Sami Callihan On Betting On Himself, Fans Not Understanding His Hacker Gimmick, Getting Triple H’s Attention In NXT

Sami Callihan recently spoke with ESPN.com‘s Michael Wonsover; you can read a few excerpts below:

Sami comments on how his Solomon Crowe hacker gimmick got off to the wrong start: 

“People didn’t understand the hacker character. I was debuted as the hacker character and told, ‘hey, you’re not the hacker’. So people would [say], ‘you don’t look like you know who you are out there,’ because I didn’t know who I was because I was told to be six different things from six different people.”

Sami comments on never getting to really be himself in WWE: 

“Everyone always said, ‘Dusty liked his broken toys,’ and I feel like I was one of his broken toys. He straight up told me one day, ‘you can be the next CM Punk, or you could be the next Chris Jericho if they give you the ball and allow you to be you,’ but it just never transpired. I never got the chance to truly be me in the middle of the ring.”

Sami comments on getting Triple H’s attention after facing Apollo Crews on NXT TV in September of 2015:

“I remember before the match Apollo goes, ‘do you tonight. If we get in trouble I’ll take the blame.’ I remember getting pulled to the back from HHH and he was like, ‘where has this guy been for the last year’. I kinda had to bite my tongue, but lucky enough people like Norman Smiley and Billy Gunn straight up came up to him and was like, ‘this is the guy that’s been main eventing a lot of your house shows against Finn Balor and Kevin Owens and having killer matches, but then it comes to TV and you book him like a jobber.'”

Sami comments on wrestling having more options today than just WWE, but says he’d still be open to a return in the future: 

“Now, wrestling isn’t just one-sided. It’s not just about WWE. There are wrestlers out on the indies making six figures a year. The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll now have shirts at Hot Topic. Our generation is proving there is a way to make money and there is a way to become mainstream stars without being backed by the WWE machine.”

“To say that I don’t want to go back [to WWE] would be a lie because one day I truly do believe maybe I will be back and have that WrestleMania moment,” Callihan said. “I believe I can be on the forefront and truly do believe I can be a top guy even though I’m 5-foot-8, 210 pounds. At the end of the day, you got to bet on yourself. And from now on I’m always gonna bet on myself.”