With a week until the UK Tour, NXT General Manager William Regal has heaped praise on the current roster. British legend Regal, an on-screen presence and key figure behind the scenes in NXT, spoke glowingly of the next crop of talent in the brand.
SPORTbible sat down with Regal back in December during NXT's inaugural UK tour - which proved to be a massive success. Though the in-ring craft is his presence, injuries have meant that he operates in a different type of role as general manager and a developer of talent backstage.
He explained that if he did return to action and wasn't able to perform at his usual level, then he would have no qualms in calling it a day. With that being said, he did offer his thoughts on the performers he would like to work with if he did make an unlikely return to the ring.
The 48-year old admitted there are a hosted of talented wrestlers that hypothetically speaking, he could create some magic with but one particular name stood out.
He said:
"Without doubt, I'd have to say [Shinsuke] Nakamura. First of all, he's just an incredible talent but I've got many different styles that I can do and I know that me and him could do something really special, just because I used to wrestle in Japan a lot and I know I can put my hand to any kind of style. Just that kind of dynamic I think would be good but there's little to no chance of that ever happening."
He also noted that as timed have changed, wrestling has become more diverse in its style and that opens up different opportunities for matches. And while mixing it up with main event talents like Finn Balor and Samoa Joe is a mouthwatering prospect, he maintains it will probably never happen.
"Years ago there wasn't the kind of style differences that there is today and there's people who can wrestle in many styles but around when I was really wrestling there was one or two of us and usually we didn't really get to wrestle each other that much. But now looking at the roster, there's so many people that you could have great matches with because there's more of a wrestling style. There's that many on the main roster and there's that many in NXT such as [Samoa] Joe; I have wrestled Joe when he was just starting actually, in 2000 I had one match with Joe. There's people like Joe that I've known from when he first started and Finn [Balor], who I've known for ten years from when I was in Japan with WWE. The New Japan office brought him to me and said: "Look can you help this guy out because he's going to be something special" so I've had a connection with him since then. There's loads of people but it's probably never going to happen. There's no good worrying what you can't do."
Recently, when speaking to SPORTbible, former NXT Women's Champion Bayley pinpointed Tye Dillinger as a potential wrestler to watch in the upcoming UK Tour, given the connection he has with the fans. Dillinger has been around the block in wrestling but it is now in NXT where he is really making waves, so much that General Manager Regal has granted him a match against debutant Andrade "Cien" Almas NXT Takeover: The End on 8 June.
"I'm really happy to give him that opportunity. Tye's a workhorse, he's a very talented fella who's a real stable influence on a lot of the younger talent that come into NXT and he's really invaluable for that. He's been around for quite a bit in different places, he knows what he's doing and he's just a great performer. I'm really happy to he's got that opportunity and he wouldn't be in it if we didn't think he would do well. We're hoping that Tye's going to go to another level because he's one of those people that may have to step up if we [NXT] get raided - Tye might get taken off us as well because he's certainly worthy of it. I've already been looking, I have been for a while, who's the next crop of people that if we do get raided, we can use and Tye's one of those guys I'd very much like to do something more with but you've only got so many places on the card and you can't use everyone at once. Tye's one of those fellas who can jump in hopefully when the opportunity arises and I think that will happen."
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NXT will be heading to the UK & Ireland this June on the following dates:
· Friday, June 10 - Sunday June 12 - Download Festival, Donington Park, Derby
· Monday, June 13, 7.30pm - SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
· Tuesday, June 14, 7.30pm - 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
· Wednesday, June 15, 7.30pm - Echo Arena, Liverpool
· Thursday, June 16, 7.30pm - Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth
· Friday, June 17, 7.30pm - Plymouth Pavilion, Plymouth
Tickets are available via LIVENATION.CO.UK
NXT is available every Wednesday night live on the WWE Network
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