Denise Salcedo Discusses WWE NXT Pre-Show Panel Experience, Backstage NXT Vibe, Who Was Nice To Her, And More! - Exclusive

This past Saturday night, Denise Salcedo made her official "WWE NXT" kickoff panel debut alongside McKenzie Mitchell and Sam Roberts. The panel took place an hour before WWE's latest "NXT" premium live event, Deadline, which featured the debut of an entirely new match type: the Iron Survivor Challenge. Dreamed up by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, the match features five wrestlers competing in a bout that is part Royal Rumble, part elimination scramble, part Iron Man match, and part King of the Mountain, and while some fans were skeptical of how the new match would deliver based on its somewhat confusing rule set, it was, by and large, dubbed a huge success, and something fans would watch again.

In this exclusive interview with Wrestling Inc. Senior News Editor Nick Hausman, Salcedo opens up about her experience as part of the kick-off show panel, what it was like to work for Michaels, the full Deadline card, and more!

Nick Hausman: Denise, first of all, congratulations. You made your big "WWE NXT" kickoff panel debut. I mean, official WWE debut in general. How did this come about? I think that's a great place to start.

Denise Salcedo: Yeah, so this was nuts for me, because you mentioned it's an official debut, because I had done other appearances before. This was I think my fifth appearance, but the first one that was in person, there in real life, getting to soak in the moment and actually be, not just a minute or two minutes on the kickoff, but the entire thing. So it really was this big deal for me because I'm thinking, "Oh my god, I finally get to show people what I've been wanting to show people for the longest time" ...

I'm going to say maybe a month ago. I was actually here in my office where I am right now, and I get a call, and it's basically like, "Hey Denise, we were thinking about bringing you on for the kickoff show. They just had David LaGreca on the show prior, and we were thinking that maybe you would fit in and do the exact same thing, come on and do the kickoff show and obviously plug your stuff and just talk about the product. You obviously watch every single week." Which I do, and so that's pretty much how that came about.

And then I had to figure out some things on my end, and the next thing you know I'm like, "Okay, let's do this, I'm on board." And that's pretty much how this thing came about. Obviously they had already seen me do previous watch-alongs and other little pre-show appearances, but for the first time in person, this one was it.

So what's the direction you were given? Are they prompting you? Did you have full freedom to say and do what you like?

They had told me on the phone ahead of time ... "We're not going to script you or tell you what to do ... Just go out there and be yourself." And when I got there I was just basically asked, "What are your predictions? And just let us know ahead of time so that we get these graphics up." And so I told them, "Okay, these are my predictions." And then McKenzie and Sam Roberts, who I do want to shout out just a bit, because they were so helpful. Oh my god, they made it so easy for me to understand, "This is what we do on the pre-show and this is the flow of the show."

And so we ran through it a couple of times, but not once did anyone say, "Oh you have to say this," or no one said, "You have to pick this person." It was just, you say what you want to say ... They were like, "Just be you, who you are on your post-shows." And I'm thinking to myself, "Oh my god, I don't want to be exactly the way I am on my post-shows ... Who is me? Who is myself?" ...

I had some mental notes inside of my head where I'm thinking, "Okay, don't mess up your words, get your points across, make sure you say what you want to say about your predictions that you're making." And the other thing that I kept telling myself was, "Look alive. Make sure people know you're excited to be there and that you have energy, react to what Sam and McKenzie are saying."

How was it working with Shawn Michaels? How hands-on was he in regards to what you were doing?

So in regards to what I was doing, it was mainly just me working with Sam and McKenzie. That was pretty much the thing about the flow and all. For Shawn Michaels, it was more so of just, I got to see him. I got to meet him ahead of the show, because obviously he's got all these things to worry about in terms of the matches and all of that, so he was busy doing that, but I got to meet him. It was funny too, because I met him without makeup, because I hadn't gone into hair and makeup yet. And so I look like s***, and I'm thinking to myself, "F***, I'm going to meet Shawn Michaels and I look like s***. And so I was thinking inside my head like, "Oh god, just smile and maybe no one will notice that you look like s*** right now."

So I went up and I was like, "Hey, I'm just so happy to be here, nice to see you again." And he was like, "Hey, Denise, we're happy to have you." And I told him, "I feel really lucky to be here," and it was a blur. I got to meet Matt Bloom ,and so it was just a quick "hellos" and "thank you for having me" type of thing, because they were busy doing everything else that they had to do, preparing for everything for this show, for the in-ring stuff and whatnot. So then afterwards, finally hair and makeup, got a tour of the entire [WWE Performance Center], which was great because I got to see all the five rings, got to see the locker room, the arts, the photography that they have there. It's really incredibly nice, and everyone was so nice to me.

