Donovan Dijak Says He Was Hesitant To Initially Join MLW

Former WWE star Donovan Dijak spoke with WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard about various topics, including being hesitant to initially join MLW.

Dijak said, “I didn’t want to be put in a situation that I had just been in for a long time. That’s ultimately what it boils down to. That was my concern. So there was a month or two there where I was thinking about it, and I was considering it, and then I had a phone call with both Court [Bauer] and Saint Laurent. They were speaking to me, and just from talking to them, I got a very good sense that this was going to be different, which isn’t to imply that my run in WWE was horrible. It wasn’t right. I was given a ton of opportunities, especially toward the end. I was put in a position where it’s been less than a year since I was able to have one of the biggest matches of my career in front of 16,000 people. A wonderful platform that gave me the opportunity to be a character that I designed and wanted to be. So, I’m eternally thankful for all those opportunities, but what I was looking for at that point in my career was something more right. By more, I mean more pressure, more responsibility in terms of a talent because I was constantly requesting to be featured as a top guy in WWE,” he adds. “So that’s what I wanted to communicate to MLW: Here, here’s how I view myself. If that’s not how you view me, that’s fine, no worries, but, but this is what I’m looking for in terms of presentation and my guarantee to whoever wants to give me that is, I’m going to continue to do what I’ve always done, and that’s completely exceed your expectations. Every time I was given an opportunity in WWE, I didn’t say, ‘Okay, let me, let me do what they’re asking of me.’ It was, ‘How do I have the best triple threat match in WWE history,’ right? That was always my goal. I don’t know whether I achieved that or not, but that was my mindset. ‘How do I have the best Last Man Standing match in WWE history, in pro wrestling history,’ right? These are the goals I set for myself when I’m given opportunities. So the fact that MLW is giving me these opportunities, that’s when my mind starts going just completely over the top.”

On MLW sharing his vision on how to grow the company:

“How do I continue to progress in this company? How do I put everything on my back? How do I put the pressure on an entire company and say, ‘I’m going to be the top guy?’ I’m going to take this thing where it’s never been before. I’m going to try to progress us to a point where people look at MLW the same way we do. That became the collaborative mission, and they’ve completely exceeded all my expectations in terms of execution. It’s a complete collaboration. I’m so happy with the presentation so far, and I’m super excited to continue working in that direction towards those goals because we all have the same vision.”

You can check out Dijak’s comments in the video below.

(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)