In an interview with Journey of a Frontman to hype tonight’s WWE NXT Takeover event, NXT star Sami Zayn commented on the recent signings of KENTA, Fergal Devitt and Kevin Steen, NXT’s breakout stars and more.

Highlights of the interview are below:

Cesaro competing on NXT, as well as RAW and Smackdown: “I think it’s very admirable on his part. It sends a message and it was actually a smart thing to do in the end. I think it opened some eyes because to be honest, around the time before we had the first 2 out of 3 falls match, I don’t think the powers that be in the WWE really saw what kind of intensity this guy can bring or just how good he actually is. So in a way, wanting to actually come and compete in NXT shows his desire just to compete and be great because he is great. And it also enabled him to get a bigger opportunity in a smaller setting, he was given more time and freedom, and he was given a bigger spotlight. Yes, it was on a much smaller scale, but he gave him a bigger platform to do his thing. He did his thing and it opened a lot of eyes. Obviously that match was huge for me and opening a lot of eyes to me, but I like to think it also did a lot for him. Triple H was watching that match and I know for a fact that he pulled him aside afterwards and he also said, “That’s the guy I wanna see on Monday nights. That’s the guy. That was awesome. I want more of that.” They were way more aware of what his capabilities were after that, which is great. I think it did quite a bit for him, I hope it did a lot for him. It certainly did a lot for me.”

Potentially using Ole! by The Bouncing Souls as his WWE entrance theme: “Well first off, I don’t really think they do that much anymore where they use the rights to songs like that. Punk was kind of an exception when he came back with a Living Colour song as his theme song, but outside of that, I can’t remember the last time they had a well-known song or well-known recording artist recording songs for WWE entrance music. That song did a lot for me in my life and my career, but it’s not what I’m doing now, so it’s not necessarily something I would go out of my way to get. Either way, that song will live on in my heart and in my memories forever. And I still do appreciate when they sing that song to me, not that I’m necessarily seeking that out, but the fact that they do it for you, I almost view it as a tribute to my past life that I very much appreciate. So it’s cool, but I don’t know if I would go out of my way to necessarily get it at this stage of my career.”

Who he has his eye on in NXT: “One guy that I really think is starting to break out slowly is CJ Parker, I think he’s really good. He’s got a tremendous passion for this business. I think the first sort of debut in NXT with this hippie gimmick, he was a good guy, but it was just kind of corny and canned and the fans turned on him. It legitimately broke his heart. And now he has a legitimate chip on his shoulder and his hippie character morphed into more of a socially aware, socially conscious houlier-than-thou character. It’s way grittier and more realistic now. He really puts his heart into what he does and I think he’s gonna be good. And similarly, there’s Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady who are both just phenomenally entertaining. And I really look forward to their growth. I really look forward to watching them.”

The signings of Kevin Steen, KENTA and Fergal Devitt: “In my opinion, they are three huge, huge signings. They’re just taking three of the best guys from different corners of the world and bringing them to NXT. If you look back historically, when Vince first did that national expansion from a regional promotion to a national superpower, he did it by finding the best talent in all the territories and taking all the best talent. In a weird way, I feel like that’s what’s going on again now. You’ve got Kevin Steen from Canada, you’ve got Fergal Devitt from Ireland and you’ve got KENTA from Japan. He’s just selecting the best talent worldwide and we’re snatchin’ ’em up. It’s just gonna make the product better here. These are my guys, these are guys I’ve come up with. So hopefully, we can all spearhead the revolution and be the next generation. We can take this business to an interesting place that maybe it hasn’t been before.”

The interview is available in full at this link.