Other Names Roy Regal, Steven Regal, Lord Steven Regal, William Steven Regal
Date of Birth 10th May 1968
Weight:
245lbs
Height: 6ft 2
Signature Move The Regal Stretch
Federations WWF, WCW, Indies, various promotions world-wide
Titles Held WWF Commissioner
WWF European Champion (2)
WCW Tag Team Champion
WCW Television Champion (4)
Short Bio
William Regal doesn't have a normal background. He started to learn his trade at the age of 15, in a bar on Blackpool's world famous Pleasure Beach. His first match ended pretty much the same way as next few : on the end of a vicious beating. He kept returning day after day, until the promoter eventually took pity on him and started to train him. Taking the name Roy Regal, he worked for that promoter for a few years, also acting as a bouncer on the door.
In 1986, he got his break and a deal with the UK's All-Star promotion, and exposure on TV. Changing his name to Steven Regal, he wrestled there until 1988, by which time he had earned enough of a reputation to work anywhere, and everywhere in the world. By the time he finally signed for WCW, he had worked in 24 different countries around the world.
Regal earned his slot in WCW in 1991, when the promotion toured Britain, and stepped in as a late replacement on the tour, facing off against people such as Kevin Nash. He finally signed a full time deal in 1993, but to little or no crowd reaction. Regal vanished for a while, and returned as Lord Steven Regal, accompanied by his man servant, Sir William. The audiences caught on to his upper class heel act, and late 1993, he gained his first TV title in September 1993, and held on to the belt for nearly 8 months.
Regal regained the belt less than a couple of months later, this time holding the belt for 3 months. Regal was on top of his game, and WCW tried to build a tag team around him called The Blue Bloods. A young Jean Paul Levesque was earmarked as his tag team partner, but he jumped to the WWF and took the upper class heel gimmick with him, as Hunter Hearst Helmsley...
Bobby Eaton was taken on as Earl Robert Eaton in his place, but the gimmick never really took off in the ring, despite adding Squire David Taylor to the stable. By 1996, Regal was returned to singles competition against Fit Finlay, an old foe from his travels in Japan and Europe. Regal still maintains that 1996 has been his best year in wrestling to date, and programs with Sting and Lex Luger would back that up. Indeed, he took the TV title for a third time off Lex Luger and held it for another 6 months.
In 1997, Regal and Chris Benoit were involved in a car crash, which injured Regal's knees and neck, and inadvertently started his drug problems. He tried to work through his injuries, and subsequently became addicted to painkillers, and was released by WCW at the end of his contract in 1998. The WWF picked him up, but saddled him with The Real Man's Man gimmick... which, not surprisingly bombed. Regal entered drug rehab at the beginning of 1999, and was released from the WWF, but on good terms.
WCW rehired him in July of the same year, but with the turmoil behind the scenes in the company, no one knew how or where to lose him. In February, he lost his last match for WCW, a retirement match to Jim Duggan and rejoined the WWF. He was sent to the WWF's Memphis feeder federation to prove himself clean, and help train some of the up and coming talent. During this time, Regal wrestled Chris Benoit at The Brian Pillman Memorial Show, and the two men tore the house down with a stunning display of wrestling.
The WWF saw this, and Regal was recalled to the WWF as William Regal, the UK's Goodwill Ambassador to the federation. Regal claimed the European Title as his own, and engaged himself in feuds with Steve Austin, The Rock, Chris Jericho and, er.. Naked Mideon.
Having dropped the European Title to Test, Regal was free to move up the card. For some reason, he ended up fighting Al Snow and his army of midgets for the WWF commissionership, and won. Used his position to initiate a feyd with Chris Jericho that took in a match at Wrestlemania 17, and still isn't totally settled.
Regal's main role these days seems to be a figurehead and comedic heel, although he has become somewhat of a face with The Invasion angle.
Some of his skits with Tajiri are priceless. Regal's place in the WWF upper card is secure, and long may it last - he knows that this may be his last chance to become a major player, and many feel he won't waste it.
