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127-640: Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal , is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE , where he serves as the Vice-President of Global Talent Development. He is also known for his tenures as a wrestler in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and as a manager in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Trained by Marty Jones , Matthews started his career at

254-624: A First Blood match to Triple H after several right hands to Regal's forehead. A few weeks later, Regal made the Raw Elimination Chamber match for No Way Out . He later faced Randy Orton in a match during the European tour to try to teach him some respect. The following week, Regal won the 2008 King of the Ring tournament on a special three-hour Raw , where he defeated Hornswoggle, Finlay and CM Punk all by submission, becoming

381-490: A WCW World Tag Team Championship defence against Arn Anderson and Paul Roma ; Regal and Austin lost that match. Regal won the World Television Championship by defeating Ricky Steamboat at the inaugural Fall Brawl pay-per-view on 18 September with the help of Sir William. Regal unknowingly broke his neck during this match. Regal enjoyed a lengthy title reign as he retained the title against

508-462: A catch wrestling match on 16 July episode of Velocity . On 4 August, Regal was scheduled to go one on one with Scotty 2 Hotty , but the Mexicools came in and attacked both men. Two weeks later, they teamed up on SmackDown! against Psicosis and Super Crazy with Juventud in their corner. Halfway through the match, Regal betrayed Scotty by refusing to tag him and walked out of the ring with

635-459: A " free agent " during an episode of Raw , where he was defeated by then- World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. Regal began a mini-feud with Jamie Noble after he took an interest in Noble's romantic interest Layla , prompting him to attack Regal. Both men picked up victories in consecutive weeks, before Regal won their third match, departing with Layla at his side. Regal's feud with Noble escalated

762-531: A 30-second squash at WrestleMania V . Taylor would then primarily be used to put over other talent. While he still earned victories against enhancement talent, he was usually on the losing end against established stars. He worked a program with Mr. Perfect , losing to him at SummerSlam '89 and again on the November 25, 1989 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV . At Survivor Series '89 , he

889-481: A best-of-five series under Marquess of Queensberry Rules in which Regal lost to Flair with 1 win, 2 losses and 2 draws. The following month, Regal lost a non-title match to Larry Zbyszko at Slamboree , leading to a title match on the 28 May episode of Saturday Night , in which he dropped the title to Zbyszko. Regal regained the title from Zbyszko on 23 June Clash of the Champions XXVII . Regal began

1016-649: A broadcaster and backstage interviewer, wrestling his last on screen match on the May 22, 1993 edition of WWF Mania against Tatanka . Taylor would leave the company in August 1993 after his final match, which was a house show match where he lost to Brutus Beefcake in Sheffield, England. Taylor returned to WCW again in September 1993, doing both commentary and in ring business. In January 1994 he teamed with Erik Watts in

1143-527: A buxom wench for a pirate, the aforementioned locker room incident with Vito, and being knighted by a false king as examples. After announcing he was finished being a whipping boy, he introduced his old tag team partner Dave Taylor and the two went on to easily defeat the team of Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki . Though the pair reformed their previous tag team, they did not reuse the Blue Bloods gimmick and instead portrayed themselves as sadistic fighters. However,

1270-485: A color commentator for Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) matches and it was during this time he began a feud with Dean Ambrose after an unprovoked attack by Ambrose on Regal, setting up a match between the two on 6 November episode of FCW , where Regal viciously attacked Ambrose's left arm and pinned Ambrose. Following the loss to Regal, Ambrose became obsessed about wanting a rematch and regularly taunted Regal by using Regal's finishing moves to win matches. A rematch

1397-405: A contract. He began as a fan favourite character , still as Steve Regal. Regal made his televised debut on 30 January 1993 episode of Saturday Night and defeated enhancement talent Bob Cook in his in-ring debut on the following week's Saturday Night . Shortly after his debut, Regal entered a tournament for the vacant WCW World Television Championship in which he defeated The Barbarian in

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1524-471: A disqualification. This attack turned Regal face. On the 10 May episode of NXT , Regal defeated Novak by submission to end the feud as Novak was eliminated on the next episode. After Regal came to the aid of NXT host Matt Striker , saving him from an assault by Darren Young, Young challenged Regal to a match on 6 September episode of NXT and Regal duly defeated Young. On 13 September episode of NXT , Regal teamed with Striker against JTG and Darren Young in