And then after the pre-show ended, I went to Gorilla, and that's where I got to see Shawn again. And he was like, "Hey man, great job," this and that. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, Shawn Michaels just said great job to me." And then he mentioned bringing me back for a future date, and I'm thinking, "Oh my god, thank god," because I had thought about this, Nick. I was going to casually throw it in there and be like, "Hey, if you want to bring me back for the future" — I was thinking I'll casually bring it up, right? But then he brought it up, and I'm thinking, "Oh my god, Shawn Michaels brought it up. I didn't have to bring it up. This just made my life feel so much better." And so yeah, and then afterwards I got to be part of the call, which was nice because I got to see the other side of it. As you know, I'm always on these calls.

I was surprised you did the media stuff too. You were just all over the place that night.

Yeah, so they told me ahead of time. They were like, "We're going to have you in the room. You can be a part of that and see how everything goes down. And out of respect of you being there in person, we'll give you the first question." And we were joking because they were like, "Make it good." And I was like, "God damn, the pressure's on, make it good." So I was like, "All right, I'm just going to ask." Obviously went with the Iron Survivor Challenge, which to me, felt the most natural thing to ask in that moment. So I went with it, and it's just so cool to see the other side of it. And then even afterwards I got to briefly talk with Shawn, and that was just nice. I had this moment of sitting there in this room thinking about who I was in there with and I'm like, "How the hell did my life get to this point? Here I am sitting with all of these important people and Shawn Michaels. What the hell?" I don't know. It was crazy, it was surreal.

So in general, what was the vibe like backstage? How is it? What's the locker room like at "WWE NXT?"

Super relaxed. People were incredibly nice, and it was one of those things where I obviously don't really know everybody. I only know a couple of people. So it's not like I go back there and have all these friends, right? I'm meeting so many people for the first time. But it was crazy because there was a lot of people that were coming up to me and saying hi and shaking my hand ... I want to shout out Isla Dawn, because she was so incredibly nice. She came up to me and she just made me feel like we were best friends. She's like, "Oh my gosh, I feel like I know you already based on social media." And I'm like, "Oh my god, this is cool." So she was so nice. We chatted there. I chatted with a couple of other people, and it was just cool that some people knew who I was and came up to me. I had a great chat with Roxanne Perez as well.

That was cool to see, because she's been great. And obviously we had already met, so that was good too. So there were a couple of people that it was just, "Hey, how are you doing? How'd you feel? You did a great job out there," because I mainly chatted with everybody afterwards. Pretty Deadly came up to me and they were telling me, "Hey, how did everything go?" And this and that. And it was cool, Nick, because sometimes you feel like, "Okay, your part is done, nobody cares, move on," right? But it wasn't like that. People were coming up to me and saying, "How'd you feel? How did you think things went?" And the fact that people took interest in that made me feel like, "Oh my god, I actually did something today." It made me feel nice, and so that was really great. Carmelo Hayes came up to me, gave me a big hug. That was really cool too. Yeah, there was a lot of really nice people backstage.

Well, I was going to ask you if you chatted with Roxanne Perez. Did you chat with Roxanne after or before she won the Iron Survivor match?

I didn't get to chat with her afterwards. I chatted with her before.

That was a whirlwind night for her. Booker T's getting emotional. I thought it was a great to start the show ... what'd you think of that? How the women showed up and showed out for that opening Iron Survivor Challenge match?

I thought they did a really great job, because obviously when they announced the Iron Survivor Challenge, there was a lot of things that I think podcasters and fans were like, "Oh, this seems a little bit too convoluted" ... I remember thinking, "Wow, 25 minutes sounds so short, that doesn't feel like enough time"... But when they went out there and the way that they formatted the match, I really liked how they did that and how they played to the time, and just seeing how everything was sort of put together, right? That was cool to see. So I love how they did that for both the men's and the women's and that they found a way to make it different. That was cool.

The match that I would say that I thought was my absolute favorite was definitely Pretty Deadly and The New Day, because my original prediction was that it was going to be Pretty Deadly and that they were just going to get a really strong win. But then I thought, you know what? I'm going to go with The New Day ... I'm going to go out there and just change my opinion, right? And even then I remember thinking, "Why did I go with The New Day? I should have gone with Pretty Deadly" ... And then afterwards when they won, I thought, "Holy s***, they're 'NXT' champions right now," and the match was so good.

