JD McDonagh - Full Interview

I'm here with the man JD McDonagh.

How are you , man?

How are you doing?

I'm excited, man.

You know, this is my first WrestleMania with a, with a match.

I've been to 7 or 8 of them and seen how big of a spectacle they are.

This is the first time I got to get in the ring in front of everybody, so I'm more fired up than you can imagine.

I bet we just talked to one of your competitors over there.

I know you see him over there, Mr.

Russef.

Oh, big Russef, yeah, yeah, like, let's talk a little bit about this ladder match you're in, man.

How much excitement are you feeling?

Are you feeling any pressure?

You, we know how iconic WrestleMania ladder matches are.

Have you been thinking about?

Yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about it since I heard it was going to be a lot of match, you know, some of the best matches in WrestleMania history have been for the Intercontinental title.

Some of the best matches in WrestleMania history have been for been ladder matches, you know, I think we have a real shot here to add to the history books of this match at Mania.

There's a lot of guys in this match that are going full sand, are willing to give it, put it all on the line.

Yeah, a few guys that are ready to die in there, so I'm sure it's gonna be carnage.

So one of my questions is, what goes through your head before you walk right through that curtain for a big match?

Like what's your process right before a big match like this?

Just, I, I like to try and have the perspective of I've been wrestling for 25 years now.

I started when I was 12 years old.

Uh, and I feel like if I had just landed in this moment right now, it would be super overwhelming and I would be anxious and nervous and want to get sick.

I feel like I've grown into this slowly over the years, like the opportunities have come for me slowly and they've gotten bigger and bigger as time goes on.

So now I feel like I've grown into this moment and I am.

Eager and confident and excited to walk down the ramp and show you guys what I can do and and get my music out to the world, you know, uh, that would be what's gone through my head.

I, I, I imagine you cut to me now crying backstage 10 minutes ago.

It's all good.

No, we're excited, man.

I can see it.

Like this is what we love as fans, right?

Seeing the excitement from the wrestlers.

You can tell when these guys, like guys like yourself, who put their bodies on the line for us, and we appreciate it.

This is kind of what's gonna keep guys like you around longer, even long after their career is over, these moments that we talk about.

And listen, that's what got me into wrestling when I was a kid, you know, I love Jeff Hardy, you know, there's a guy that's willing to die on any given night, and that hooked me as a young fan and I think I wanna.

Replicate that myself in the hopes of getting the next generation wrestling fan hooked on WWE, you know.

Absolutely.

So who brings the best out of JD McDonagh?

Is there a wrestler out there that's like, you know, I can't, I love locking in on there.

Is there someone that comes to mind?

There's a few guys.

Um, the, the first person that came to mind when you said that it was Ili Dragganov.

I've wrestled him at every level.

I've wrestled in the Indies in England in front of a couple 100 people.

And I wrestled them on NXT TV.

I've wrestled them at every level there is.

I wrest them for the US title on SmackDown a little while ago.

Uh, so he's a guy that I've kind of seen as like a rival of mine in terms of physicality and intensity that he brings in the ring too.

I think we've got similar styles or styles that at least complement each other pretty well.

So I always like mixing it up with Elia.

Um, I'll give you one from, uh, left field.

Axiom from Axiom, yeah, he's a really talented technical wrestler.

Um, I took, I, um, tied up with him a couple of times down next to UK, and I've always enjoyed being in there with him.

He's a real smooth wrestler.

Would you say he's one of the most underrated right now?

Like, once he gets the call, people are rooting for sure, yeah, if he got a shot as, um, like a long singles run.

A little bit higher up the card with some, some good opponents, I think he could light the world on fire.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

It's WrestleMania Weekend.

Is there any surprise legend or guest that if they came through that curtain, you'd say, oh my goodness, like this is, this is a big time, um.

I've never met the gobbledygooker.

I met everybody else.

I don't know what to tell you.

That's hilarious.

OK, so quick rapid fire questions I got for you.

So, who's got the best finisher in the game?

You can't say yourself, you can't say yourself, but who's got the best finisher in the WWE right now?

Yes, yes, current finisher right now.

I like to go to sleep.

I don't like the guy that does it, but I like to go to sleep.

It's tough, you know.

No, absolutely theme song.

Um , I think any theme song that has lyrics to it always like connects the fans a little bit better.

Um, hard to say.

I'm pulling a blank right now.

Yeah, you're good.

You're good.

You're good.

I'm kind of putting you on the spot.

It's all good it's good, um.

You know, I really like Dolph Siegler's back in the day.

OK, I'm here to show the world.

Now, if there was any celebrity or athlete, anyone that could walk you to the ring at any point, you got to choose for one night, who would you take?

Maybe Katie Taylor, the women's boxer, she's, she's tough as well.

She, she could be my, my heater, you know, I, I'd feel safe with Katie at rings.

I love that, love that.

Now some final WrestleMania predictions.

Rings versus Punk, who you got?

I've been flip flopping back and forth on this all week.

I've been trying to, I know who I want to win.

I'm not sure if that is the person that will win.

Uh, for this interview, I'm gonna go with punk .

I think Punk might take it.

Would that go to sleep?

Yeah, yeah.

Here we go, Cody Rhodes or Randy Orton.

Randy.

Yeah, I think he's got a dangerous look at his eye these days.

And then we have Pat McAfee at ringside as well.

So that's a wild card and I just don't know what way that's going to go.

It's gonna be nuts.

Jade versus Ria Ripley.

That's like a clash of two people that look like their own action figure.

Uh, it pains me to say it because we had to kick her out of my old crew, but I think Rea Ripley's got jade on this one.

And so I think I know the answer for this one.

Liv Morgan, Stephanie the Liv Morgan all day long.

I think she's going to put Stephanie in the ground for what she did to her head.

Oh my gosh, yes, and I've got a bonus one Obafemi Brock Lesnar.

It's hard to look past either of them.

It really is.

Uh, I'm going to stand on the fence for this because I.

Genuinely, I know I'm going to be if they're on right before us.

I'll be glued to it.

That's what's going to be going through my head before my match on Sunday.

Yeah, Oba and Brock.

I'm a, I can't call it.

Got you.

And finally, what keeps JD McDonagh going in the WWE these days?

Like what's motivating you?

I'm living my dream, and that sounds like a cliche, but I, it is the 100% God's honest truth.

I worked my whole life for weekends like this and moments like this and opportunities like this, and.

That's what keeps me going.

I, I, I'm working for, for more of these opportunities and I'm working to hopefully next time I speak to you have the Intercontinental title in my lap.

Hey, best of luck this weekend.

Thank you so much for your time, man.

That was awesome.