William Regal Recalls His Time In NXT & Scouting Talent for WWE

William Regal had a lot to share with Chris Jericho during his recent appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcast.

Last week, we covered Regal’s revelation that doctors gave him 24 hours to live at one point, as well as him being partially blind in his left eye.

The former NXT General Manager also spoke in-depth about his time in WWE‘s developmental brand. In addition to being NXT’s on-screen authority figure, Regal reveals he also had a lot to do with developing the NXT brand to be the success it once was.

“NXT had started, I was the first person, as far as I know, that [Triple H] pulled in and said, ‘What’s your vision for this?'” he recalls. “We did what we did and it was a great thing for a lot of people. It was a great success, and I have no ill will at all for anyone. I am really happy. Because it needed some kind of change because things had changed. This place had come along and different things, so it needed [change].”

William Regal worked closely with former WWE executive Canyon Ceman to make NXT a legitimate third brand for the company. He says he had the eye for scouting and developing talent, while Ceman managed the logistics like contracts.

“Canyon Ceman, who I worked for and with, is a hell of a fella, a wonderful fella", said Regal. “When he came onboard, Triple H said, ‘Can you just look after him?’ I said, ‘Right.’ And I said, ‘Let’s start off on the right foot, let me take care of the wrestling and you take care of everything else. You take care of the athletes and the contracts and that. I don’t need to know anything else.”

Regal and Ceman worked together to scout talent and hold WWE tryouts across the world. He added, “I was looking at everybody, everywhere. That’s what I did. I studied everybody from everywhere, paid attention to everything. I would just turn up at whatever country, do this tryout.”