'Mr Money In The Bank' Big E Sits Down For A Round Of 'Locker Room Talk'

Big E has been one of the most entertaining members of the WWE roster for years now and had a career highlight earlier this month when he won the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Already an eight-time tag team champion and a two-time Intercontinental champ, the 35-year-old now has the chance to follow his New Day brother Kofi Kingston in becoming world champion having secured a title shot whenever he wants.

A low-key veteran with nine years of main roster experience to his name, Big E is in a good position to assess the WWE locker room.

And SPORTbible got him to do just that for 'Locker Room Talk,' a deep and sometimes surprising dive into your favourite WWE superstars behind the scenes.

SPORTbible: Most underrated?

Big E: That's a very good question. I'd probably go Chad Gable. Chad Gable's incredible and even though we've seen him for several years in WWE and NXT, I think you've only really gotten glimpses of how good he can be.

He's a guy I think can be doing a lot more than he is now. I can watch him and go, 'Oh man, he's exceptional' but when you're in the ring with him you realise how strong he really is.

"I'm slimmer now but I remember being 300 pounds and and he gives me that rolling German [suplex] with ease. If he's got his arms locked around you, you're going for a ride no matter how big you are.

Being an Olympian, that's a different breed.

SPORTbible: Most vain?

Big E: I guess Roman, he's pretty and that's pretty obvious from the way he carries himself. The Miz is a great choice, it's hard to not think of Smackdown people because that's who I've been around with lately.

You might be surprised, he's mellowed as he's gotten older and definitely got better. But he was pretty insufferable when I first met him and I've told him this - just very unpleasant to be around and very obnoxious.

He would do things almost like an 8-year-old. I promise you, he legit did the 'I'm not touching you' with his finger an inch from my face and I like being unbothered.

He's gotten better which is why he didn't come to mind but The Miz was fairly awful when I first met him.

Image: WWE

SPORTbible: Most intelligent?

Big E: Let's go Woods [Xavier]. Woods is a great choice, he's working on his PhD, multiple degrees and a very, very bright dude.

SPORTbible: Biggest prankster?

Big E: I would say Sin Cara when he was here. I don't think there are that many big ribbers anymore. We've been doing television for the most part so I feel like the locker room interaction has changed and it's hard for him to really remember.

Kofi's a prankster but it's all like harmless stuff. One time Woods almost blinded Kofi when he shot like a t-shirt gun for that prank show 'Swerved'. He had trouble with his vision for a few days.

SPORTbible: Most hard-hitting?

Big E: Let's go Sheamus. Any time you're in the ring with Sheamus you know you gotta bring it because he's gonna bring it. Sheamus will beat the hell out of you and I enjoy beating the hell out of him.

It's fun. With him you know you can hit him as hard as you want with no regrets whatsoever.

SPORTbible: Worst travel partner?

Big E: You know what, let's also go Sheamus. I once travelled with Sheamus and I love Sheamus so now we have a bit of an understanding.

But I travelled with Sheamus a couple of times and I said 'Never again'. He would just be at the gym for way too long.

I'm trying to not be rude but Sheamus is not the youngest man, although he does a great job of staying in shape.

But Sheamus needs so much warm-up time. I would get my workout done in an hour and a half, get in, get out and be done with it.

He would spend 45 minutes just warming up, his workout would take another two and a half or three hours.

This is like seven years ago and I said never again would I travel with Sheamus because he takes so long to do everything.

SPORTbible: Biggest eater?

Big E: It was Braun. Braun is the easy choice. It's also weird because I don't really look at what people are eating, do you?

Oh! That's easy actually, Otis. I think he's taken pictures and shown me some of the plates he's eating and it's everything you would think it would be.

SPORTbible: Who has the craziest ideas?

Big E: Woods for sure. Not crazy in a bad way but he'll have a lot of stuff that's outside the box that doesn't feel like it will work.

Often times we'll have conversation where we're like, 'This is a horrible idea... But'. He's very creative and always coming up with ideas. Some of them are too far outside the box - some of them are just outside enough.

The unicorns, Woods came up with that because he said we should call ourselves 'The Unicorns of the WWE' because we brought magic back to WWE.

He's definitely come up with a lot of the ideas but we collaborated all the time. We fed off each-other.

SPORTbible: Best entrance music?

Big E: Bobby's 'Glorious' is really, really good. Shinsuke's is exceptional. Let's go Shinsuke.

I can't remember the name of the violinist but he's incredible and anytime he had him or Nita [Strauss] play him out on guitar, his entrance and his charisma - he's built for live performance and those big performances.

SPORTbible: The loudest?

Big E: Otis is very loud. What you see on screen is what you get. Well, fun Otis, before he was beardless. That was him all the time.

SPORTbible: Best drinker?

Big E: I don't really go out much. I'm very boring but I would say a European so I'm guessing Sheamus or Drew [McIntyre].

SPORTbible: Who would you most want to go in a foot spa with?

Big E: I guess Pat McAfee. He was a good foot spa-mate. I would do that again with Pat!

SPORTbible: Best singer?

Big E: Montez Ford is a very good singer. I enjoy his singing. He'll just randomly sing something when we're talking and sing his next line for no reason but I'm into it.

SPORTbible: Best rapper?

Big E: The Usos, as we know, they got bars. I definitely do not, Kofi and Woods do not.

SPORTbible: Worst fashion sense?

Big E: That would be Angelo Dawkins. This man wears house shoes, slippers at all times.

I ask him sometimes, 'Do they pay you, are you an intern here?' because he wears these sweatpants, the Nike swoosh was hanging on by a thread it was clear this thing didn't just get ripped the day of.

That baby had been washed, it had been beaten up for years and seen some things. But he's very unabashed about it and I can respect that.

He says he's not going to wear a suit - I think he wore one for Hall of Fame - but beyond that this man dresses like a bum if we're being honest. I love him but he dresses like a bum.

SPORTbible: Best gamer?

Big E: Woods is the easy choice but Shelton [Benjamin] is very good at Tekken. A lot of us game right now. Cesaro is a very good gamer as well. Any of those.

SPORTbible: Who would you most want to be stuck on a desert island with?

Big E: We can go a couple of different routes here - as far as who I would think would be good to help build a liferaft or maybe I just want some female companionship. Kofi and Woods but that's lazy - I'm trying to limit my Kofi and Woods responses.

Let's go with The Usos. They are very funny and would keep me distracted from the fact that I'm dying and life is not long for us. We would have a few cackles and I think that's the best way to go.

Image: WWE

Let's just have some fun before our bodies turn to dust.

SPORTbible: Strangest job outside of wrestling?

Big E: That is a tremendous question. I feel like Azeez would be like a butcher at a weird restaurant or a butcher for a strip club. I feel like he would do something weird. Do strip clubs have butchers? I don't know.

SPORTbible: Favourite opponent?

Big E: My favourite opponent as a tag team would be The Usos. That's an easy choice. My favourite opponent for singles - I mean I've only wrestled Apollo [Crew] for the last six months. I think he's extremely talented so let's go Apollo.

Topics: Kofi Kingston, New Day, Big E, Xavier Woods, The New Day, Wrestling, WWE