William Regal
William Regal 
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 William Regal at the No Mercy Event in 2007. |
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| Data | |
| Surname | Darren Kenneth Matthews |
| Ring name |
William Regal Steven Regal |
| Additions to names | Sir Lord The Gentleman Villain The British Brawler |
| height | 1.88 m |
| Fighting weight | 110 kg |
| birth | May 10, 1968 Codsall Wood , England |
| Announced from | Blackpool , England |
| Trained by | Marty Jones |
| debut | 1983 |
| retirement | 2013 |
Darren Kenneth Matthews (born May 10, 1968 in Codsall Wood , Staffordshire , England ) is a British wrestler who is currently under contract with WWE . He mainly appears there as General Manager at WWE NXT under his ring name William Regal .
Private life
Darren Matthews published his autobiography Walking a Golden Mile in July 2005 (with Neil Chandler, ISBN 0-7434-7634-4 ). Matthews successfully ended his longstanding alcohol and drug addiction. He has his wife's name and a rose tattooed on his left forearm and his left leg has "Made in England" as a tattoo. Matthews lives in Atlanta , Georgia with his wife Christina and their three children Daniel, Dane and Bailey .
Wrestling career
Beginnings
He played wrestling matches in the USA from 1992 after he had made his first wrestling experiences in his home country at the age of 15.
World Championship Wrestling (1993-1998)
First Matthews appeared as Face under the name Steve Regal, which he had borrowed from "Mr Electricity" Steve Regal, who had been a quite successful lightweight wrestler in the 1980s, at World Championship Wrestling (WCW). A short time later , however , he did gymnastics in heels , from then on wore the blue-blooded British gimmick and called himself Lord Steven Regal. In the WCW, he won the World Television Title four times and also formed tag teams with Bobby Eaton (later Earl Robert Eaton) and Squire David Taylor, but was initially unable to build on his success as an individual wrestler.
On February 9, 1998, the match Steven Regal vs. Bill Goldberg instead. It was the phase when Goldberg beat a wrestler in seconds on every show. Matthews would suffer exactly the same fate that evening. The two had already met at a WCW Saturday Night Match. Matthews had demanded more from Goldberg than other opponents, so the fans could look forward to the rematch. In the match he demonstrated Goldberg with his wrestling skills, which he later justified with the fact that Goldberg could no longer remember the choreography. This resulted in Goldberg's image as an invincible super wrestler being damaged and Matthews fired.
World Wrestling Federation (1998–1999)
He made his debut in the WWE (or WWF at that time ) in October 1998 with the gimmick "Real Man's Man", a nature boy who chops his wood himself and squeezes his oranges into juice. However, this role was not well received by the audience, so that he soon had to leave the WWF after a break from injury.
Return to WCW (1999–2000)
After a brief return to WCW, which at that time was already in the process of dissolution, he was taken back to the WWE in September 2000. This time his role was based on his old, successful heel gimmick from the WCW and made him appear as a British snob under the name William Regal . During this time he also won the now discontinued WWE European Champion Title. He also appeared in front of the camera as a "Commissioner", a kind of general manager of the WWE.
Return to WWF / E (since 2000)
Commissioner and World Tag Team Champion (2000-2003)
At the time that WWE was taking over its two competitive leagues, WCW and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), he turned against his league and joined the WCW Alliance, a group of wrestlers who - according to the storyline - opposed the takeover of their league by the WWE protested. Linda McMahon, the wife of WWE boss Vince McMahon , then fired him as commissioner, whereupon he was appointed commissioner of the same WCW Alliance by Shane McMahon (Vince McMahon's son). The WWE vs. WCW Alliance storyline ended at the 2001 Survivor Series , when Matthews was forced to kiss Vince McMahon's butt on camera after his team was defeated by the WWE team. Another injury break was followed in 2002 by winning the WWE Intercontinental Title and the now discarded WWE Hardcore Title.
After the takeover of the two main competitors was completed, the WWE was split into two roster and Matthews was initially assigned to the program " RAW ". He continued to appear as a heel and together with Lance Storm , Christian and Test (all three are Canadians ) formed the stable "The Un-Americans". The stable broke apart a short time later. Matthews won the WWE Tag Team Championship again (together with Lance Storm), but had to give it up due to further health problems (this time the heart was affected).
