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Anthony Henry On His Time in WWE NXT, Appearing On AEW TV, William Regal Coming to AEW

March 18, 2022 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Asher Hale Anthony Henry WWE NXT Image Credit: WWE

Anthony Henry discussed his experiences in WWE NXT, making appearances for AEW, William Regal arriving in AEW and more on the Shining Wizards Podcast. The NXT alumnus was a guest on the show and you can see a few highlights that the podcast sent out below:

On his AEW appearances: “I’ve done a couple things, obviously with (AEW) Dark. I wrestled (Eddie) Kingston shortly after my WWE Release, and more recently, Lee Moriarty. Both those matches got a good amount of praise, which is always a great thing coming into a product like AEW. But this was different. For the longest time, we have kind of been like pushing and nudging towards trying to do this on a bigger scale, (JD) Drake and I, because we’ve been teaming for years now and we both know it’s a bigger deal for both of us when we’re together. Finally being able to do this on a big platform like AEW, against two of the best wrestlers ever, ya know, it’s been wild. It’s been great. I have no complaints.”

On teaming with JD Drake in AEW: “It’s awesome, man. It’s so awesome. It’s why we’ve been pushing it, because we feel like it’s something special. When I initially got signed – I don’t know how many people know this – but Drake was there at the same tryout that I was at where I got signed. And he didn’t make it because of medical reasons, a knee issue, that, of course, ended up being nothing. Anyway, he didn’t get signed, and I got signed, and that broke up the team. It was sad to me that I wasn’t going to experience it with my friend. So then, some time passes by and I’m doing my thing and he gets signed there (AEW), then I get released and I come there, but he’s doing the wingman, so I’m like ‘crap, it’s not going to happen.’ Then Tony Kahn made it happen, anyway, so as far as I know, it was Tony Kahn’s idea. That’s what I was told, so that’s what I’m going with, so I just think it’s really cool. And I didn’t know it was going to happen, and honestly, when it did happen, I thought they were just going to pop us up on tv and that was going to be that. Surprise or whatever. Then they actually did the graphic with our name on there, The Workhorsemen, and I was like, ‘oh, man, this is soo cool.'”

On Gabe Sapolsky: “Gabe’s a polarizing figure, I would say, in the world of wrestling. You either love or hate him. And he’s had a lot of haters. I always stand by the fact that he’s always done well by myself. He’s done well by Drake, actually. He’s probably the reason I got hired initially by WWE, and if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be wrestling now at all, because I was actually retiring as I got signed. So, he’s always been a big supporter of mine, and I love Gabe. He does have a great mind for wrestling.”

On his time in NXT: “It was great. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for more as far as the actual experience. I went in and got to train everyday with great minds. I got to get paid to do this. And I got paid to go workout and get better at what I do. And I do think I came in, not that I wasn’t good, but I came in at a certain level, and I walked out at another level, and it was a couple steps up. I truly believe that and it’s just because of the great minds there and how they run things. So, my experiences there were great. I can’t complain. I was on TV a month into me getting there, and I got the luxury of being on TV every single week. So, I had exposure. I got to learn how to work the tv style, and it’s different, honestly. So there’s something to work in that style. I can’t complain. I honestly can’t. The only thing I can complain about is how it ended out. That’s it.”

On William Regal in AEW: “I obviously talked to him a lot at the PC. He was always there during the tapings. He gave me great advice while I was there. I thought it was super cool that he had the opportunity to do that and have that role as a coach and mentor for the guys and girls in the locker-room. In AEW now, I got to speak with him when I was there for the match, so that was super cool. You talk about wrestling geniuses, and I know that was Chris Hero’s thing or whatever, but William Regal is truly a wrestling genius.”

article topics :

AEW, Anthony Henry, WWE NXT, Jeremy Thomas