And it was funny because I was sitting next to this father and his son ... And the little boy, Nick, he was going nuts. I'm talking full on jumping, both legs up in the air throughout the match, freaking out over The New Day, and everybody was just very alive. And when they did that spot with the belts where they were trying to fool the referee, people lost it. People really loved that. It was a really nice mixture of comedy, but also really good wrestling that you were seeing between both teams ...

And then Isla Dawn, Alba Fyre, I knew that one was going to get people talking because of the stunt with the referee. And I'm like, "Okay, I already know there's going to be people that don't care for it or people that don't like it or people that are just like, eh, whatever" ... And then for the main event too, getting to see Apollo Crews and Bron Breakker, that one for me. I had a very strong feeling that Bron Breakker was going to retain, so I wasn't surprised whatsoever, but I still thought they put a pretty good match together. So I love the way that they formatted the show. I didn't feel like there was a match that felt like it didn't belong, right? And if it went by so fast too.

It did. It was a really quick show, which was nice too ... I am a fan of these three-hour-or-less pay-per-views, Denise. They're perfect length. There is all killer, no filler.

I thought the main event was great, but real quickly on the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge match, Grayson Waller came out of that. I think a lot of people thought it was going to be Carmelo Hayes. That puts Grayson obviously next in line for Bron. Do you think he's the guy to [take down] Bron Breakker?

I remember on Tuesday when I did my "NXT" predictions on my show, I had originally chosen Grayson Waller ... and I'm like, "You know what? Something's telling me that it's going to be him," because obviously JD McDonagh had already had his chance at the title ... I was torn because Carmelo Hayes was the popular opinion. But then I started thinking, "Okay, I'm feeling more confident that Roxanne Perez is winning the women's side of things." So I'm thinking, "Are they going to have both people that won the Breakout Tournament win their respective Iron Survivor Challenges?" And I thought, "I don't think they're going to want to do that." So I had gone with Grayson Waller, but then afterwards, the day of the prediction show, I'm thinking, "F***, Carmelo Hayes is the popular opinion. I feel like I should go with Carmelo Hayes."

So I was thinking, "I don't want to look dumb, I'm going to go with Carmelo Hayes because he's the popular opinion." And so I changed my opinion and I went with Carmelo, and I'm thinking, "Ah, snap, I should have stuck with my original prediction of Grayson Waller." But either way, I remember even saying this on the pre-show, where I was torn between those two. I was torn between Grayson Waller and Carmelo Hayes, because it just made sense to me that they would go either direction with those two guys.

And so I thought that this was huge for Grayson Waller, because I feel like he already got obviously the rub from AJ Styles, when AJ was there for a bit. And for the most part, obviously people don't like Grayson Waller, but they don't like him because he generates pretty good heat for himself on the show.

He's very unlikeable.

Yeah, so that just shows. He's doing a good job, and the in-ring stuff is great ... I don't know if he's going to defeat Bron Breakker. If he does, I think it would be interesting, honestly, but I don't know. I don't know if he's actually going to defeat Bron Breakker.

I'm feeling Carmelo Hayes during WrestleMania season being the guy.

I would like that, because he would be a really good champion, I think, and a different type of champion, as well. And I feel like a lot of people on the "NXT" side of things, when I chat with people on the shows, I feel like a lot of people are excited to see a new champion, but I don't know. I feel like Carmelo Hayes, if they did him at a WrestleMania season for Stand and Deliver, I think that would be really great for him. And who knows? ... I feel like they could go either direction.

So were people watching ROH Final Battle backstage?

I didn't see anybody watching Ring of Honor Final Battle backstage, and I didn't get to watch it either, because I'm like, that would be weird, right? I'm backstage watching Ring of Honor Final Battle.

I didn't know if it was up on a screen and everyone was like, this FTR and Briscoes match slaps.

I didn't see any of that at all ... It's crazy too, because there's all these hours in between, and you think, "Oh my God, I'm going to have so much time to kill." But it ended up going so fast where one second, I'm talking to the announcers, with Byron Saxton and Booker T ... and everyone's having a good time chatting it up. And then next thing you know, it's rehearsals, and the next thing you know you're live, and that's it, time for the show to start. So it flew by. Even though there was three hours of me doing nothing, it flew by.

Awesome. Well, Denise, I want to thank you for chatting with me about your "NXT" experience, and it sounds like the door's open for more, which is great news.

Hopefully, yeah.

Where do you want to send people to learn more about you, find you, follow you, all those wonderful things?

Honestly, just YouTube and Twitter, youtube.com/denisesalcedo, Twitter and Instagram @ _denisesalcedo, because that's really where I post all my links for post-shows and interviews, and just everything wrestling related.