Before he emerged as a tag team champion in Major League Wrestling, EJ Nduka learned from some of the best in the WWE
Following his tenure in football and bodybuilding, Nduka caught the eyes of WWE — where he later signed with the company. The former IFBB performer then repackaged to the name of Ezra Judge and reported to WWE’s Performance Center for training. While there, EJ Nduka received a valuable opportunity to pick the brains of a WWE Hall of Famer and a 16-time World Champion.
In a recent interview with Wrestling Inc.’s Dominic DeAngelo, “The Judge” first opened up about his extended conversation with the “The Champ,” John Cena. “So we talked for a while, because obviously John Cena is someone that I look up to and respect incredibly, and he’s where I want to be, basically. He’s the epitome of where I want to be,” he said.
Nduka continued, expressing his gratitude to chat with the former WWE Champion during his visit to the PC. “I waited my turn and I talked to him, and I had an idea of who I wanted to be in the WWE. And in this business, no one’s going to tell you how good you are until it happens. No one’s going to tell you, nobody owes you anything. I came to him and said, ‘Hey, look, this is what I want to do. This is the vision I have for ‘The Judge.’ I want it to be authentic. I want it to be amplified. These are the recipes. This is what I’ve been watching. This is what I…'”
“He was just nodding. He was like, ‘Yeah.’ I was expecting him to be like, ‘Oh, no.’ No, it was like we’re on the same page, just chiming. And then he would give me some nuggets, some information. Be like, ‘Oh, maybe try it like this or this and that. And so I just started asking him questions. Like, ‘If you were to do this again, is there anything you would change? What is something you would tell yourself? If you had just gotten into this business, five things you would tell yourself.’ And he was just letting me know.”
Cena bestowed an “incredible wealth of knowledge” that he still uses to this day, Nduka said. “I would never stop using it, but he gave me some incredible advice that I use in my matches and helps me structure my matches. Like, ‘Why are you doing that? What would The Judge do?’ Just helping me understand like, you don’t want to ever just do something to do something, because you want it to be meaningful. And he was incredible at making things meaningful.”
WWE Hall of Famer Edge also paid a visit to the Performance Center, where he spectated Nduka’s first match. “He came to speak to the PC, and I was main eventing a PC match, a PC live. And he so happened to watch my match. And immediately when I was done, he comes up to me, and he was like, ‘Bro, you have incredible fire.’ And I’m like, ‘Damn, Edge just gave me a compliment.’ You know what I’m saying? I’m like, “Damn.” And so I picked his brain, like, ‘Hey, what can I work on?’ This and that.”
After conversing for a bit, Edge offered his cell number to the developmental talent, where the two kept in contact. “It’s like, ‘Hey, could you check this match out? How are the little ones? How’s the family?’ And he’s an incredible person. Another wealth of knowledge, has just been very gracious to share some of it,” Nduka said.
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