Former WWE star Reggie says creative changes ruined his NXT character.
Reggie was part of WWE from 2020 to 2024. He made his debut in January 2020 on SmackDown as Carmella’s French sommelier. He also managed Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler before becoming a multiple-time 24/7 Champion. He also had a romantic angle with Dana Brooke.
WWE then moved him to NXT in 2022, where he portrayed the mysterious Scrypts character. However, the promotion released him in May 2024. He’s currently working the independent circuit as Sidney Akeem and Soleil.
Now, speaking on the Rewind Recap Relive podcast, Reggie detailed the original pitch he made to Shawn Michaels for his WWE NXT character. He proposed a masked gimmick, with Rey Mysterio giving him a mask before a six-man tag team match. Dominik Mysterio would’ve then developed animosity over his father giving Reggie the mask instead of him, which would’ve led to his heel turn. However, the promotion scrapped this idea in favor of Dominik joining the Judgment Day.
Reggie explained how his WWE NXT character evolved away from his vision.
“Too many chefs in the kitchen,” the former WWE star said. “So I went to NXT and I told them the idea with the mask, and then their head writer said, ‘What else do you do for fun?’ I said, ‘I do slam poetry.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I had this idea of this dark poet.’ Me, I’m a team player. Then they came up with this idea of you’ll do this and do that. On TV, I wasn’t ready because the mask was horrible, the gear was horrible, and the gimmick was horrible. What you saw was not Scrypts, you saw Blink Man.”
Reggie says his current character fulfils the vision he had for his WWE gimmick
Speaking further, Reggie noted that his current character, Soleil, represents everything Scrypts was supposed to be in WWE.
“Soleil was everything that Scrypts were supposed to be back in NXT,” Akeem explained. “This time I have the creative freedom to do it the way I want to do it, the way that I envisioned it.
“So it’s almost full circle, but this time I have the creative freedom to do it the way I want to do it, the way that I envisioned it, the way that I wrote this story in 2020. This is the birth of that. I’m not losing Sidney Akeem. Most people put a mask on to hide who they were and who they are. I put the mask on as a sign of courage and confidence to show that no matter where you come from, no matter what you’ve been through or what people tell you you can’t do, that there’s a superhero inside of everyone,” the former WWE star said. [H/T SEScoops]
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