Grayson Waller has been an active member of the WWE Universe since all the way back in June of 2021, when he made his in-ring debut under his current gimmick on an episode of 205 Live. Since then, Waller has worked a respectable 60 matches between 205 Live, NXT, Main Event, and the WrestleMania 38 Ticket Party, and though he's yet to hold gold within the company, he still has to be considered one of the hallmark tenants of WWE developmental, and maybe even one of the “Pillars of NXT,” to borrow some verbiage from AEW.

But who, one may ask, are the other three pillars, assuming NXT opts to stick with traditional building practices? Which Superstars, male or female, rise above the rest and consistently deliver the goods whenever they appear on Shawn Michaels' shows? Fortunately, fans won't have to ponder the question themselves forever, as none other than Waller stepped up to the bat and provided the definitive answer to that question on After the Bell with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick.

“I’m 100% one of those four pillars,” Waller boldly declared h/t SE Scoops. “I think it’s me, Carmelo [Hayes], Mandy [Rose], and right on the end is Bron Breakker, and it’s a little bit shaky, it’s barely standing up, but if that pillar breaks, the other three are just as strong.”

Alright, talk about an interesting list. Now, considering Rose is no longer a member of the NXT/WWE Universe after she was released from the company after the podcast was recorded, Waller's answer is a tad dated but swapping out the performer now known as Amanda Saccomanno for the woman who beat her, Roxanne Perez, or even Cora Jade can fix that right up. The real interesting part of his answer has to be at the end, where he throws some seriously heavy-handed shade at Breakker, whom he will soon be wrestling for the NXT World Championship after winning the Iron Survivor Challenge. If Waller wins, then yeah, Breakker will certainly head up to WWE proper as part of either the RAW or SmackDown brand, and as for the “21st Century Success Story?” Well, he and Michaels will have to figure out a fourth pillar to keep the analogy intact – Von Wagner? – as everyone knows four is the magic number when it comes to wrestling groupings.

Grayson Waller shoots his shot at a certain “Nightmarish” WWE Superstar.

Elsewhere in his interview with Graves and Patrick, Waller was asked about his dream opponents in WWE and, after just a bit of thought, fired back in a major way with a very interesting opponent.

“There is one answer I'm not going to say because I've been calling this guy out for twelve months, and he's not said anything back, so I'm going to give it up,” Waller said h/t Wrestling Headlines. “Corey (Graves), I'm going to put this towards you. I've always heard stories about Dusty Rhodes in NXT. Everyone has told stories about how incredible he was, I never got to work with him because I came in too late, but I was always like, ‘Man, I wish I got to work with Dusty.' Everyone says incredible stories. I feel the PC [WWE Performance Center] is Dusty's house. I came in, I knocked the door down, I moved in, this is my house now and I live rent free in this house and I run NXT. I genuinely think and want to see if Cody has anything to say about that. I want to see what he has to say about that. He's the measuring stick right now when it comes to superstars. I've met Cody before and when he walks in a room, it's a different feeling, it's like, ‘Wow, that's the guy.' If I'm going to main event WrestleMania, I want to stand across from the guy. I want to stand across from Cody Rhodes and I want to see what that feels like and I want to test myself. I want to challenge the best and Cody is the best.”

Oh snap, Rhodes-Waller I? Now that is a match that doesn't immediately come to mind as some “must-see spectacle” but actually has seriously interesting implications. Both performers can talk, both performers can work in the ring, and Waller's irreverence for history is the sort of wrinkle that would drive the younger Rhodes crazy, as he's about as big of a stickler for tradition as there is in professional wrestling today, as his use of “Bash at the Beach” back in AEW clearly proves. While the suggested feud may not be the first that comes to mind when Rhodes returns to WWE, as he has some unfinished business with Seth Rollins, bringing Waller up to feud with “The American Nightmare” could be a certified winner down the line.