"We have the same beliefs" - Jaxson Ryker on why he works so well with Elias
Jaxson Ryker, who has been somewhat of a controversial figure in WWE (to say the least), has recently found some success with Elias. The former NXT star sat down with Wrestling Inc.'s Drew Rice for an interview, and his relationship with WWE's resident troubadour certainly came up.
Jaxson Ryker feels he and Elias have a lot in common
When Jaxson Ryker was asked about the connection he has with Elias, he was full of nothing but praise for his current partner.
“[Elias] has been great, he is awesome. He is a good person, first of all, [and ]he’s worked hard and came from the indies, and stuff like that. So, we have a lot in common, our beliefs, our work ethic, whether it be dieting or faith, that we always talk about. I think we have a good dynamic because there are moments where he is comedic, and I’ll play off of that a little bit. We have had some fun with some backstage stuff, with kind of just our facial [expressions] and bouncing off each other. And I think that it is something that can evolve.”
It's worth noting that Jaxson Ryker came under scrutiny last year when he posted a message on Twitter that heavily praised former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Here's a SportsIllustrated.com piece on why this particular tweet was considered especially problematic.
Jaxson Ryker has never made it a secret that his religious beliefs are extremely important to him and how they've affected his WWE career, as he told Rice:
“I’ve never been asked to do anything that would jeopardize my beliefs, or anything. I’ve heard some stories of wrestlers that were asked to make out with a certain female on a show or something like that years ago. And they would say, ‘No,’ because they were married. I’ve never been put in a predicament where I’ve had to say, ‘I can’t really do that,’ because of my beliefs or what-not."
And when it comes to social media, he said:
“As far as your social media page, you’re not told, ‘Don’t tweet about Jesus,’ because you don’t want to upset anybody. It’s your faith, and you can tweet what you want. You just have to be respectful of other people’s beliefs as well. Which I do, and I am. It’s good for the industry now. It’s different times. And I think social media has opened a lot of doors for that.”
You can listen to the entire interview with Jaxson Ryker - including a discussion on how Ken Kennedy (aka Ken Anderson) helped his career - at this link here.