Luke Gallows Talks CM Punk In UFC, Finn Balor In WWE And More

Chad Dukes of CBS Radio Washington DC 106.7 The Fan and ChadDukesWrestling.com spoke with former WWE and TNA star Luke “Doc” Gallows, who is currently wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling. The full interview is at this link and you can read a few highlights below:

Being in Aces & 8s in TNA:

“As evidenced by my career, I’m a bit of a faction man. That was just a really neat, I really dug the vibe of it. I thought got to be myself a little bit for the first time, which translated into what I think became the Bullet Club success for me and stuff. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but Mike Knox is probably my very best friend in wrestling, best friend since we laid eyes on each other. He’s my dude and getting to do that and be on TV with him, actually at one point there was talk of making us more of a TV tag team and running us for the tag belts and stuff, which never came to fruition.

“It was a great group of guys. Devon, I’m completely fond of him, we became friends. D-Lo Brown, he’s my boy as well. Just the whole thing, Garrett, Wes, no matter what you think of those guys in-ring or otherwise, it was a great group of guys, we had each other’s backs, we were friends outside the ring, and anytime you do that- it’s kinda like at WWE, Mercury, CM Punk, and I as the Straight Edge Society- anytime that you have that with guys, like we have in the Bullet Club now, it translates, people get it. It has a real feeling because it is real.”

CM Punk’s feelings on WWE and joining UFC:

“I know his opinions because I’ve heard them out of his mouth on the phone before, but I wasn’t there anymore and it was a different time. All I know, is I felt like in 2010 when the Straight Edge Society ended that it was a shame because we had some real momentum. We came into Summer Slam 2010 and whatever mistakes Serena Deeb made, I don’t know, I can’t care to comment on, she got fired and [Joey Mercury] tore his pec in that match we had with Big Show. So it was kinda like the Straight Edge Society imploded in one night, so we never got to finish the storyline which I always thought was a shame.

“The UFC move shocked me. I knew some of the other entertainment stuff he was doing, I knew he was training his ass off, I knew he was a huge fan of it, so I kinda had an inkling. And then he announced it or they announced it, whatever, and I texted him and said, ‘Holy Crap dude, congratulations, I had no idea.’ I just talked to him in Japan, I know he’s training his butt off in Milwaukee and he’s really digging that. I hope for all the best for him.”

WWE’s Joey Mercury:

“If there was ever a guy who knew this business from the inside out and could teach it to other people and knew how to convey it, it was Joey. I was in my mid-20s when Straight Edge thing was going, 25, 26 years old. Who better to stand on the ring apron and tag with, who better to second out to a match CM Punk. Joey and I tagged on six or seven overseas tours, we tagged on all the house shows, and I just think the world of both [Joey Mercury & CM Punk] as in-ring performers, as entertainers, and as people. Getting to be with those guys it was kinda like going to medical school after college or something.”

WWE’s Finn Balor:

“I was on the fence about it, but then I watched his entrance at [NXT R Evolution] and said, ‘Ok, this is the real deal. They have to go all the way with this.’ I’ve seen him, I’ve tagged with him, been on the apron with him, knew how good he was, but I didn’t know if they would get it because I think sometimes guys who come from other places it goes over their head.

“Not to just keep crediting my friends but Joey Mercury, a guy who’s in a position and knows stuff like that, is the kind of guy who gets it. I think that’s why Hunter’s building a team of people like that. I think that’s why you see Kevin Steen in WWE now, that’s why Rollins is the star that he’s become.

“He’s a guy who can go, he has a charisma, not so much a charisma but he has mystique. And I think that when mystique’s gone, like now in a lot of cases, that it hurts. But if you look at like a Bray Wyatt, and there’s mystique there, I love him, huge fan of him, he’s a friend of mine, and I love what he’s doing and what they’ve done with him. And I think that Devitt, if they can capture him just right, he’s gonna be able to captivate an audience and be a major league, big fight feel superstar in that company.”