1651-492: A feud for the title with number one contender CM Punk. On 5 January 2009 episode of Raw , Regal lost to Punk via disqualification after he grabbed the referee's shirt. Due to this, Stephanie McMahon awarded Punk a rematch the following week, with the stipulation that if Regal was disqualified, he would lose the Intercontinental title, but this time Punk was disqualified. McMahon awarded Punk another rematch, this time

1778-539: A feud with Sting and was booked to defend the title against Sting at Bash at the Beach . However, Sting was injured prior to the event and was replaced by Johnny B. Badd, whom Regal defeated to retain the title at Bash at the Beach. Regal lost to the wrestling legend Antonio Inoki on 28 August Clash of the Champions XXVIII . In September, Regal lost the title to Badd at Fall Brawl . Shortly after losing

1905-465: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked

2032-414: A flurry of challengers, beginning with his first televised title defence against Arn Anderson on 9 October episode of Saturday Night which ended in a fifteen-minute time limit draw. He then defended the title against fellow Brit Davey Boy Smith , whom he faced to a fifteen-minute time limit draw at Halloween Havoc . Regal then successfully retained the title against Johnny B. Badd on 10 November Clash of

2159-495: A four-way ladder match alongside Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury and The Hardys . London and Kendrick coming out on top after Joey Mercury suffered a serious facial injury. On the 25 May 2007 episode of SmackDown! , Regal and Taylor competed in a number one contenders match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against London and Kendrick, which they lost after Deuce 'n Domino interfered, making both teams

2286-401: A heart parasite from a WWE tour of India in November 2002. This, coupled with his aforementioned concussion, kept him out of action for the rest of the year. Regal returned after a one-year absence on 5 April 2004 episode of Raw . Upon his return, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff appointed him the guardian of his kayfabe " mentally challenged " nephew Eugene . Regal initially refused, but

2413-823: A heated rivalry. After Jim Crockett Promotions took over the UWF later that year, Taylor (then the UWF Television Champion) initiated a dispute with Nikita Koloff over the NWA World Television Championship by stealing Koloff's belt, which led to a unification match of the two titles at Starrcade 1987 , which Taylor would lose before abruptly leaving the promotion. In early 1988, Taylor returned in World Class Championship Wrestling , where he and Adams continued their feud until early June. Taylor won

2540-412: A long lasting very negative effect on Taylor's career as well. In 1990, Taylor returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, now renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) following a sale to Turner Broadcasting System . Two months after signing, Taylor made his return in a win by disqualification over "Mean Mark" Callous . He later re-debuted as "Terry Taylor" and unsuccessfully challenged Arn Anderson for

2667-740: A losing effort. On 10 November episode of Superstars held in England, Regal was pranked when his old "Real Man's Man" theme song was played, then lost to protégé Daniel Bryan, but both wrestlers showed respect after the match. On 15 February 2011 episode of NXT Redemption , Regal temporarily took charge as NXT host from Matt Striker to set up matches on the show, which led to him being made NXT 's official match coordinator two weeks later. After being appointed as an authority figure, Regal had issues with NXT 's perennial troublemakers, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks while Maxine attempted to influence him to get her off NXT . In 2011, Regal also acted as

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2794-433: A match against Rhyno and upon returning home aggravated the injury falling in his bathroom, breaking his ankle and leg. During this time, Regal was suffering from an addiction to Renewtrient , pain medication, and Valium , and was not seen on WWF television until he returned that fall as the "Real Man's Man", a builder/lumberjack-style gimmick created by Vince Russo and based on the image of The Brawny Man. Vignettes for

2921-651: A match for the vacated NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title in Guangzhou, China . On May 20, 2011, Taylor was fired from the promotion. In 2012, Taylor was re-signed by WWE to work as a trainer in its developmental territory NXT . According to Pro Wrestling Torch in 2017, Taylor along with Shawn Michaels taught the finishing class at the WWE Performance Center , the last of four levels of classes. On April 12, 2004, Taylor had three vertebrae in his neck fused together. On April 3, 2006, he underwent

3048-411: A match to gain some attention in the company, leading to a match between the two at The Great American Bash , which Regal lost. On the 31 August episode of Saturday Night , Regal captured the World Television Championship for the third time by getting an upset victory over Lex Luger after Luger was attacked by The Outsiders . After winning the title, Regal solely began focusing on his title reign and

3175-480: A match. This ended after Burchill abandoned him during a tag team loss to The Gymini . Regal continued to wrestle in a lower mid-card status, the highlight of which saw him facing the United States Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a losing effort while in England. Soon after Booker T became King Booker after becoming King of the Ring , Regal joined King Booker's Court by playing

