Fresh off of his Performance Center training, Joe Gacy quickly began portraying a politically correct spokesperson on "WWE NXT"before later forming theSchism and adopting a darker persona. Ultimately, he'd go on to be a member of the Wyatt Sicks, resembling Huskus the Pig Boy from Bray Wyatt's Firefly Funhouse. In an interview on "Insight withChris VanVliet," Gacy looked back at his WWE career and recalled how his "NXT" run came together."That was a crazy time," he reflected, pointing out that he was part of the first group to train in the PC after the COVID-19 pandemic had started. Gacy said histraining took about a year before the NXT BreakoutTournament. He then credited ShawnMichaels for creating the politically correct character. "The way he explained it to me was more of like a Scientology type thing, turned into social justice warrior type of thing."Gacy then added that the long-term plan was always meant to lead to a cult, and his character was supposed to be unsettling beneath his smile. "It was well received backstage. Everyone was super happy with it, and then I think the next day it got a bunch of headlines," he recalled. "This was whenVince McMahon was still in charge. He saw the headline and got very upset." He further recalled that Michaels called him and explained that he had to be pulled off of TV because of Vince McMahon's reaction.
Despite pulling Gacy, McMahon later watched the promo and loved it, so the former WWE Chairman changed his mind. Following this, a backstage segment was quickly put together, and according toGacy, McMahon was impressed by his promo. "I think from that point on, there was nothing this company was ever going to give me that would stress me out ever again, because that was the most stressful time I think I ever had there," he admitted.Gacy then opened up about his character's planned evolution. "They wanted to give me a group, which they came up with the nameSchism," he recalled. "So it originally was supposed to be me and there was another guy there Parker Boudreaux, who was Harland at the time and it was supposed to be us, and for me they told me I was going to do a group so, I was pitching for more of like a StraightEdge Society type of group."Schism would eventually end up being Gacy and the Grizzled Young Veterans beforeSimone Johnson (Ava Rayne) joined, and the group took on a darker edge. Gacy recalled doing a storyline with the group ChaseU, which was his favorite thing Schism did. "And then behind-the-scenes stuff GYV decided to part ways with the company," he further recalled, recounting that GYV gave him a heads-up, but this opened him up to something even greater. "I think that's almost around the time the Wyatt Sicks stuff really started being talked about, like, in creative and management."If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "INSIGHT withChris Van Vliet," and provide a h/t toWrestlingInc. for the transcription.
