Former WWE Star Tyler Breeze Opens Up About Early Days Of NXT

Former WWE star Mattias Clement (fka Tyler Breeze) joined the podcast "Developmentally Speaking" to discuss his early days on the "NXT" roster. Clement signed with WWE in 2010 and joined its developmental brand, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he got a taste of how television works before transitioning to "NXT" with many of his peers.

"We had a tester show to see the Full Sail [University] work as our weekly tapings, and so we had a tester show. 'Ok, this is like a little more production, it's a little bit bigger, it seems more than our FCW usual TV taping on local cable television.'"

Clement noted that there was a heavier presence from WWE executives back then as well. "Seeing the people that you hear that you work for but you don't really see all the time, so like all of a sudden Triple H is around all the time and you could really see him grab the reigns of it and go."

The former "Prince Pretty" holds fond memories of "NXT," claiming that the early days still hold a fond place in his heart. Furthermore, he believes that this era of the black-and-gold brand is as good as anything WWE has produced throughout history.

"Sometimes people talk about the Attitude Era, and they talk about having such a broad group of people in an era where you might get a Bruno Sammartino, but you don't get four Bruno Sammartinos." He continued by praising his fellow roster members and their dedication to improving their abilities. "We had all these guys that were hungry, and girls that were hungry. Everybody wanted to learn; everybody was just a student of the game, and once they kind of saw what was happening, they wanted to be a part of it." 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Developmentally Speaking" with a H/T to Wrestle Inc. for the transcription.