MMA fighter Seth Petruzelli to wrestle for WWE NXT?, Seth talks getting the itch, training WWE’s future stars, more

MMA fighter/trainer Seth Petruzelli has spent so much time in a WWE ring working with the NXT roster that he’s thinking about wrestling for WWE.

Petruzelli talked in-depth to Fox Sports about his work with WWE at the Performance Center, concluding that he thinks he’ll end up in the ring on a WWE show.

“The only bad thing about it is it really makes me want to do it. Like really, really bad,” Petruzelli told Damon Martin for FoxSports.com. “I spend a lot of time in the ring with these guys, so it makes me really want to do it. I’m in better shape now than when I was fighting. I’m like 215 (pounds), I’m super lean, I’m strong, I’m lifting heavy and I’m actually more injury free now than when I was training for fights.”

Petruzelli concluded:  “It’s something I’ve been thinking about in the back of my head, so don’t be surprised if it happens.”

Leading up to his teaser, Petruzelli talked about working with the NXT roster to improve the believability of their strikes, punches, and kicks in the ring. He said some were apprehensive in the beginning because they did not see the application to a worked wrestling match where they’re trying not to each other. While, others saw the benefit of learning how to make their pulled strikes look more realistic.

“I never thought I’d be teaching somebody to punch without actually trying to knock somebody out,” Petruzelli laughed. “I’m reverting back to my karate style, kind of point fighting, so they hit and recoil back without blasting through them. It’s kind of cool to go full circle and teach these guys the striking stuff. I’m so stoked because the guys are so cool there and inviting and we’re all friends now. I’m happy that it turned out this way.”

Petruzelli said Becky Lynch, Apollo Crews, Simon Gotch, and Baron Corbin were the most receptive to his training before being called up to the main roster.

“A couple of the women’s matches, they came back and said ‘Hey, Seth, did you see that bob-and-weave slip I hit?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I saw that, that’s awesome!’ They are starting to put it into their matches and they’re thinking to incorporate it. Now it’s working into the matches, so it’s awesome,” he said.