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Posts Tagged ‘William Regal’

According to several online sources, WWE wrestler William Regal, who has been a standby (albeit a fading one) on WWE programming for years, has announced his intention to retire at the end of the current European tour he’s on with WWE.

In announcing his retirement at a house show in Nottingham, England, Regal gave the rub to newbie Daniel Bryan, calling him the best wrestler he’s ever encountered. The reported quote from Regal is:

“I’ve been in this business for 27 years and never thought I’d see a better wrestler than me. Well, this man is, ladies and gentleman, Daniel Bryan.”

With Jim Ross not expected to return to a broadcasting role and Jerry Lawler currently undergoing a minor health issue, it would not surprise me if Regal’s post-in-ring career included a try-out as a color commentator for one of the WWE shows. Regal as a heel announcer would bring back fond memories of Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes, one of WWE’s stand-out announce duos of the mid-1980s.

No word on whether Regal’s in-ring retirement will include a set of Branson vacation packages from WWE… but it’d be a classy move on WWE’s part, if they did so.

William Regal has always struck me as a person who could use the help of the best weight loss pills, but even he didn’t deserve the seven seconds match treatment dished out to him by WWE at SummerSlam tonight. Christian’s a better wrestler, capable of sustaining long and entertaining matches, and while Regal’s a lifelong midcarder at best, this ECW title match simply wasn’t worth the announcements one had to go through to get to it.

Seven seconds and it’s over? Show the ECW title more respect, please.

In the wake of Monday’s Raw, the WWE has announced that William Regal, who plays the role of Raw general manager and who won the King of the Ring tournament about a month ago, has been suspended for 60 days by WWE for violating the Fed’s Wellness Policy.

The WWE must have known the decision it was about to make when Raw went on the air Monday, because they booked Regal to lose a “loser leaves Raw” match against Mr. Kennedy. The match provides a storyline reason for Regal’s absence.

Exact details of Regal’s violation are not known.

In the past, Regal did battle substance abuse problems and had apparently cleaned his act up for the past several years. Whether this suspension is a result of a relapse or an unrelated violation is not known at this time.

Meanwhile, on Raw, McMahon teased the return of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase to WWE, as possibly the next GM of Raw. Of course, a few years ago, after “firing” Eric Bischoff, McMahon teased Dusty Rhodes as a possible next Raw GM, but that tease never paid off, so it’s entirely possible the DiBiase cameo is a head-fake by McMahon to buy time while he ponders his options for replacing Regal as GM, either in the short or long term.

A short run by DiBiase as Raw GM would be quite a bit of run, though perhaps not quite as much fun as shower chairs. However, I expect that the ultimate choice will either be an uninspiring temporary measure, like Coach or Shane McMahon, or perhaps a test-run for a long-term replacement by, perhaps, Ric Flair in a pure GM role.

It should be noted that DiBiase does have a son learning the trade in one of WWE’s developmental territories.

I hate to say it, but I’m already bored with the whole King Regal bit. While it made for a nice shocking moment the first time Regal ended Raw early, mid-match, the whole ongoing bit of turning out the ring lights and stopping good promos and good matches (while the bad ones seem to still go on uninterrupted) has quickly worn thin.

Regal’s power trip is about as intriguing as a natural acne treatment video to a senior citizen, and it’s ruining important moments in the Raw broadcast. The most blatent example of this from last night’s Raw was when Regal shut down the first promo Jeff Hardy has cut since returning from a two-month suspension related to the WWE’s Wellness Policy.

That was an important moment in re-establishing Hardy’s character, so having it cut off was more than just an angle; it cheated the crowd. Wherever this is headed with Regal, it needs to be over soon, since this is not creating the good type of “nasty villain” heat, but is actually resulting in viewer apathy, since it seems like any time a promo or match gets interesting, they pull the “Regal cuts the power” angle.

Drop it, fast, Vince!

Talk about trying to RAM a screwjob down our throats? While I was thrilled to see the King of the Ring return a couple weeks ago, and on a free Raw broadcast, no less, I was vastly disappointed with the booking.

While King of the Ring has often been used to anoint the WWE’s next big heel, all it was used for this time around was to further the career of a well-past-his-prime wrestler and Raw general manager, William Regal. Regal didn’t need the King of the Ring crown to get over with the crowd; he’s been around long enough that he’s as over as he’s going to get.

Of all the possible endings for the latest edition of the King of the Ring event, giving the crown to William Regal after stacking the events and matchups in his own favor, was perhaps the worst of all possible endings, save except for an ending that would have put the crown on Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Last week, the New York Daily News speculated about which WWE superstars had been suspended for violating the company’s substance abuse and wellness policy. But if the Daily News’ list was accurate, Monday’s Labor Day Raw broadcast offered little in the way of confirmation. In fact the broadcast practically had more to do with Penn State football than with confirming any suspensions.

