Karl Anderson on his WWE 'crash course' and the full card for Payback

Karl Anderson has been in WWE for a year, and in that time he and partner Luke Gallows jumped the ring barricade to beat up The Usos and then Roman Reigns in their first two weeks, came to the ring at Summer Slam in doctor’s coats after giving an opponent “ringpostitis,” and won the RAW tag team championships and defended them at WrestleMania.

That runs the gamut from physical dominance to comedy to a mixture of both, especially if you consider their roles in WWE’s Southpaw Regional Wrestling parody.

“It was a crash course in WWE,” Anderson told For the Win of their first year. “One week you’ll be beating people up and being physical and the next week you’ll be doing entertaining things and trying to develop a story. It’s something we always wanted to do.

“We love the physical aspect and we love the entertaining aspect. A lot of the Bullet Club stuff that what we did in New Japan was based on having fun and being entertaining, but when it was time to get in the ring, we could handle business there too.  I’m looking forward to seeing what we do next.”

Consider Sunday the beginning of Year 2 when Anderson and Gallows face Enzo Amore and Big Cass during the kickoff show for WWE Payback (7 p.m. ET for the kickoff show with the main show at 8 p.m.; both on WWE Network).

While the two teams have faced off frequently, RAW’s tag team division has a new look with the return of the Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania 33, The New Day’s move to Smackdown and the call-up of currently sidelined The Revival from NXT. The Hardys won the titles from Anderson and Gallows in a four-way ladder match at WrestleMania.