Malcolm Bivens talks all things Diamond Mine.
Another accolade was secured by the NXT 2.0 group known as Diamond Mine. The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed) won the 2022 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They are now next in line to challenge for the NXT Tag Team Titles and they’ll be getting their shot at ‘Stand & Deliver’ in April.
Malcolm Bivens, who is the on-screen manager for the group, spoke about the recent success of The Creed Brothers during his appearance on ‘The War Report’ via RNC Radio. Bivens feels that both Brutus and Julius have made the most out of their opportunities and he’s incredibly happy for them.
I mean, here’s the thing, I first interacted with them [The Creed Brothers] August 10th of 2021. I gave them my business card and then September 7th is when they made their in-ring debut. So, looking at their progression from then to now, it’s incredible. It’s something that is special to me and I know that it is special to them because they took an opportunity and they killed it, you know? That’s really all you can ask for is an opportunity and they got it and they made the most out of it so, I’m incredibly proud of them, I am incredibly happy and it’s just been a great 24 hours and I can’t complain.
He went on to speak about his relationship with Shawn Michaels. The line of communication between them is open and there are times when they converse about what Bivens does on-screen.
Bivens stated that he’ll explain something to Michaels and Michaels will agree that he can see Bivens doing that on TV. Prior to NXT 2.0, Bivens doesn’t believe that relationship was there.
It’s great [Bivens’ relationship with Shawn Michaels]. It’s been fantastic. Any idea that I have, he is super receptive to it. I could just knock on his door and have a conversation and it’s really interesting because I don’t think I had that relationship with Shawn prior and I think [NXT] 2.0 has been extremely helpful and I think it’s been great for everyone because we — it’s that open door of communication, right? So, and I think that’s important so when I say, ‘Hey, I believe this is something that Malcolm Bivens would do,’ we can sit and talk about it and that’s when he goes, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re right. I can see Malcolm Bivens doing that’ so, it’s been a great collaboration and I think ‘collaboration’ is the perfect word for it and you know, I am very appreciative because I know, you know, certain people may not get that yet. I think that’s what we all strive for. But you know, I think now, as you can see, the machine is moving, things are getting started so you know, the collaborative effort has been great.
Prior to his release from WWE, Hideki Suzuki had been a part of Diamond Mine since the group’s debut in 2021. Bivens told the story of when he and Hideki sat down with Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and they were trying explain the concept of Diamond Mine to Hideki.
When Hideki pointed at Bivens and asked what his role was, Levesque described the character as a “money mark” and Suzuki immediately understood Bivens’ role.
The funny thing is and this is early on and I’ll remember this forever. I think it was Hideki [Suzuki], had a little bit of trouble understanding Diamond Mine and we were talking to Hunter and so, Hideki, this is like maybe the second week, he points at me and he goes like, ‘What does he do?’ And Hunter looked at me and he goes, ‘Money mark’ and Hideki goes, ‘Ohhh! Okay,’ and so, you know, that’s when things started to click and it’s like, oh, now I know who Malcolm Bivens is supposed to be as far as character-wise and personality and everything else so, you know, that’s when the, I would say, collaboration began because once we had that structure, that’s when we were able to add in different layers of our character and that’s been the best part for me, you know, creatively and just personally. I try to add layers to Malcolm Bivens.
Elsewhere during their conversation, Bivens shared that Julius Creed made the singlets that he and his brother sported in the Dusty Classic finals. Julius also designed their blue tracksuits.
You wanna hear something crazy? So the gear that they had on [The Creed Brothers at NXT Vengeance Day], Julius designed that. That was his creation and the tracksuits, the blue one, he created that as well.
When asked who he would like to see join Diamond Mine, Bivens immediately named Cesaro. He added that Cesaro was one of his first trainers when he was learning how to wrestle. He thinks every current member of Diamond Mine would absorb the knowledge that Cesaro would have to offer.
Cesaro [is who I would want in Diamond Mine]. Cesaro. Hands down.
For sure, but here’s the thing, I think we would all learn from him and the crazy thing is and I don’t think a lot of people know this, Cesaro actually trained me. He was one of my original trainers years ago so, you know, he may hate me putting this out there, just because I cannot perform like Cesaro. If I tried to do a big swing, I’d probably tear my ACL and my MCL. But, you know, he is the guy and it’s just like, if you sit down and have a conversation with him just about what we do, it would blow your mind. So, that is one that I would love to have in the group and again, everyone could learn from him; Ivy [Nile], Roddy [Strong], Brutus [Creed], Julius [Creed], it would just be great overall.
To hear the upNXT crew chat about The Creed Brothers winning the Dusty Classic and the entire Vengeance Day show, head over to this link.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the original source with an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
