Former WWE Star Tyler Breeze Details His 'Intimidating' Experience In FCW

Tyler Breeze may have been a staple of the "Black and Gold" era of "WWE NXT," but like many "NXT" stars he got his start in WWE's pre-NXT developmental program, Florida Championship Wrestling. 

In a new interview with "Developmentally Speaking," Breeze said that he was hired at a transitional time for WWE.

"[FCW was] pretty intimidating because at the time ... they had just finished hiring a bunch of big, gigantic guys," Breeze said. He noted that he was essentially the size he is now, but was assured that he was hired for a reason and his size didn't matter, as his in-ring ability would speak for itself. "Within six months a lot of those guys were gone and they started bringing in the Seth Rollins', the Jon Moxleys, the Claudios [Castagnoli]," said the former WWE star.

Breeze says that FCW was a long way away from the current developmental program "WWE NXT," just like he was a long way away from being the mature adult he is now, having started in FCW in his early 20s.

"It was very different. It was very small back then," Breeze explained. The training facility didn't have much more than a couple of rings in a Tampa warehouse and barely felt like a part of the WWE system. "It was very small and very intimate. There were two training classes and you were either in one or the other."

Breeze went on to be a staple of "NXT" and eventually "WWE SmackDown" before eventually getting released in 2021. Despite his release, Breeze was still collecting income from WWE until 2023 as a talent on the web program "UpUpDownDown."