William Regal was recently interviewed by Bleacher Report’s Chris Miller, during which he discussed his run in WWE and his release. Check out the highlights below:

On his run in WWE: 

“I was very fortunate there because Mr. McMahon trusted me with whatever he gave me. When I hear these stories about people about having to do these different things, I was given ideas and it was just ‘go and do it.’ And I always had the attitude of ‘let’s just make it work.’ So I’ve just got at it and done it, and I had, you hear these things, it might offend a few people, you hear these things of ‘well they have all these writers, and the script all their stuff out.’ Well, they do that so you know what you’re doing. But you can take that, as long as you have the trust and they know you can pull off what they need. But if you take that and make it your own and go sit in the stands for an hour and go ‘how can I make this into something and use my own words?’ As long as you get that trust in the beginning, when you go there, you can go where you want with that stuff. There’s learning how to react or there’s being an actor. I’m not an actor, I react to things.

“And it takes a long time to get to that, but fortunately, I had a lot of experience before I came here and failed miserably. That was before I came to America even. I spent a lot of time on my backside and died a thousand times trying different things. But once I came here, I just learned to react to situations. So whatever you’ve got, you can make it into something. I’ve got that now where I can just go out and be William Regal. And whatever’s on my mind or however the mood takes me, I just go out and I’ve even sat there saying stuff like ‘where’s that come from?’ Something someone said 50 years ago and I happened to see it on a piece of film 30 years ago. It just happens to come out. So I’m enjoying that bit of it. So again, I’ve been fortunate because I’ve had a lot of that in my career, where I can just go out and be me. There was never any real-time where I wasn’t. But you do, for any younger talent reading this, you have to earn that trust with whatever company you’re working for. You have to earn that trust first.”

On his WWE release:

 “I’ve got nothing to knock. People ask me ‘well you just been let go from WWE.’ Well yeah. I had a job there for 21 years. What have I got to say that’s bad about WWE? And any of these horror stories people hear about, I didn’t have any of them. I had an incredible run on the main roster with the understanding that I walked in, you know I don’t count the first time I was there because I can’t remember it, and that’s on me. Anything in this job that hasn’t gone right for me, it’s my fault. If you look at it like ‘I’m doing a job I want to do.’ Anything that hasn’t worked out for me has been my fault, or part of the job, which is getting injured. If you don’t think you’re going to get injured, I used to have this talk with people all the time, all the extras, anyone who has come in as an extra, anyone who has come into NXT, they’ll tell you I’ve taught them this.

“If you think you’re going to know what you’re getting into because once you’re a pro wrestler, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not a job. And I used to tell people, there’s nothing wrong with you. What you should do is use wrestling, don’t let it use you. There’s nothing wrong with wrestling weekends on your local shows if you want to just enjoy wrestling. Because when you start this, you know you’re going to be traveling. If you don’t like traveling, don’t do it. If flying on a plane is too hard for you, don’t do it. If driving is too hard, don’t do it. If you think you’re going to be wrapped up in cotton balls, if you think you’re going to get eight hours of sleep a night, this is the wrong job for you. All these things, know what you’re getting yourself into. Because I hear all these people whining and moaning and complaining about the job. Then don’t do it. Go do something else. Let somebody who wants to do it, do it. I have a different outlook on this job. I have had a charmed life. This job has done has given me a charmed life. I’ve lived a charmed life. So what have I got to knock?”