Tyson Kidd — who has a long road to recovery after suffering a knee injury — spoke to WWE.com about being mentioned during CM Punk’s Pipe Bomb promo from the first Monday Night Raw episode of the new year. Specifically, Punk said, “The more popular you are, the more money you make … The more you people cheer for any given Superstar, the more opportunities [they’re] afforded. Why do you think a guy like John Cena, who has admittedly had the worst year of his career, gets title shot after title shot after title shot? Or why a lethal grappler, why a serious submission specialist like Daniel Bryan, puts a smile on his face and saddles himself, belittles himself, with catchphrases? Or why a 400-pound monster like Brodus Clay soils his hands by touching your filthy, ugly little children to get in the ring so he can shuck and jive for ya? Or why an invisible child, ‘Little Jimmy’ is better positioned on the flagship show, Monday Night Raw, than a workhorse like Tyson Kidd?”
In response to being called a workhorse by Punk, Kidd remarked, “My initial reaction was that: A.) These people understand and care, too, and B.) Punk is 100 percent right … I respect CM Punk to the highest degree. If he comes out in his gear, I’m excited. If he comes out with a microphone, I’m equally excited. Love him or hate him, he’s good at what he does.”
He added, “I’ve always considered myself a workhorse, and I’ve definitely used that word to describe myself over the last two years … I go out there and give it my all every single match — and I’ve been doing that for 17 years. Whether in WWE or Japan or Europe or back home in [Calgary, Alberta’s] Stampede Wrestling, it’s always been the same story. In a worst-case scenario, I will outwrestle everybody on this show. Anyone that’s gonna outwrestle me had better perform after me, because I’m going to outperform everybody that I saw before me.”
