Wheeler Yuta Says He Was ‘Just Along For The Ride’ When He Initially Joined The Death Riders
Wheeler Yuta discusses how he was 'just along for the ride' when he initially joined The Death Riders.
Wheeler Yuta discusses how he was ‘just along for the ride’ when he initially joined The Death Riders.
Prior to the Death Riders becoming known as such last year, the group was known as the Blackpool Combat Club and was created under William Regal following him uniting Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley in the midst of a feud involving the pair. One name that came to the faction before the change to Death Riders was Wheeler Yuta, who came into the faction off matches with both Danielson and Moxley, earning Regal’s approval.
While speaking to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp in a new exclusive interview, Wheeler Yuta spoke about his recruitment into the faction, beginning with earning the BCC’s respect.
“That was such a whirlwind of a day. I didn’t know that I was having that match until the day of and then I was kind of mentally preparing myself because I’d already wrestled Bryan at that point, but I was really just trying to, I guess, make the most out of the opportunity because I really knew that this could be a chance to sort of springboard me into that next phase of my career. I think it did. But that was such a surreal day, having those guys around me for as long as I have has been incredibly fortunate. Like you said, like for someone who wrestles like me, you can’t imagine three better mentors. So that was such a special moment. It was also in Boston, which we were about to go back to for Dynamite and a lot of my independent days I spent for Beyond Wrestling and Worchester. I remember I look out i see some familiar fans in the front row and they’re having a moment. Like, ‘We saw this kid when he was in college, trying his best.’ It was nice to make those guys proud and then also prove myself to a much larger audience. So was really, it was really cool.”
Wheeler was later asked about how he came to join the faction, explaining how he felt like him joining was ‘pretty organic.’
“It was crazy how it all happened. Like it all kind of felt pretty organic, where I had two matches with Moxley that are kind of forgotten about beforehand. But the second one I had, it was like a 10 minute opening of Dynamite match. Orange Cassidy is out there with me. I think Danhausen might have made an appearance. It was very much Best Friends antics, so a very different kind of wrestling than what I eventually morphed into doing. After that Bryan Danielson came out and have to mention my name in a promo and that sort of set it off and then I wrestled against him. I’d known Regal for a while at that point. I think the first time I met him was maybe 2018, 2019, doing like a tryout camp for Evolve on the independents. So that was like the first time that I had met him, but I was familiar with him at that point. Everything just seemed to fall into place perfectly. So I was just along for the ride. I was incredibly excited to be able to have all that stuff. Like you said, for a wrestler like me, what more could you ask for? Like what an opportunity. So it was incredible and we’ve just kept it going.”
Elsewhere in the same interview, Yuta spoke about how his family has reacted to him garnering heat from the AEW fanbase. You can read more about that here.