3302-459: A month later with a series against Lance Cassidy . Taylor was primarily used to put over other talent. His most high profile match during this time was a loss to Randy Savage on the December 14, 1992 airing of Prime Time Wrestling . He appeared in the 1993 Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated in 24 seconds by Ted DiBiase . He worked house shows in the spring against Typhoon, then became

3429-631: A no disqualification match on 19 January episode of Raw , where Regal lost the title. Regal got a rematch, but lost the match. Following the draft , Regal was left alone on the Raw brand as his on-screen manager Layla was drafted to the SmackDown brand. At Extreme Rules , Regal unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston for the United States Championship along with Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Matt Hardy , Kofi Kingston retained

3556-432: A rematch for the titles, which they won. During March and April, Regal and Tajiri defended the titles successfully against the likes of La Résistance multiple times, Maven and Simon Dean , The Hurricane and Rosey and The Heart Throbs . This would lead to a tag team turmoil match involving the aforementioned teams at Backlash on 1 May. Regal and Tajiri were eliminated by La Résistance who, in turn, were eliminated by

3683-692: A road agent. Taylor lasted in this capacity until July 14, 2003, when he was released from his contract. Taylor began working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2003. Prior to becoming Head of Talent Relations, he also worked as a road agent, trainer, and interviewer. His only match for TNA was on September 24, 2003, where he defeated Kid Kash . While in TNA, Taylor wrestled for independent promotions, notably teaming with Cyrus in Canada for Ontario's Border City Wrestling and Manitoba's No Holds Barred promotions. On December 30, 2003, Tayor lost to Steve Williams in

3810-447: A rooster. Early in his Red Rooster stint, the heel Taylor was described by Heenan as a novice wrestler who could not navigate his way through matches without constant instructions from his manager, despite objections from announcers such as Gorilla Monsoon who would recall him showing considerable promise in matches prior to Heenan's involvement. The Rooster made his pay-per-view debut in the main event of Survivor Series '88 , where he

3937-517: A rule breaking villain and had small feuds with teams such as The Filthy Animals . In late February 2000, Regal lost a career vs. career match against Jim Duggan on Saturday Night for the World Television Championship, which was done in order to explain Regal's release from the company. Regal was once again hired by the WWF and sent to the developmental territory Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) for

William Regal - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-816: A scaffold match, but lost when they were defeated by P. N. News and Bobby Eaton. For a time in late 1991-early 1992, Taylor teased a face turn by arguing with manager Alexandra York and the rest of the group. After the York Foundation disbanded, Taylor (billed as 'The Taylor Made Man') remained heel and formed a tag team with Greg Valentine in 1992. They held the WCW United States Tag Team Championship for three months. Taylor would make three appearances for Eastern Championship Wrestling during September and October 1992. He would defeat Larry Winters and lost twice to Tony Stetson . On September 21, 1992 Taylor returned to

4191-750: A second booking and wrestled Brian Maxine at the Battle Royal at Albert Hall in London, England on 3 October 1991. Two months later, Matthews was again wrestling on the UK swing of a major American promotion, although this time it was World Championship Wrestling . Appearing as Steve Regal, he wrestled six matches on WCW's tour of the United Kingdom and faced Terrance Taylor , Jimmy Garvin , Giant Haystacks , and Oz ( Kevin Nash ). During this early period, he

4318-608: A short time. He re-debuted in a match with Chris Benoit at the Third Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show . Regal returned on the 18 September 2000 episode of Raw Is War as a heel, under the name Steven William Regal (later shortened to William Regal). Regal defeated Al Snow to win the European Championship on 16 October episode of Raw Is War . After a successful defence against Naked Mideon at No Mercy , Regal would lose

4445-676: A shot at the WCW World Tag Team Championship against Sting and Lex Luger on 23 January Clash of the Champions XXXII , where they failed to win the championship. On 27 January episode of Saturday Night , Regal was attacked by the debuting Belfast Bruiser during a match, sparking a feud between the duo as the Belfast Bruiser was a Northern Irishman , who developed an on-screen hatred with Regal due to him being English . In March, Regal faced

4572-496: A smirk on his face, turning heel as a result and allowing the Mexicools to pick up the win. Two days later, Regal cut a promo telling the crowd that he had returned to his former self, referring to himself as a "scoundrel" and a "rogue". The promo ended when Scotty ran to the ring and attacked Regal. The following week, a match between the two was cut short when the debuting Paul Burchill interfered to aid his countryman. Regal went on to take Burchill under his wing and tag with him on

