Despite being released in 2022, the former coach still watches some of his former students from afar and some of the stars today he recalled being at their tryout.
For nearly three years, Ace Steel was an NXT Coach at the WWE Performance Center. He would recall some memories toward the end of his tenure during his monthly segment "10 Minutes with Ace" on the June 5th edition of Fightful's Wrestling Perspective Podcast.
Ace spoke about some of the stars in NXT today and some close to being called up. One of those names is the former NXT World Champion Bron Breakker.
"Steiner [Bron Breakker] didn't have much training whatsoever, but he had something you could tell it was a no-brainer. When he gets in the ring and runs the ropes, he runs the ropes like his dad [Rick Steiner]. If you study wrestling, as we do, we're like, holy shit. He runs just like Rick and sounds like Scott [Steiner]. I don't know if he does math, like Scott, but he certainly sounds like it, but he's the blue chipper; eventually, it will hit." Ace said.
The NXT Women's Champion, Tiffany Stratton, is a talent that proved herself. Ace said he knew right away they had something with the former gymnast.
Steel said, "Tiffany Stratton, when she came in. I think she was a CrossFit athlete. I don't remember her background exactly, but I knew right away. I looked at her and wondered, if they don't hire this girl, what the hell are they looking for? Because sometimes the trials were geared towards, we're looking for stars, or we need people that, you know, could fill the roster, you name it. Tiffany Stratton, for one, could do anything physically. So it's just putting her mind to it, to the character, and look what she's done, just brilliantly, you know, she's back on TV after a little bit of a hiatus, but she's got the character down, and that's stuff you can't teach. Like, where is that? Like, she's a quiet girl, and she's not loud. She's not boisterous. You don't know, she's in the room, at least from what I've seen around her, but she pulled that character out when they said you're going to be daddy's little girl."
Steel was furloughed from the WWE because of the pandemic on April 15th, 2020, and would return almost six months to the day to the company where he coached future WWE stars alongside William Regal, Matt Bloom, and others. He talked about how they would sometimes have to look at talent.
"We're looking for referees this time, point blank. So sometimes they have it to see what's in the world. Then you'd see people come back; I saw Joe Gay's trial, and I saw many people like that. So coming to fruition after a year of these people in, especially with the new mandate of, hey, you're around NXT for two years, and it's not going anywhere, they're going to cut them loose just like a football team or baseball team." Steel said.
Ace Steel will have a monthly segment on the Wrestling Perspective every month. This episode marked the first edition of "10 Minutes with Ace Steel." However, Ace did appear on the January 22nd episode of the Wrestling Perspective Podcast to remember his friend, the late Jay Briscoe. That episode can be viewed by clicking here.