William Regal Does Not Care If AEW Fines Him For Calling WWE Brand A 'Passion Product'

William Regal was part of WWE for over two decades and helped many next-generation talents along the way.

"So, if they want to try and take me up on this, take me up on it and if I get fired from the company I'm working for now for sticking up [for them], then so be it," Regal stated on his podcast, "Gentleman Villain". "'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. If they don't like that, then they can get stuffed ... This was all done for the right reasons. How it's played out is an unfortunate thing."

Regal began his tenure with WWE back in 1998 as a wrestler before transitioning to a backstage role as part of "NXT" in 2012. He then became an on-screen authority figure, being named the General Manager of the brand in 2014. He held that position until his release in January of this year. His son, Charlie Dempsey, currently performs for the company and made his first-ever appearance on "NXT 2.0" Tuesday night during a segment with the students at Chase University.

WWE announced last week that "NXT UK" would be going on hiatus starting in September before rebranding next year as "NXT Europe". Since the announcement, more than 20 talents have been released from the "NXT UK" roster. Others have made the move to "NXT 2.0" as matches are being made for a cross-brand Worlds Collide event coming up on Sunday, September 4.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Gentleman Villain" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.