4699-540: A televised loss to Pretty Wonderful on WCW Saturday Night . Wrestling as a face, Taylor began a program with "Diamond" Dallas Page and defeated him at SuperBrawl IV on February 20. As in the WWF, Taylor began commentary work and teamed with Tony Schiavone on play-by-play for WCW Power Hour . After wrestling The Honky Tonk Man and Tex Slazenger during the spring and summer, he ended his run with three straight victories over Jean Paul Levesque on an August house show tour of Texas. Taylor became an announcer for

4826-522: A three-hour cervical fusion surgery in which his sixth and seventh vertebrae were joined. Following the second operation, he announced his retirement from the ring. Taylor is a born-again Christian and has appeared on some of the wrestling and religion shows that Ted DiBiase produces. Taylor has two sons. His wife and their mother Trudy (née Davidson) died of cancer on July 14, 2011. The Mid-Atlantic promotion in which Taylor and Steiner won

4953-642: A title rematch against Christian at Breaking Point , but Christian prevailed again with the rest of the Roundtable banned from ringside. Regal was then denied another chance at number one contender-ship, but The Ruthless Roundtable continued to repeatedly attack Christian to continue the feud. As a result, Christian demanded to face Regal, so he received another shot for the ECW Championship on 10 November episode of ECW in Sheffield , England, but he

5080-529: A trademark of Regal's character. Regal defended the title against Edge again at No Way Out in a brass knuckles on a pole match . He lost the title to Rob Van Dam at WrestleMania X8 . The same week, he beat Diamond Dallas Page for the European Championship on 21 March episode of SmackDown! . Regal was drafted to the Raw brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery on 25 March, thus bringing

5207-566: A trainer in WWE's developmental territory , NXT . Terry Taylor was a popular fan favorite for much of his early career in the Mid-South region, as well as the Mid-Atlantic in the 1980s. Taylor was originally selected to be part of The Fabulous Ones tag team with Stan Lane , but that role went to Florida wrestler, Steve Keirn . Taylor then formed a tag team with Bobby Fulton called

William Regal - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-580: A tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation . Matthews relayed that through Lord Alfred Hayes , WWF had become interested in seeing the young wrestler and offered him an opportunity at the WWF UK Rampage Show on 24 April 1991. Wrestling in a dark match, he appeared as Steve Regal and teamed with Dave Taylor and Tony St. Clair to defeat Drew McDonald , Chic Cullen, & Johnny South. Later that year, he received

5461-754: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It

5588-595: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by

5715-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It

5842-589: Is an American retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Terry Taylor and for his time as an in-ring performer in National Wrestling Alliance , World Championship Wrestling , and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment . From 2003 until 2011, he worked as a road agent, trainer, interviewer and the director of talent relations in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . Since 2012, Taylor has worked as

5969-570: Is going to be? To wake up a half an hour earlier so I can hate you more". His first major win after the character change was against Marcus Alexander Bagwell on 16 June Clash of the Champions XXIII . Regal was scheduled to face Bagwell's partner 2 Cold Scorpio on 18 August Clash of the Champions XXIV , but he was replaced by Bobby Eaton . Regal himself substituted for the injured Brian Pillman to team with Steve Austin in

6096-725: The American Wrestling Federation (AWF) in 1994. A fan of wrestling announcer Gordon Solie , Taylor would often use Solie's famous phrases, pronouncing a suplex as a "soo-play" and a clothesline as a "lariat." He defeated Blacktop Bully by disqualification on April 29, 1995 at an AWF event. Taylor spent several years in WCW working backstage, as a road agent and a writer. Along with Annette Yother, Craig Leathers, Eric Bischoff and Kevin Sullivan, he wrote content for Nitro and WCW pay-per-views . He made his return to

6223-587: The Beat the Clock Sprint to Raw , which was used to determine who would challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash . On 6 August episode of Raw , Regal became the new general manager after winning a battle royal featuring other participants from the Raw roster. He began incorporating game shows into Raw while general manager. On 3 September episode of Raw , Regal

6350-521: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship . Blue Bloods quickly entered the title picture as they initially feuded with The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ), their complete opposites in terms of "sophistication" and presentation. Blue Bloods unsuccessfully challenged Nasty Boys for the WCW World Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash . On 24 June episode of WorldWide , Blue Bloods retaliated by costing Nasty Boys,

