What did he think his career would be like after winning NXT: "I had a very unusual start in WWE where I kind of went in right at that main event level after NXT and that completely wasn't what I was expecting. If you look in the history of the WWE I think I'd main evented five or six pay per views in my first six months with the company really. That's kind of unheard of and never been done before and it certainly wasn't something I ever expected."

Was he ready to be thrust into the main event scene: "I think I was. We had eight guys on NXT and I feel I was kind of the guy who was ready first out of all those guys. Obviously a couple of the other guys have stepped up since. Daniel Bryan and Ryback and guys like that have kind of stepped up. But at the time, I think I was the only guy in the group who had that capability of being well rounded so it was an unusual way to start a career, and certainly unexpected, but I'm very grateful for the opportunities I got back then."

Was he disappointed that the Nexus fizzled out as fast as it did: "Yeah I think so and I still get people asking me to this day why it ended so fast. I mean, in my opinion, there was a lot more legs to it. I think in retrospect, we could have done a better job with putting the story line together how it progressed. But unfortunately, it ended very, very quickly after it began and I think that's a shame."

If he gets to the main event level, who does he want to work with: "Somebody who I've never had a match with in WWE, which is quite unbelievable really considering we've kind of been on the show together for the last three and a half, four years, is CM Punk. I've literally never had a singles match with him. So he's someone, 100 percent, I'd like to get in there with. He's one of the few regular guys on the show that I've never been in the ring with so he's definitely someone I'd like to step in there with. Like I said, I'm a big fan of his, I think he's a great performer. I think he'd help me step my game up further. On top of that, somebody like Triple H is someone I was a fan of growing up. He's consistently, I think, one of the best performers in WWE and I know he doesn't have many matches these days. He's kind of more of a behind the scenes guy, he comes back once or twice a year for matches. So I would love to step into the ring with him too."