Norman Smiley, Terry Taylor Among Those NXT Coaches Praised By Former WWE Talent

Several former members of the WWE roster have had high praise for some of the NXT staff for aiding them during their time in the company, particularly Norman Smiley and Terry Taylor. According to Fightful Select, Smiley and Taylor were praised by a number of recently-departed WWE talent, with Aiden English specifically named as having goot things to say about both. English said that Smiley helped him get his start in wrestling and pitched him to be brought into NXT, enabling him to get a WWE deal without a tryout thanks to a good recommendation.

English was noted as saying that he has a lot of love for Taylor, even as he noted that they butted heads a lot. It was noted that Taylor is very opinionated and maintains an “old-school mindset,” but that he has a parent-like knack for getting people to learn lessons without realizing they were doing so. English said that there were things Taylor said that he thought were outdated and bad ideas, but then when he’d do them he’d realize that Taylor was right. Jon Moxley said a similar thing about Michael Hayes.

Smiley works at NXT as a trainer, while Taylor is a teacher there and at least at one point taught the finishing classes along with Shawn Michaels. English also praised former Arn Anderson and Billy Gunn, both of whom are now at AEW, for helping him in NXT and WWE and specifically mentioned that Gunn had a fun approach to teaching that really stood out.