William Regal recently spoke with Metro UK; you can read a few excerpts below:
William Regal comments on how WWE might adjust tryouts depending on what part of the world they are in:
Everything is completely up in the air and adaptable. If I come to the UK you’re going to look at as many wrestlers as you can, but also those you know will fit the bill. There are certain people you can look into before they even get there and know they’re just not going to be able to work for WWE for whatever reason.
You look for wrestlers, that’s the number one goal, but we’ve only got so many spaces. There are no guaranteed jobs here. I’d rather you do a tryout, make sure you do everything great, and then there may possibly be a job at the end of it somewhere.
There are a lot of younger people I look at where there probably isn’t a chance of them coming in for several years. But once you’ve done a tryout, that’s it, and I know I get to meet them and spend several days with them to find out if they’re the kind of people WWE want.
Regal comments on what types of athletes the company is searching for:
There is a guy called Luke Menzies who has been trained as a wrestler by one of the guys that trained me but he hasn’t actually wrestled yet.
He was a pro rugby league player and he’s very, very good. He looks exceptional, you couldn’t draw this guy, and he can talk and do exceptional promos and do everything you want. He’s coming in and we’ve signed him, and that’s the developmental part of NXT.
Once people from the rugby league business realise that one of their own has made it in wrestling, it opens up other doors for them. You’re always looking at people who are athletes that can actually do what we do.
Regal comments on going to bat for Sasha Banks and Bayley to get signed to WWE:
I don’t really like singling anyone out, but Sasha Banks. I’ve known her since she was 18, and the previous people that were doing what I’m doing now wouldn’t even give her the time of day.
When I was asked by Triple H to be part of that team, of which there is nobody still here who was in the team at the time, I kept asking to bring her in, to which people replied ‘oh no, there is nothing in her, she’s useless.’ Sasha was the first person I went to bat for, and her development is a great thing to see.
Bayley in a way also because I had the idea for the character but I didn’t have anyone to fill the role. I saw there was an open market because everything was pushed towards young boys, but we had nothing for young girls. That was a role that could be filled, and finding Bayley helped. That was one of the first tryouts we did in LA. Seeing her and going ‘she’s the perfect person for that role’. It’s not an act with her, it’s real. We just had to make it right. She created the character along with Dusty Rhodes, but I had the idea for her.