The most notable development was Umaga losing the WWE Intercontinental title to Jeff Hardy; the loss is expected to set up Umaga’s absence, which is believed to be suspension-related.

Raw GM William Regal was also taken out in storyline, setting up his suspension-related absence. Tag team Cryme Tyme was released in a move believed to be not related to drug suspensions, but mischief-making backstage.

Charlie Haas jobbed in a tag match but did not appear to be written out of the storyline by injury.

Raw seemed to be going full-steam ahead with the Randy Orton-John Cena feud, and word around the ‘net says that Orton believes he is safe from suspension at this time.

It is also believed that Batista, part of the Smackdown roster, was put on the media’s list of suspended wrestlers in error. Santino Marella was also a big part of the broadcast and did not appear to have been written out of storylines. The same goes for Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy.)

We’ll continue to monitor WWE broadcasts to see if the media’s list is accurate; but Pro Wrestling Views continues to look forward to simply immersing ourselves back into WWE storylines, not WWE headlines.

Because the alleged names are already out there, with some hesitancy and regret, Pro Wrestling Views has decided to list the names that the New York Daily News is speculating are the 10 WWE superstars suspended for violating the company’s anti-drug policy.

We applaud WWE for acting quickly to take corrective action, however painful it might be. We also hope that these 10 superstars are not guilty of what has been alleged or, if they are, that they get the help they need to get healthy and get their lives in order. Lord knows, the last thing anyone wants is to see anymore WWE tragedies play out in real life… let’s keep the drama in the ring!

Here goes. According to the New York Daily News, the following WWE superstars have been suspended:

From RAW:
1) Randy Orton
2) Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy)
3) King Booker (Robert Huffman)
4) Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella)
5) Darren Matthews (William Regal)
6) Charlie Haas

From ECW:
7) ECW Champion John Hennigan (John Morrison)

From SMACKDOWN:
Adam Copeland (Edge)
9) Shane Helms (Gregory Helms)
10) Chavo Guerrero

From WWE Corporate:
11) Mike Bucci (Bucci is a talent development manager)

Clearly, the Raw roster will be the hardest hit. The suspensions, if this list is accurate, will play havoc with Raw storylines. Orton had been scheduled for an extended feud with WWE Champion John Cena. King Booker was to have been the main feud for Triple H, who is just returned from an extended injury absence.

Mr. Kennedy was at one point scheduled to be Mr. McMahon’s “bastard child,” a recent storyline launched less than a month ago, according to PWTorch.com. William Regal was just named RAW General Manager. Santino Marrella has been a popular newcomer in the middle of a heel turn, and Charlie Haas has been a solid contributor in Raw’s tag-team division.

While ECW was the cleanest, they are the only division to be losing a sitting champion, if the list of suspensions the New York Daily News is reporting is true: John Morrison, previously known as Johnny Nitro, has been a popular heel champ who was in the middle of a program with C.M. Punk.

The impact is minimal for Smackdown; Edge has been out on injury, as has Gregory Helms. Chavo Guerrero was set for an extended feud with Rey Mysterio, just returning from an injury absence; that program will now be cut short, although Tuesday’s Smackdown taping was in the can for Friday’s broadcast prior to the suspensions being handed down.

While the mess left by these suspensions will require minimal cleanup on ECW and Smackdown, Raw will look a shadow of its former self with six superstars suddenly missing.

Mike Bucci, a talent development guy for the company, could perhaps get the shortest shrift of all 11 named so far, since he doesn’t have an onscreen role or fan base.

Terms of the suspensions were not announced; it is unclear if the releases are permanent or temporary, with or without pay.

Let’s trudge through this, hope the last of the big names have been revealed, and that nothing like this recurs any time soon; it’s a lot more fun to report on the story lines than the headlines.

NOTE: WWE has announced that, effective November 1, any superstars who are released for violating the company’s health policy will have their identities publicly revealed. Let’s hope there are no occasions going forward that would prompt that new policy to be exercised. This whole mess just makes me want to pack up and go on a month-long getaway to Rio Las Vegas.

As predictably as a cash advance to a minimum wage worker, WWE owner Vince McMahon is back. Vinnie Mac turned the “who blew up Vince” disaster of an angle – made particularly tacky by the real-life double-murder suicide instigated by WWE wrestler Chris Benoit – into a “faked his own death” idea and quickly this past Monday ushered Raw into a fresh era by anointing a new Raw general manager, wrestler William Regal, as a replacement for long-time assistant GM and pain-in-the-keister Johnathon Coachman.

While Regal isn’t the most scintillating personality, it does give some closure to the era that was marred by the Benoit tragedy. While that real-life crime may have turned off many a casual fan, WWE’s most loyal viewers will feel that the change was long overdue.

Let’s just hope Vince doesn’t overexpose himself again, and allows Regal to take center stage and shine in his new role in the Raw storyline.