William Regal

Sep 6, 2009 - by Jamie Cruickshank

Real name: Darren Matthews
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 244 lbs.
Date of birth: May 10, 1965
From: Blackpool, England
Pro debut: 1983
Trained by: Marty Jones
Finishing move: Regal Stretch

Biography

– Regal made his ring debut at age fifteen in England.
– Regal arrived in World Championship Wrestling in 1993.
– Lord Steven Regal beat Marcus Alexander Bagwell on June 17, 1993 at Clash of the Champions XXIII in Norfolk, VA.
– At Beach Blast 1993, Regal defeated Erik Watts.
– Regal captured the WCW World Television title from Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat at the 1993 Fall Brawl PPV in Houston, TX.
– At Clash of the Champions XXV on November 10, 1993, Regal successfully defended the Television title against Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero).
– At Starrcade ’93, Regal and Steamboat battled to a fifteen-minute time limit draw.
– Regal wrestled another fifteen minute time limit draw on January 27, 1994, this time against Dustin Rhodes at Clash of the Champions XXVI.
– At Superbrawl IV, Regal successfully defended the Television title against Arn Anderson when Sir William Dundee interfered.
– Regal’s streak of time limit draws continued at Spring Stampede ’94, when Regal drew with the late Brian Pillman in Albany, GA.
– On June 23, 1994, Regal defeated Larry Zbyszko for the WCW Television title in Charleston, SC.
– At Bash at the Beach ’94, Regal again successfully defended the Television title against Johnny B. Badd.
– In October 1994, Regal teamed with Mike Enos to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Super Grade Tag League tournament.
– Prior to the 1995 Slamboree PPV, Regal and Bobby Eaton defeated Los Especialistas in less than ninety seconds.
– Regal captured his third WCW Television title on August 20, 1996 by defeating Lex Luger in Dalton, GA.
– In September 1996, Regal was invited to a Japan/US All-Star Tournament in Japan. Other participants in the tournament included Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Sting, Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell.
– In October 1996, Regal and David Taylor competed in the annual Super Grade Tag League tournament in Japan.
– At Superbrawl VII, Regal interfered in the Rey Mysterio-Prince Iaukea WCW Television title match.
– At Slamboree ’97, Regal captured his fourth WCW Television, this time from the Ultimo Dragon in Charlotte, NC.
– In February 1998, WCW released Regal. He signed with the WWF a few months later.
– In April 1998, Regal contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized for a week.
– In October 1998, Regal debuted in the WWF as the “Real Man’s Man,” a gimmick that simply did not get over with the fans.
– On January 4, 1999, Regal checked himself into a drug rehabilitation center.
– In March 1999, the WWF determined that Regal wasn’t “getting it” in rehab, and released him from his contract.
– After checking out of the rehabilitation center, Regal was rehired by WCW. Regal trained at the WCW Power Plant until he was fit to return to action.
– In February 2000, Regal was a causality of WCW’s cost cutting measures.
– The WWF, realizing Regal’s untapped potential, signed him to a new contract and assigned him to Memphis for development and conditioning.
– Regal re-debuted in the WWF on the September 18, 2000 edition of “Raw.”
– On the October 16, 2000 episode of “Raw Is War,” Regal defeated Al Snow for the European title in Detroit, MI.
– At No Mercy, Regal successfully defended the European title against Mideon.
– At the 2000 Survivor Series in Tampa, FL, Regal defeated Hardcore Holly via disqualification to retain the European title.
– On the December 4, 2000 episode of “Raw,” Regal recaptured the European title from Crash Holly.
– At Armageddon 2000, Regal successfully defended the European title against Hardcore Holly.
– On the March 8, 2001 edition of “Smackdown,” Regal defeated Al Snow to become the new commissioner of the WWF. – At Backlash ’01 in Chicago, IL, Regal defeated Chris Jericho in a “Duchess of Queensberry” match.
– Regal defeated Rikishi at the Judgment Day PPV.
