Mansoor On Getting Booked For WWE Super ShowDown

As noted earlier this week, WWE NXT Superstar Mansoor indicated on social media that he will be wrestling a match at WWE Super ShowDown in his hometown of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this month.

Mansoor later spoke with ArabNews.com and confirmed that he will be wrestling that night. He added that he has not been told who he will be going up against. Mansoor made the comments when the interviewer noted that he can no longer count on the element of surprise in the ring as he's already had a few matches on TV, something he had the benefit of when he wrestled Cesaro at WWE Crown Jewel 2019.

"That's very true," he said of no longer being able to count on being a surprise package in the ring, laughing. "I was very much depending on that, and Cesaro even said, 'I don't know who this kid is.' There are no real videos of me to watch, to see what I can do, compared to the years that I can watch of Cesaro.

"I know I will be competing at Super Showdown, but I haven't found out who my opponent will be yet. But I get the feeling that now it's going to be a bit more of an even playing field, where both of us are going to be able to feel each other out and see what we're going into."

He continued, "I think whoever I share the ring with is going to be a lot more prepared, more wary, more aware. They'll know that I have the home town advantage. But I haven't really done all the things that I can do, so there are still some more surprises, and they will know that. As far as Cesaro was concerned I was just some trainee from NXT who had barely ever been in the ring before. But now they'll know that this kid will be dangerous, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Mansoor recalled his win over Cesaro last October in Riyadh, and how he had family in the crowd for the big moment.

"It was incredible, that was my first ever one-on-one match on a big stage, in front of 60,000 people in my home town," he said. "My family was there, my friends were there, some people I hadn't seen for years were there. I was feeling really nervous beforehand, I'd never been tested on such a huge scale. Once I got out there and saw the people of Riyadh and looked into the eyes of my father, my brother, my sister, I knew that I was born to do this. To wrestle someone like Cesaro, who is an incredible athlete, was amazing. I think that a lot of people didn't really know how that was going to go because I hadn't really been tested before. I think that I surprised a lot of people, not that I won, but that the match was very exciting and I think that made a lot of people very happy. I'm very proud of that match."

Mansoor said he hopes to be at the four-day WWE tryouts in Saudi Arabia this coming June. He said he hopes other compatriots now get to live the dream of working the best job in the world.

"This is the best job in the world, and the fact that I get to share it with more Saudis is a complete honor," Mansoor said. He continued and offered two pieces of advice for the next generation of Saudi talents, "The real piece of advice is to listen very carefully to what the coaches say. If they tell you to do something and you do it perfectly, that shows them that you're coachable, that you're adaptable, and that when you go to the performance center you'll be able to learn quickly. You'll be able to get in the ring quicker.

"This job, becoming a WWE superstar, requires a lot of investment from a lot of people. This is not just a hobby. This is something that you love and if you're having second thoughts, at the end of the day that will hurt your chances. I'll say this, if you start wrestling and you're not feeling like it's something you should do for the rest of your life, you've got to reconsider. For a certain kind of person, this is the best job in the world."