For Juice Robinson, right now is all about building momentum. It’s been nearly a year since his last singles match before a back injury forced him out of the ring for six months. While the recovery was rough, he’s hopeful that’s all in the past.
“Everything’s right in the world because I’m a pro wrestler and if I’m not doing pro wrestling, it’s like I’m missing part of myself,” Robinson tells Uproxx Sports. “The six, seven months, that was pretty hard mentally. But the light at the end of the tunnel was to get back with my buddies, the Bang Bang Gang, Jay (White), Colten (Gunn), Austin (Gunn) and get back to doing wrestling.”
Robinson returned to the ring in June and has mainly featured in trios matches alongside Colten and Austin. Wednesday night, as part of AEW Dynamite’s 5th anniversary show, he’ll have his first real breakout opportunity since his return in a singles match against “Hangman” Adam Page.
“I’ve had quite a few big matches on quite a few big shows and I always get excited and it’s always a good opportunity. The fact that I’m going to get in there with Page, I feel like Adam the Arsonist is arguably one of the faces of AEW,” Robinson continues. “For me to get in there with him, it’s going to open a lot of eyes to me and what I’m about. I am the underdog, make no mistake, but it’s a familiar place to be fighting from for me, so I’m nothing but excited.”
Before joining AEW, Robinson carved out his own unique spot in New Japan Pro Wrestling against some of the best in the world. He points to the loaded roster in NJPW and opportunities to wrestle the likes of Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley, and Kenny Omega that were instrumental in his development.
“I’m so thankful that I got to get all that experience under my belt because it’s invaluable, and I will continue to use all the things that I’ve learned as well as like FCW. But especially New Japan, gonna use those tools that I learned for the rest of my career,” Robinson says.
With a combination of his in-ring tools and the creative freedom provided by AEW, Robinson is thankful to be where he’s at at this stage in his career.
“I think with AEW there’s a lot of freedom and a lot of opportunity and I like both of those things. It’s a very healthy place to be creative and try things. It’s much easier than the WWE, at least when I was there,” Robinson continues. “It’s much easier to be free and not have the feeling that, ‘Oh, if I do this, will I get in trouble with the bosses and stuff like that.’ That’s no way to be creative in my opinion. And I don’t think it’s like that for everybody, but when I was like 22, 23 years old, it was definitely like that for me. Yeah, AEW as a 35-year-old adult is a great time.”
In this moment, Robinson isn’t about setting any extreme goals. He’s living in the moment and says he’s needed a match of this caliber, a “big-time match against a big-time opponent in a big-time spot,” and he’s ready to knock it out of the park.
“I just want to keep on keeping on, getting out there in front of people,” Robinson says. “Keep having fun and keep pushing it. Keep going. This is what I want to do with my life. It always has been and I’m doing it. So I just hope my body holds up, which it should now.”