Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker tells talkSPORT why he still has to ‘earn respect’ in WWE despite rapid rise

Bron Breakker may be the new Intercontinental Champion, but the star insists he still has plenty of work ahead of him in WWE.

The powerhouse performer won his first main roster championship in WWE at SummerSlam at the start of August.

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He defeated Sami Zayn at Cleveland Browns Stadium to win the Intercontinental Championship, widely considered to be one of the most prestigious in the industry, before successfully defending that gold on Monday Night Raw this week.

That came just three and a half years after Breakker first signed a developmental deal with WWE after training at their Orlando Performance Center facility, only wrestling his first match for the company in September 2021.

In between, he was one of the most dominant performers in WWE NXT, holding the NXT Champion on two occasions, the latter reign stretching to just a few days shy of a year.

Understandably, the company had high hopes for him in transitioning from NXT to the ‘main roster’, and he quickly racked up memorable moments such as his crunching defeat of an enhancement talent in one of his first Raw matches, to his demolition of a departing Ricochet soon after.

The 26-year-old becoming Intercontinental Champion so swiftly might have many fans thinking he’s on an unstoppable career trajectory, but the man himself had an entirely more modest view in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT’s Conor Faherty.

On whether 2024 would be the year of Bronn Breakker, the relative rookie downplayed things a little, saying: “I think I have a lot of work to do.

“I have a lot of people’s respect to gain, in the locker room and stuff as well.

“It’s still early. I think this is the year of my ascension or rise to becoming a main player, but we’ll see.”

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The son and nephew of tag team wrestling greats Rick and Scott Steiner respectively, Breakker has enjoyed unprecedented exposure in WWE in the last few years.

“It has been great,” he explained of his rapid progress and eagerness to maintain it.

“I have enjoyed the process of being part of Raw, and had a little run at SmackDown as well, so I have been on both brands.

“It has been a great start, and I just have to keep going, stacking dates and keep working.”

The Steiner Brothers blazed a wrestling trail for their family that included stints as WWE Tag Team Champions in the 1990s.

Holding those titles twice, the duo also won gold on multiple occasions in WCW and NWA and were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022.

Breakker, however, opted to forge ahead in wrestling without adopting the Steiner name, saying: “I just kind of wanted to do my own path, it’s one of those things.

“I felt as if I wanted to go my own way.”

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The starlet effectively shunned the NFL, too, opting for a career in professional wrestling over football in the US.

Months before signing his first WWE deal, he was signed to the Baltimore Ravens as undrafted fullback having impressed for The Kennesaw State Owls.

Was choosing taking the plunge as a wrestler instead a difficult call? “ No,” he added emphatically. “It was one of the easiest and best decisions I’ve ever made.

“This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing and wanted to do. Easy choice.”

Catch the Superstars of WWE at the Bash in Berlin Premium Live Event from Berlin, Germany on Saturday, 31 August 2024 on WWE Network.