– Days later, Tajiri became Regal’s regular side kick. Regal spoke for him, and joined him at ringside for his matches.
– On the October 8, 2001 edition of “Raw” in Indianapolis, IN, Regal interfered in a WWF title match between Kurt Angle and Steve Austin, allowing “Stone Cold” to capture the WWF title.
– The following night at the “Smackdown” tapings, Regal was fired as WWF commissioner by Linda McMahon.
– Six nights later, Regal was introduced as the commissioner of the Alliance.
– At the Rebellion ’01 PPV in Manchester, England, Regal defeated Tajiri.
– At the 2001 Survivor Series, Regal pinned Tajiri.
– Regal used brass knux to defeat Edge for the Intercontinental title at the 2002 Royal Rumble in Atlanta, GA.
– On March 1, 2002, Regal defeated Edge in Yokohama, Japan to retain the Intercontinental title.
– At the March 19, 2002 “Smackdown” taping in Ottawa, Ont., Regal defeated Diamond Dallas Page to gain the WWF European title.
– On the May 6, 2002 edition of “Raw” in Hartford, CT, Regal made short work of an “injured” Spike Dudley to regain the European title.
– On the January 6, 2003 episode of “Raw,” Regal and Lance Storm defeated Booker T and Goldust for the WWE World Tag Team title in Phoenix, AZ.
– One day after dropping the World Tag Team title to the Dudley Boyz, Regal and Storm regained the straps on the January 20, 2003 edition of “Raw” in Providence, RI.
– At No Way Out ’03, Regal and Storm successfully defended the World Tag Team title against Rob Van Dam and Kane.
– A short time later, Regal and Storm were stripped of the Tag Team belts due to Regal’s stomach virus.
– On the April 5, 2004 edition of “Raw,” Regal agreed to manage Eric Bischoff’s “nephew” Eugene (Nick) Dinsmore.
– At Unforgiven ’04, Regal and Chris Benoit defeated Ric Flair and Batista.
– On the November 15, 2004 edition of “Raw” in Indianapolis, IN, Regal and defeated La Resistance to capture the World Tag Team titles.
– At New Year’s Revolution, Regal and Eugene successfully defended the World Tag Team title against Christian and Tyson Tomko.
– At the February 4, 2005 in Saitama, Japan, Regal and Tajiri defeated La Resistance to capture the World Tag Team titles.
– Regal was drafted to the Raw roster during the supplemental draft on June 17, 2007.
– Regal won the 2008 King of the Ring tournament. Regal went through Hornswoggle, Finlay, and Punk in a single night tournament on the April 21, 2008 “Raw.”
– On the May 19, 2008 episode of Raw, Regal lost a Loser Gets Fired match to Mr. Kennedy, after which, Regal was forced to leave the WWE. On May 20, 2008, Regal was suspended for 60 days for his second violation of the company’s Substance Abuse and Drug Testing Policy.
– Regal defeated Santino Marella on November 10, 2008 for the Intercontinental Championship in Manchester, England.
– At the 2008 Survivor Series, Team Orton (Orton, Shelton Benjamin, Regal, Cody Rhodes, and Mark Henry) defeated Team Batista (Batista, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, and R-Truth).
– On June 29, 2009, Regal was traded to ECW.
– After WWE discontinued ECW, Regal moved back to Raw.
– Regal was drafted to the Smackdown roster during the WWE supplemental draft on April 26, 2011.
– Later in 2011, Regal began appearing as a colour commentator for WWE’s development territory FCW. He retained this role after FCW was rebranded to NXT.
– On October 22, 2011, Regal made a surprise appearance for WLW, defeating Ace Steel.
– In late 2012, Regal began feuding with NXT star Kassius Ohno.
– In July 2014, Regal became the on-screen General Manager for NXT, taking over from JBL.
– In addition to his NXT duties, Regal has become a ‘chief scout’ of sorts for WWE, heavily involved in the recruitment process
– In July 2015, it was announced that Jushin Thunder Liger would be appearing at NXT Takeover Brooklyn. It was later revealed that Regal had personally secured the deal through his friendship with Liger.
– On September 30, Regal was voted into the GEREWECK.NET Hall of Fame.
– In November 2015, Regal underwent successful neck surgery.
– Regal was released by WWE on January 5, 2022.
– After joining AEW, Regal requested his release to return to WWE.

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