that’s mine and the stubbornness in me being over the years I would tell myself well, like I started being like this.. because I had the proof of wrestling the likes of Cardona and Nemeth and Pac right but like well I’m gonna wrestle these people, it’s just gonna happen so when obviously I have to come to terms with well, I won’t get to wrestle John Cena like I just have to accept that and that was hard like, and some people might listen to this be like ‘what? like obviously!’, like some of the people might listen to this being like, ‘obviously you weren’t gonna anyway’, but like, in my head, like, up until he said he was gonna retire, the option was there. As long as the option was there, like, I can make it happen. So to come to terms with that I’ll likely never, ever get that. Having him be at my trial in his last year as, you know as an as an active performer while he’s WWE champion, I was very lucky. Again, you’ve seen me, I’m first down the line. There’s no way I’m standing at the back of a queue any time, but definitely not when the greatest of all time is there. If that’s what my experience is with him, if I don’t get to wrestle him, then I’m very happy. Like, it felt like very much so like it was meant to happen that way. So the tryout in general was, it was class. To do it, like, on SummerSlam week for, like, I’m a kid from the Liberties in Dublin, has really, like, no reason to… on paper, there’s no way, like, I get there, and it’s the same with CBL as well. It’s the same with Anita. Like, CBL’s from Granard, Longford. I didn’t even know where that was until I met him, you know? There’s no way, like, he should be there, and there’s no way, like, me, like, on paper should be there. But it’s- you can make these things happen if you really want to.”

In another interview earlier this Summer, LJ spoke about his appearance during WWE Backlash where Becky Lynch would trash talk Cleary during her bout with Lyra. You can read more about that here.

Should you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Fightful with an H/T linking back to this article.