During the first episode of the “Gentleman Villain Podcast,” William Regal discussed the influence WWE NXT had on All Elite Wrestling.
Regal was the General Manager of NXT for many years. He is now the manager of The Blackpool Fight Club featuring Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Wheeler Yuta in AEW.
“You’d be foolish to say that it isn’t very similar,” Regal said. “Yes, very much so… if I say anything now, there’s going to be people that go, ‘Well, that was a PWG crowd, or that was Ring of Honor’s crowd.’ No, here’s another one of my views: the people who think, ‘Oh, all they did was take people from Ring of Honor or PWG,’ well, there was a platform for them and a bigger platform to make a better living.”
“I’m very fan-friendly, like I try to be as open-minded to fan feedback as possible, but if you’re of the mindset that by us or NXT, or WWE, or AEW now, taking your favorite wrestler away from you so they can make a better living for their family and get more exposure, and you think that the big companies are the devil for doing that, then maybe you need to check yourself in the mirror,” Regal said. “Because that’s what happens, you go out in this profession to make a living or to be what you want to be in it, right?
“… Any time that that’s happened, and that happened a bit with NXT UK, and AEW doesn’t seem to get that kind of [negative feedback] but WWE does. ‘Oh, you’re taking away all our stars.’ I’m sorry that I’m taking them away and giving them an incredible platform to have far better training than they’ve ever had – and ask any of the people that have worked there, and get looked after when they get injured, and not have to worry about getting paid that night, and getting a check in the bank every week.”
You can listen to the podcast below:
(H/T to Wrestling Inc. for quotes)
