Xavier Woods Talks Having Heat With Cody Rhodes In High School, Being Close With Tyler Breeze, More
Recently on Talk Is Jericho, 'Y2J' Chris Jericho interviewed one-third of the WWE Tag Team Champions and New Day member, Xavier Woods. Woods talked about growing up wrestling against Cody Rhodes, the best gamers backstage, and friends in the professional wrestling business.
Apparently, Woods, whose real name is Austin Watson, and Rhodes, attended rival high schools. Given his love of professional wrestling, Woods decided to try his hand at amateur wrestling in high school. Woods hoped that Rhodes's father, 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, would discover him and take him under his wing.
"I guess it was sophomore year, my whole thought was, 'okay, first off, he's at a rival school, so our schools legit hated each other in football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, everything. And so, I was 160 [pounds] at the time. I think he was wrestling at 180 [pounds], maybe. And my thought was, 'okay, I'm going to wrestle up two weight classes and then I'm going to beat him and Dusty [Rhodes]'s is going to be there because Dusty would be at the matches and Dusty's going to say, 'oh, you're the best! I'm going to train you and make you the best wrestler ever. And so, I beat four guys on my team to get the varsity spot that year. And then I beat three guys in the tournament to get to Cody. And then, we wrestled, he beat me 2 – 1 and I was real upset."
To make matters worse, Rhodes also made Woods look foolish in front of a girl he had a crush on in high school.
"And then months later, this girl who I had the biggest crush on, who lived in my neighborhood when we were kids, and she kind of dug me too, but I was too awkward to be like, 'oh, you're cute. Let's make out'. So I see her at the bowling alley and she's like, 'oh, Austin!' She runs up and [gives me a] big hug, like we haven't seen each other in years, and she's like, 'oh, let me introduce you to my friends' and I'm like, 'oh, okay. Cool.' We're talking while we're walking over there and she goes, 'I go to Lassiter [High School] now, blah, blah, blah' [and I'm] not thinking anything of it. She's like, 'this is them, this is them, this is them, this is them' and then she goes, 'oh, and that's Cody'. He turns around and he looks and he goes, 'ugh, I know him. I beat that kid.' And then he picks up a bowling ball and bowls a strike. And it was the most d——d move I've ever seen in my life!"
Interestingly, Woods's parents shared their son's negative view of Rhodes, as they were surprised at how nice Rhodes had become as an adult.
"Fast forward even more, to 'Mania in [Miami] Florida, I think. So I'm walking with my parents to the elevator and Cody walks up [and he says], 'oh, Mr. and Mrs. Watson! How are you guys doing?' And they talk for, like, five [or] ten minutes and when he leaves, my dad goes, 'is that like Cody, Cody?' I was like, 'yeah'. My dad goes, 'wow, when did he become nice?'."
While Woods and Rhodes have made peace, they remain extremely competitive when they are left to their own devices. As for friends in the business, Woods named Tyler Breeze as being among his best friends.
"I used to live with, like, Tyler Breeze and Rick Victor when I lived in Florida. Yeah, Breeze is like one of my best friends in the business. [Rick Victor is Viktor] from The Ascension. Dude, I just gravitate towards Canadians."
Also, during the podcast, Woods stated that he convinced video game developer 2K to give him the promotional championship belt. According to Woods, Kofi Kingston, Rusev, Jack Swagger, and Curtis Axel are among the best, although Woods claimed to be the best, taking home the 2K Championship every year.
"It was like three months of back and forth and [2K] finally gave it to me and I was like the happiest kid in the world. It's like on my wall in my home and it feels so good." Woods continued, "as soon as I got to the main roster, I became champion and every year at 'Mania, I take the belt home".
Woods named Neville as the worst trash talkers of WWE's gaming community.
"Dude, [Neville] is the worst [trash talker] and he won't come on my show to do it. Like, he's so toned down on the show because I don't think he wants people to know how crazy he is, but with closed doors, and he wins [a video game], he is the worst.
In addition to these topics, Woods discussed tromboning and his musical past, his YouTube show, and more. To check out the show, click here. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho