Je’Von Evans Talks Possibly Being Youngest WWE Champion Ever
Je’Von Evans wants to be a true “Young OG.”
He wants to be the youngest WWE Champion in the history of the company.
In addition to the highlights we previously published from the interview today, Je’Von Evans also spoke during his INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet appearance about possibly setting youngest all-time records in WWE.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
There are a few numbers that get thrown around a lot. 23, you could be the youngest Intercontinental Champion. 24, you could be the youngest world champion. 26, you could be the youngest WWE Champion. “I am very, very locked in and focused on that, because I feel like I have an opportunity to recreate history, and it’s cool because, as I said earlier, I have so much time. To me, with these goals, I don’t have so much time. In general, I do, but bro, everybody’s trying to compete for something. So, of course, I have a year to be the youngest IC Champion, but I still gotta go through Chad Gable. I’m pretty sure Ethan Page wants that. I’m pretty sure Dragon Lee wants it. I want to be World Heavyweight Champ. I’m pretty sure Oba and Trick want it. I’m pretty sure Seth wants it. I have people that I have to go through.”
So when you found out you’re getting this match with Randy Orton in NXT, what are you feeling? “So honestly, they tried to surprise me, but I knew before it was gonna happen, and I’ll tell you why. So before the match, and not before the match announcement, maybe like a couple days, we had like promo class at NXT, and I’m talking to the writer, and I’m like, ‘Hey, do I get new gear for this show?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, we’re working on something…’ Whatever, whatever. All right, cool. Say less. Then it was me and Cedric versus No Quarter Catch Crew, I believe, and before the match, Randy Orton follows me on IG. All right, that’s cool, that’s cool. Then I’m about to go out, and I’m not gonna say their name. Actually it already happened, right? I think it was just Harlem Lewis. Maybe it was just him. But he’s like, ‘Yo, did you see this post?’ And I’m like, ‘What post?’ ‘You going against Randy Orton?’ This was before the match. I’m like, ‘I am?’ He shows me the post, and I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s fire, whatever.’ Then I go have the match, and then the ref is like, ‘Hey, stay here, just react to whatever’s on the screen.’ I was like, all right, cool, and then I look at the screen. It’s the post that I saw before the match, and I was like, Yeah! So, Harlem Lewis it’s your fault, and you’re probably gonna get heat for it.”
So you’re giving the RKO guy a version of the RKO. “Exactly, which is pretty insane.”
You guys missed the finish of that match with the RKO. I could just tell how much it was getting to you. “I was pissed.”
Had you walked through it earlier in the day? “No, we didn’t. It was literally just us saying, ‘Oh, this is gonna be a cool idea. Let’s do it.’ He was like, ‘You do like the spinny thing, and I catch you.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.’ But I think just like position-wise, we didn’t try it before the show. It was just kind of like a thing we had an idea about. It took me a while to watch that match because of that. I didn’t watch that match for months. But also, it’s cool to look at it and be like that was just a real moment. Everything in wrestling is not pretty. We’re still fighting at the end of the day. I just love now I can look back at the moment, kind of like this. But I still look at it like okay. But I can look back at it, and say, dang, I learned from that moment. Then even if we hit that smoothly, we probably wouldn’t have got Randy Orton moment saying, ‘Hey, bro, you’re the man.’”
So at the end of the match, you say to him, “I’m so sorry.’ What’s he saying to you? “He was like, ‘Hey, don’t worry, bro, you’re the effing man. Raise my hand, bro.’ Of course, I was still pissed, but in my head, I’m like all right, bro, Randy just said I’m the man.”
When you hit the OG cutter on Bravo Americano where it’s top rope to top rope, what a shot! “I’m a nervous guy. All right, I was so nervous about that, because, of course, you know I jump high, and then he had to jump literally maybe a couple milliseconds before I jump. We had the timing off perfectly. Then we did it, and I was so proud. I was so proud about that. Because I knew that if I messed up, then of course the fans would be like, ‘Oh, Je’Von needs to stop doing the dumb stuff. He needs to calm down.’ But because I hit it correctly, now everybody’s like, Oh, that was fire!”
You had a match against El Grande Americano on Raw that had to get stopped. What’s the story behind this? Why did the match stop? “So basically, I think before we went to commercial, me and Americano butt heads, and for a couple seconds I was like seeing stars or whatever. But I’m from the indie scene. You get hurt, you keep going unless you can’t go no more. So we butt heads, and I was kind of stunned for a little minute. But then I continued, and then we went to break, and so I went to the ref. I’m like, ‘Hey, look, I’m seeing stars, but I’m good.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ And then I’m like, ‘I was seeing stars, but I’m okay.’ He said, ‘Do we need to call medical?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, we don’t. I just got here, dude. I’m okay.’ Then he’s like, ‘No, we gotta call medical because it’s a head injury.’ So we got medical, and then they were asking me questions, and I was like, I promise, I’m okay. But because we hit heads and because I was seeing stars, they had to call the match off. I just got stunned. I’ve been through worse. But head injuries are nothing to play about.”