William Regal on How Far NXT Has Come

WWE talent scout and current on-screen general manager of NXT William Regal recently talked with Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com prior to NXT’s May 15 show in Philadelphia.

Regal discussed what it’s like being general manager of NXT, as well as how far the NXT brand has come since its beginning:

Vaughn Johnson: What is like being the on-screen general manager of this exploding brand that is NXT?

William Regal: It’s easy to throw words around like privilege and honor but it really is because I would imagine to get to watch everybody here develop, and the brand develop the way it has in the past few years, probably have been the best part of the last 32 for me. As much as I’ve really enjoyed the rest of it, just to watch everything grow so quickly and to have a hand in creating some of this, and have found people to bring here, recommended people is a great feeling.

I try to keep my own career in check, but when I came to America there were very few people wrestling. I think I was the only one. A lot of people get credit for bringing the wrestling back, but I was doing it before Dean [Malenko], Eddie [Guerrero] and all of them fellas, I was doing it. To see that these fellas get to do that now and the ladies get to do that, and to go out and people appreciate the wrestling side of it is fantastic.

Johnson: Even though you’ve been around the NXT roster and know how talented they, even you had to be surprised just how far this has come?

Regal: It’s amazing just to watch it and to watch the creativity that they’ve got. When you’re given all of the tools — you’ve got everything you could possibly ever need at the [WWE] Performance Center in Orlando — if you’ve got half a brain, we’re going to make it work for you. Even if you haven’t, we’re going to try and help you in any way that we can help you.

There are so many people here that are so talented and so creative on their own when you get all of that it’s like a double bonus. They just flourish. It also goes down to the audience you’ve been used to working to before. You work for to your audience while the promoter is paying you. A lot of these guys have worked with a certain audience that like a certain thing so some people unfortunately get labeled. If you can make yourself popular in front of any audience, you can use it anywhere. When they get to come here and they see that everyone is here to help, they go, “I can do this here and I can try this here and I can do that,” and that’s why it’s all flourishing. There are no ties on doing things.

That myth, it’s a terrible myth that needs putting to bed about their being a WWE style. I’ve never bought into that because anybody that was any good here never had … did Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Triple H have the WWE style? They had their own style. Everybody that was any good here had their own style. Yes, there used to be somewhat of a genetic WWE style, but you don’t see those people on any of the shows anymore. They just don’t fit in, but that myth is still out there. If you watch out show now everybody looks different, whether it is NXT or the main roster. Nobody looks the same. There’s not genetic wrestlers anymore, which there was a lot of probably eight or nine years ago. I don’t think they watch a lot of the time. They just want to say stuff because they’ve got nothing else to talk about. Everybody is different as long as you look like you belong and you can fit in, the world is you oyster now.

You can read the interview in its entirety by clicking here.

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