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Ludwig Kaiser On Gunther, Dating Tiffany Stratton, Giovanni Vinci, WWE Goals, Bash In Berlin
Ludwig Kaiser (@WWE_Kaiser) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis, IN to discuss his journey from the German independent scene to the WWE main roster and how at one point it looked to be impossible, his partnership with and past matches against Gunther, his insane body transformation, being part of Imperium with his tag team partner Giovanni Vinci, wrestling in Berlin but not being a part of the WWE Bash in Berlin card, his recent matches against Bron Breakker and Sheamus, if he sees a breakout run coming soon, a possible babyface run, Tiffany Stratton winning the Women's Championship and more!
Quote I'm thinking about: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller
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"Man it's hard to say, just because like you said, a lot of stuff happened last year and it was a little bit of an up and down as well. I've been in the company for so long already, it feels like everything that I ever did or accomplished I really had to work hard for. Nothing was given to me and I think that definitely one of the major moments was basically right in the beginning of the year, the first few weeks, the match against Kofi Kingston. Giovanni Vinci was hurt couple of weeks back. The thing with the drop kick to the head and all of a sudden he was out. Yeah, the way this business works, right? All of a sudden you're in that spot, and you get that chance that you haven't really gotten before. So I was told very, very firmly, very directly what they wanted to see that night. I think it was a little bit of a test as well because they wanted a side that they haven't seen from Ludwig Kaiser so far and a side that comes very naturally to me that I love to show but it was never time. It was just never that spot to really do that. And as soon as I did it the first night it worked, everybody saw it and I think that night definitely, right in the beginning of the year, was an important one."
"Obviously, when we first came in the focus was heavily on Gunther. To me, I hold pride in not only being a good professional wrestler but a good professional, and that also means to know your spot. I always try to add something to the act without taking anything away, that was always my goal. The tools that I have and that I can work with very well are perfect for what we do here for the main roster, and I found that out pretty quickly. So I found my ways just to make myself valuable, make the act better within the way I was given, or as good as I could."
"The story that I've heard is that WWE was looking for a German wrestler, and they scheduled a tour through Germany to look at talent, go through all the different wrestling schools and stuff. And apparently Mr. William Regal, who I'm always going to be grateful for, saw my name on the list, he knew my dad, and they saw my picture. They saw everything, he pointed out me and said cancel the tour, we'll take him. I was one of the guys. I never had to do a tryout, because I was supposed to do one, but two weeks, three weeks before I blew my knee out. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say that. I'm not sure if I ever said that. But yeah, I got injured and I had to cancel the tryout. So obviously I'm in the match already, I thought Oh my God, this is over. Because when I first started this, I never thought I would go to WWE. It was not my big goal to be like okay, I gotta go to WWE or otherwise this is all for nothing. No, I wanted to do my dad proud. I wanted to be a professional wrestler. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to do all of that."
"I think so, yeah. Because back in the day when I first grew up in wrestling, it was very, very tough. Honestly, before Hunter had that vision and opened up that door for us, none of us, not Gunther, not myself, not Pete Dunne, all those guys, Finn Balor, I don't think we would be here today. So without Hunter, without men like William Regal, men like Dave Taylor, Robbie Brookside, Fit Finlay, all those guys who paved that way for us European talent. I'll always be grateful for that, definitely. Because without them, I don't think we would be here."
"I've been working hard. It’s every time in my career when I felt like I'm standing still here and I have to do something, because there's only so many things that are in your hands, there's only so many things you control in our line of work. My thing was always, I gotta make sure all my stuff is on point 11 out of 10. So yeah, I was looking at myself and thought what else can you do? I’m working out a lot, I go in the ring a lot and at this point, it was the diet that I could have worked on a little bit. I think I gotta say too, at that point when I lost that much weight, I really tried to bulk as well and I really tried to get as many calories in, because I worked out hard and stuff. But then yeah, I think 18 weeks with the reverse diet. The reverse diet is basically not going back to the calories that you used to eat, because you slowly, slowly, slowly go down a little bit. You cut the carbs here a little bit, you cut the calories a little bit. Then you lose weight and when you're at the point where you are happy with the body fat percentage can slowly go up again. Because your body is so empty, basically, it sucks all the nutrients up so good and juices everything perfectly. But if you all of a sudden, of course, starve your body for so many weeks and then go back with 5,000 calories every day, then obviously that's not going to be good. Everything slowly up, slowly down. Don't shock your body like that. And yeah, that worked very, very well for me I gotta say. [Did you work with a nutritionist for that?] I did. A guy from Germany. He used to wrestle as well. I've known for a long time, and he's really good at that. So he helped me out. He helped Gunther out. He helped a bunch of the guys out."
"In the PC basically. We knew of each other. Obviously, I've been there for a while, and, yeah, she got my attention a little bit. I would lie if I said I wouldn't have noticed her. I think we kind of played the same game a little bit. We're very similar in a lot of ways. We are both pretty stubborn, or we can be pretty stubborn I think. And I think nobody wanted to make the first step, really. But then yeah, coincidences, I was out with a couple of friends, and she was there as well. It was her birthday weekend, she sat down, and then I don't know how it went, but somehow we got to that, hey, why don't we go on a date?"
"It was awesome. I actually flew in because it was a huge, huge moment. Obviously, I was there for her NXT Championship win back then, so I really wanted to be there as well. We have such an amazing product, especially now. But the only thing that really doesn't do justice is the reaction and the way things sound when you're actually there live. That moment when she actually turned on Nia was crazy. You had to be there in order to understand that that was really a huge moment. Really doesn't do it justice on TV. But yeah, it was amazing. I'm so happy for her because I've been there for the lows, I've been there for the highs. I've seen it all very up close, and she created something there. She's doing amazing."
"I think that it’s definitely there. We're moving towards it 100%. Being in the biggest and best company in the world when it comes to professional wrestling also means that you are facing the biggest and best competition in the world. That's just how it is, and I'm not afraid of that. I've never been afraid of that. I've been wrestling for 10 years before I made it here and I restarted my career. I went all the way down to the first step of the ladder again, and climbed all the way up there. I did everything again, and to me, it is head down and work hard."
"I never say never. I do believe that I that I can work babyface. I actually think that I could be a good babyface. I have a good babyface run in me. When I was in Germany and I was a babyface I was never the 100% of the crowd is on my side babyface. I was always very polarizing, either people really hated me or they really liked me. Most of the times the kids and the women like me and the men hated my guts. There was a time in wXw where I was supposed to be that babyface runner up, and they hated it. It was like 80% against 20% really killing me out there. But yeah, I do think I got it in me. First of all though, I gotta knock this heel thing out. Be natural and be happy who I am, because it comes obviously much more naturally."
"I don't know. Obviously that's something that would have to happen organically. I wouldn't want to just to do that. Obviously we work in the same company, and that possibility is given. But I also like to keep my private life private, you know what I mean? I'm a little old school when it comes to that. But definitely when it comes to work I think we could do some great stuff. We could bring the Mixed Match Challenge back."
"I did fight for it. I did. There were conversations about it, and it wasn't really clear if it would happen or not. But again, it's tough, man. It's a PLE. We have so much stuff. If you look at the card that night, it is almost impossible to even get on there. So much star power. And again, we have the greatest superstars in the world. When I look at that card, I understand why I wasn’t on that card that night, but I damn well know I will be. I will 100% be. Because Germany showed out that night, and it's a great market for the company, and, yeah it’s my first time there with WWE really. There's a lot of shows to come, and a lot of opportunities, and I can definitely promise you, Ludwig Kaiser is going to use all those."
"Family, my friends and my life."
