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AEW personality William Regal recently expressed his frustrations about the struggles and conditions of the British Wrestling industry. While doing so, he did not shy away from discussing NXT UK.
William Regal played a vital role in developing the black and gold version of NXT. He was the General Manager from 2014 until his departure from the company earlier this year.
In June 2018, WWE announced a sub-brand titled NXT UK, which was based and produced in the United Kingdom. Many notable names from the main developmental territory brand have become successful on NXT 2.0 or WWE's main roster.
Triple H was in control of the administrative duties of the brand prior to his health issues last year. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels also took on the role of mentor and coach at NXT. Last week, HBK announced that NXT UK would be a part of the NXT Europe expansion.
On the recent edition of Gentleman Villain Podcast, the Blackpool Combat Club member talked about NXT UK being his "passion project" and is not bothered if he is let go by All Elite Wrestling.
"If I get fired from the company I'm working for now for sticking up for them, then so be it. Because 'NXT UK' was a passion project of mine, to give a decent place for British and European talent to get a pipeline so they could go to WWE and have the charmed life that I've had from it. And if they don't like that, they can get stuffed. And if they wanna take me up on that, make sure they know what they're doing," William Regal said. (54:48 - 55:23)
He further added that in the early years, young British talent had to work a plethora of small shows, and there were no major promotions at the time.
"They were all having to work loads of little shows and sell merch with no pipeline to get into, right now there's AEW so if any other young talent now, there's two places that they can go, or get a chance to go. But at that time there was no, there was WWE or New Japan [Pro-Wrestling]," Regal added. (59:32 - 59:57)
Check out the entire video below:
William Regal shared a heartfelt message on the announcement of NXT Europe
The launch of the new NXT program garnered mixed reviews from the wrestling fraternity. While working in NXT, many of the current main roster superstars have been mentored by William Regal.
After WWE announced the new venture, Regal took to Twitter to thank NXT UK for the memories and showcased his gratitude for the brand.
At Revolution 2022, he sent the wrestling world into a frenzy when he debuted in AEW and stopped a brawl between Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley. Thus, the Blackpool Combat Club was formed. The stable has since added Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli to its ranks.
Do you think William Regal should return to WWE to work with NXT Europe? Sound off in the comments.
While using quotes from this article, please credit the Gentleman Villain podcast, and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
