Fans watching All Elite Wrestling every week are used to the sight of William Regal as the manager of the Blackpool Combat Club where he leads proteges Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, and Claudio Castagnoli. But Regal’s an old veteran in the pro wrestling game, having spent time in WCW, WWE and NXT, and now AEW.
With an in-ring run lasting from 1983 to 2013, William Regal — sometimes known as Steven Regal — has had such a long career in the pro wrestling business that many fans are likely unaware of some of the finer details. Let’s take a look at what fans should know about the legend, from his early days to his in-ring career to his work as a commentator and authority figure.
10 Signed To WCW In 1992
With training from English wrestler Marty Jones, William Regal made his debut in the early 1980s, working under ring names like Roy Regal before adopting the name Steve Regal.
While wrestling for European promotions like England’s All Star Wrestling and Germany’s Catch Wrestling Association, Regal competed in a couple of tryout matches for WWE in 1991 during a European tour. Following that, he joined WCW on a European tour in 1991, working several dates. But it wasn’t until late 1992 that Regal signed to WCW, making his debut on television in early 1993.
9 Became Lord Steven Regal
When he initially debuted, “Steve Regal” wrestled as a babyface, but after six months turned heel and became Lord Steven Regal, the persona for which he’s best known in WCW.
As Lord Regal, he lived up to his surname by adopting a more haughty, aristocratic attitude, and claimed to be descended from the 11th century English king William the Conqueror. As part of his new gimmick, Regal gained a manager in veteran wrestler Bill Dundee, who adopted the name Sir William.
8 Four-Time WCW World Television Champion
Regal’s first big championship win would happen in September 1993, when he defeated Ricky Steamboat at Fall Brawl to capture the WCW World Television Championship. This would kick off an impressive 225-day reign, with defenses against Arn Anderson, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman before dropping the belt to Larry Zbyszko.
However, Regal, would end up holding the TV Title three more times over the course of his career, winning it back from Zbyszko a month later for an 87-day reign. The remaining two reigns would be impressive wins, too, taking his third belt from Lex Luger and his final one from Ultimo Dragon.
7 Formed The Blue Bloods
In 1995, Lord Steven Regal ended up venturing into a tag team, forming a group called the Blue Bloods. Originally it was going to be Jean-Paul Levesque, the future Triple H, but he ended up jumping ship to WWE. Instead, Regal found a different partner in former Midnight Express member Bobby Eaton, who was repackaged as Earl Robert Eaton.
Eventually the group would grow into a stable with the addition of “Squire” David Taylor and a butler named Jeeves, but no configuration of the Blue Bloods would be able to capture the Tag Team Championship.
6 Shoot Incident With Goldberg
The WCW career of Steven Regal would also include one infamous moment that fans still talk about today. During Goldberg’s legendary winning streak where he ran through nearly everyone in WCW at least once, Regal was booked to take on the future World Champion on an early February 1998 episode of Monday Nitro.
However, something seemed to go off the rails in the match as Regal appeared to “shoot” on Goldberg, giving the rookie a surprising amount of offense, though Regal maintains that he was instructed to deliver a competitive match. It’s been a sticking point between the two in the years since, though Regal has recently expressed willingness to bury the hatchet.
5 Decorated Champion In WWE
After a truncated 1998-1999 run, Steve Regal returned to WWE in the year 2000, where his name soon evolved into William Regal. Regal was quickly successful in this second stint with the company, becoming a two-time European Champion by the end of the year.
On top of being a two-time Intercontinental Champion, Regal would also be a five-time Hardcore Champion and a four-time Tag Team Champion, two of which were with Lance Storm while the others were with “odd couple” partners Tajiri and Eugene.
4 Two-Time WWE Authority Figure
In the spring of 2001, William Regal got his first taste of power when he beat Al Snow to earn the job of WWE Commissioner, during which he gained the aforementioned Tajiri as a comedic sidekick. Once the WCW/ECW invasion angle kicked off, Regal became a babyface character as he led WWE against the Alliance, but soon turned heel to screw Kurt Angle out of the WWE Championship, defecting to the Alliance in the process.
That wouldn’t be Regal’s final stint as an on-screen boss on the main roster, however. In 2007, he won a battle royal to become the General Manager of Raw, during which time he also won the King of the Ring tournament.
3 NXT General Manager
William Regal became involved with NXT with the first episode of the game show version, starting out as a Pro before eventually becoming a commentator and authority figure as the show evolved into the underrated NXT Redemption.
Regal would continue to be a part of NXT as it became a full-on developmental promotion, working commentary and wrestling the occasional match while also working as a trainer in WWE’s Performance Center. Before long, Regal would be promoted to General Manager of the brand, becoming an all-time great authority figure and delivering some classic moments in the process.
2 Manager Of AEW’s Blackpool Combat Club
Wrestling fans were shocked when William Regal was unceremoniously released from WWE in early 2022, as he’d been such a beloved performer and crucial to the company’s developmental system. But they hadn’t seen the last of him, as Regal showed up at AEW’s pay-per-view Revolution in March to calm down his real-life former proteges Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson in a post-match fight.
From there, the three formed a full-on stable in the Blackpool Combat Club, a faction based entirely on delivering fierce, hard-hitting competition to the AEW roster as well as one another.
1 Regal’s Son Followed In His Footsteps
William Regal hasn’t just had a hand in training current and future stars — he also has a son who entered the pro wrestling business. Bailey Matthews started his in-ring career in 2018 with matches on the indies as “Joe Bailey” and a stint training as a Young Lion in NJPW before debuting for WWE in 2021.
There, he adopted a new ring name, Charlie Dempsey, and debuted on NXT UK as a hard-hitting technical wrestler in the vein of his father, eventually joining the heel faction Die Familie and putting on a standout Heritage Cup rules match against A-Kid.