Various feuds and King Booker's Court (2003-2007)
On his return he was given a new storyline to take care of the wrestler Eugene , who played a less well-off nephew of the then General Manager of Raw, Eric Bischoff . Matthews and Eugene became friends in the process, performed as a tag team and Matthews had a brief face-turn. In November 2004, the two captured the tag team title of La Résistance. Since Eugene injured himself in a match at New Year's Revolution, Matthews appeared in tag team matches with Jonathan Coachman (actually commentator on Raw) and Tajiri , a Japanese former ECW wrestler.
Shortly before the ECW revival show ECW One Night Stand , Matthews announced that he would join a group of ECW opponents led by Eric Bischoff and protest against the ECW at One Night Stand. He asked his friend and partner Tajiri to make a decision, for himself or for the ECW. Tajiri went for his old league and against Matthews.
In June 2005, Matthews switched to the SmackDown! Roster. A feud with the Mexicools (Psichosis, Super Crazy and Juventud) together with his new tag team partner Scotty 2 Hotty was followed by another heel-turn when he refused to switch with his partner in a match against the Mexicools and was diabolical smiling watched the opponents defeat Scotty. Eventually a match between Matthews and Scotty 2 Hotty was played, but Paul Burchill, also a British wrestler, intervened to help Matthews win.
Burchill and Matthews have competed as a team ever since. However, they disbanded the team on February 9 because Paul Burchill made a gimmick switch to a pirate (because Regal accused him of his ancestors being pirates) and Matthews complained that he couldn't team up with a pirate.
After Booker T became King of the Ring , Matthews was with Finlay in his court. But at No Mercy 2006 the collaboration ended when Matthews hit King Booker with a left hook to the ground. He then worked with the British Dave Taylor and the two tried several times unsuccessfully to win the tag team title.
Raw General Manager and King of the Ring (2007-2009)
On June 17, 2007, he was drafted from Smackdown to RAW in the WWE Draft Lottery. At RAW on July 2, 2007, Matthews was general manager for one night and was given the post for a long time after winning a Battle Royal on August 7. On August 31, 2007, his name appeared on a list of wrestlers who are said to have obtained doping substances from the company Signature Pharmacy. Matthews was then suspended for 30 days. In April 2008, Matthews was able to prevail in the final of the King of the Ring tournament against CM Punk .
On the RAW show on May 19, 2008, he had to lose a "Loser Gets Fired match" against Mr. Kennedy , which in the storyline meant his dismissal. The background to this was Matthew's suspension for 60 days because he had already violated the WWE drug and drug regulations for the second time. On July 28, 2008, Matthews returned in a match against CM Punk . Matthews won the Intercontinental Championship in a match against Santino Marella at RAW on November 10th . On January 19, 2009 he had to hand it over to CM Punk.
The Ruthless Roundtable and end of the in-ring career (2009-2013)
On June 29, 2009 Matthews moved to the ECW squad and was put in a feud with the local champion Christian . There he formed a group called The Routhless Roundtable , which consisted of Matthews, Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson . After ECW broke up, Matthews switched to RAW again.
Matthews has been a commentator for WWE NXT since season 5 . From February 2012 to June 2012 he was also the show's match coordinator. Matthews was also a commentator for Florida Championship Wrestling, the WWE development league.
At the WWE Draft on April 26, 2011, he was switched to SmackDown , but appeared there only sporadically in backstage segments.
NXT General Manager (since 2014)
He has been General Manager at WWE NXT since July 2014 .
Wrestling successes
- World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
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- WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 ×)
- WWE European Championship (4 ×)
- World Tag Team Championship (2 × with Lance Storm , 1 × with Tajiri , 1 × with Eugene )
- WWF Hardcore Championship (3 ×)
- King of the Ring (2008)
- Memphis Championship Wrestling
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- MCW Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
Individual evidence
Web links
- William Regal profile on wwe.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Regal, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Matthews, Darren Kenneth (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British wrestler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1968 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Codsall Wood , Staffordshire |