Xero
11-09-2010, 09:23 PM
From PWInsider:
At today's WWE Raw house show in London at the 02 Arena, William Regal told the live crowd that the current British tour would be his last as he would be retiring soon. Regal got one of the biggest reactions of the night for his match against Bryan Danielson.
Regal, who has been extremely underutilized in recent years by WWE, is easily one of the best workers in the company right now, having decades of experience under his belt.
Debuting as a teenager in the early 1980s wrestling in carnivals, he became one of the best young workers on the British circuit before being hired by Bill Watts to come to WCW in 1992. Since then, Regal wrestled almost exclusively for WWE and WCW, with the exception of the occasional New Japan tour.
In WCW, Regal had a very good run as their World Television champion after he was turned heel and rechristened Lord Steven Regal, winning the belt four times. He moved onto WWF, although drug problems at the time destroyed his run as a "Man's Man" almost immediately. After attempts at rehab failed, he was let go and returned to WCW, where he was used in a preliminary tag role with David Taylor.
After being let go, Regal cleaned up and rejuvenated his career with an off the charts physical match against Chris Benoit at the 2000 Brian Pillman Memorial show. The tape of that match (later included on a Benoit DVD) led to Regal being hired again by the WWF, where he worked in the old Memphis developmental territory (including helping the training of a young Bryan Danielson) before being brought back to WWE's main roster under the ring name William Regal. The name change came from the company already having a pretty famous Steve in Steve Austin.
Regal excelled as a comedy figure, used first as the "Goodwill Ambassador" of the company and the Raw General Manager for backstage vignettes that utilized his facial expressions and comedic timing more than anything else.
During his current run, Regal worked for all the WWE brands and had runs with the Intercontinental, Tag Team, Hardcore and European championships. He worked as a heel and as a babyface, teaming with the likes of Eugene, Lance Storm and Yoshihiro Tajiri among others. Although he was never pushed regularly as a threat or a top star, he would routinely have good to very good matches on many of the house shows and was well liked by everyone in the company from Triple H on down.
Regal's most recent serious push saw WWE crown Regal the 2008 King of the Ring but he was issued a WWE Wellness violation (his second) shortly after, which killed his push and he was rarely used in a pushed manner after his return. Other than a WWE Intercontinental title win over Santino Marella on a UK tour right after he returned from suspension, Regal was never again given a top of the line push.
In recent years, he was instead used in comedy sketches (primarily since he has great facial expressions) and in lower card matches with younger talents as well as being used a pro on WWE NXT Season One, which lead to a hilarious bit in the "season finale" where an unscripted Regal went off on everyone to stall for time when WWE's production team had an issue with their graphics that would announce the winner.
If you haven't had the chance, I absolutely would suggest reading his autobiography "Walking the Golden Mile" as it's one of the best WWE-released autobiographies ever. An extremely honest book that delves into his drug problems, it's also the best book to ever cover the British wrestling scene that gave birth to Regal the wrestler.
At today's WWE Raw house show in London at the 02 Arena, William Regal told the live crowd that the current British tour would be his last as he would be retiring soon. Regal got one of the biggest reactions of the night for his match against Bryan Danielson.
Regal, who has been extremely underutilized in recent years by WWE, is easily one of the best workers in the company right now, having decades of experience under his belt.
Debuting as a teenager in the early 1980s wrestling in carnivals, he became one of the best young workers on the British circuit before being hired by Bill Watts to come to WCW in 1992. Since then, Regal wrestled almost exclusively for WWE and WCW, with the exception of the occasional New Japan tour.
In WCW, Regal had a very good run as their World Television champion after he was turned heel and rechristened Lord Steven Regal, winning the belt four times. He moved onto WWF, although drug problems at the time destroyed his run as a "Man's Man" almost immediately. After attempts at rehab failed, he was let go and returned to WCW, where he was used in a preliminary tag role with David Taylor.
After being let go, Regal cleaned up and rejuvenated his career with an off the charts physical match against Chris Benoit at the 2000 Brian Pillman Memorial show. The tape of that match (later included on a Benoit DVD) led to Regal being hired again by the WWF, where he worked in the old Memphis developmental territory (including helping the training of a young Bryan Danielson) before being brought back to WWE's main roster under the ring name William Regal. The name change came from the company already having a pretty famous Steve in Steve Austin.
Regal excelled as a comedy figure, used first as the "Goodwill Ambassador" of the company and the Raw General Manager for backstage vignettes that utilized his facial expressions and comedic timing more than anything else.
During his current run, Regal worked for all the WWE brands and had runs with the Intercontinental, Tag Team, Hardcore and European championships. He worked as a heel and as a babyface, teaming with the likes of Eugene, Lance Storm and Yoshihiro Tajiri among others. Although he was never pushed regularly as a threat or a top star, he would routinely have good to very good matches on many of the house shows and was well liked by everyone in the company from Triple H on down.
Regal's most recent serious push saw WWE crown Regal the 2008 King of the Ring but he was issued a WWE Wellness violation (his second) shortly after, which killed his push and he was rarely used in a pushed manner after his return. Other than a WWE Intercontinental title win over Santino Marella on a UK tour right after he returned from suspension, Regal was never again given a top of the line push.
In recent years, he was instead used in comedy sketches (primarily since he has great facial expressions) and in lower card matches with younger talents as well as being used a pro on WWE NXT Season One, which lead to a hilarious bit in the "season finale" where an unscripted Regal went off on everyone to stall for time when WWE's production team had an issue with their graphics that would announce the winner.
If you haven't had the chance, I absolutely would suggest reading his autobiography "Walking the Golden Mile" as it's one of the best WWE-released autobiographies ever. An extremely honest book that delves into his drug problems, it's also the best book to ever cover the British wrestling scene that gave birth to Regal the wrestler.