6477-815: The Knee Trembler . Afterwards, the FCW locker room stormed the ring to separate Ambrose from a fallen Regal while commentators questioned whether Regal would ever be able to wrestle again. He continued to work as a color commentator for NXT after FCW was rebranded as NXT. Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or

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6604-644: The WCW World Television Championship on several occasions, with most of the matches ending in time-limit draws. In late 1990, Taylor began a short feud with Michael Wallstreet , which ended abruptly after Wallstreet jumped to the WWF. In January 1991, Taylor took Wallstreet's place in The York Foundation and a couple months later was renamed Terrence Taylor (It was customary for York Foundation members to use formalized versions of their first names and wear suits as part of

6731-522: The pirate Blackbeard and that he wanted to turn this into a pirate gimmick . Burchill, with this heroic persona, started a rivalry with former teammate Regal, who tried to convince Burchill to return to his ruthless ways. Regal lost to Burchill in his first match as a pirate. Regal lost a rematch against Burchill, with the match stipulation that Regal would have to dress like a "buxom wench" if he lost. "Lady Regal", as SmackDown announcers jokingly referred to him, had to dress up like this until Burchill lost

6858-485: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and

6985-737: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and

7112-598: The "business" gimmick). He feuded with Tom Zenk , Dustin Rhodes and Bobby Eaton , and won the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championships with Richard Morton and Thomas Rich . Taylor was the senior wrestling member of the York Foundation and either was a singles wrestler or teamed with fellow York Foundation members during its existence. The exception was at The Great American Bash , when he teamed with “Stunning” Steve Austin in

7239-490: The 10 May episode of NXT , Sheffield was eliminated from the competition. Regal was mostly involved in lower-card feuds after returning to wrestle on Raw and also regularly appeared on NXT and Superstars . In 2010, he regularly lost tag team matches against Santino Marella while trading wins with Goldust. Regal defeated Darren Young in three matches on Superstars in October and November. In March 2011, Regal became

7366-554: The 2nd Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show on May 19, 1999, and on July 30, he lost to Chris Jericho at the Mark Curtis Comes Home Memorial Show. He remained with the company until WWF bought it out in March 2001. On August 9, 2001, he defeated Bobby Eaton at 4th Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in a match refereed by Ricky Steamboat . In September 2002, Taylor returned to the now-renamed WWE as

7493-399: The 9 February 1998 episode of Nitro , Regal was pinned by Bill Goldberg in a match which was Regal's final match with WCW, in that run. The bout garnered controversy as it was said that Regal worked more aggressively and stiff than expected. Regal was confronted by Eric Bischoff after the match and stated to Bischoff "I can't hit myself" Regal maintains he worked the bout as booked, but he

7620-417: The August 1, 1988 airing of Prime Time Wrestling . After Houston was pinned, Taylor got on the mic and berated him for losing the match, before attacking him and turning heel. Taylor soon acquired Bobby "The Brain" Heenan as his manager and was rebranded "The Red Rooster", a gimmick which saw him don red tights and ring coat and, later as a babyface, style his hair like a rooster 's comb and strut like

7747-463: The Blue Bloods became inactive. He held the title for five months and defended the title against the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Dean Malenko , former partner Bobby Eaton and Psychosis . Regal was scheduled to defend the title against Rey Misterio, Jr. at SuperBrawl VII , but he dropped the title to Prince Iaukea after a distraction by Misterio on 16 February 1997 episode of Nitro . Six days later, Regal avenged his title loss by costing Misterio,

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7874-566: The Bruiser in a match at Uncensored , but Regal lost the match by disqualification after Eaton and Taylor attacked the Bruiser. On 29 April episode of Monday Nitro , Regal defeated the Bruiser in a Parking Lot Brawl . The duo were scheduled to team in the Lethal Lottery at Slamboree , but the Bruiser suffered an injury and was replaced by Dave Taylor. Regal and Taylor lost to Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet . Regal challenged Sting to

8001-566: The Champions XXV and retained the title against Steamboat at Starrcade and Dustin Rhodes on 27 January 1994 Clash of the Champions XXVI , with both matches ending in time limit draws. Regal continued his successful title defences in 1994 by beating Arn Anderson at SuperBrawl IV and fighting a time limit draw against Brian Pillman at Spring Stampede . In the spring of 1994 on WorldWide , Regal challenged Ric Flair to

8128-504: The Court afterwards by knocking down King Booker with a punch to the face after King Booker slapped him and called him useless. During the broadcast, Regal was involved in a backstage segment with Vito in which he accidentally exposed his penis . 12 days after No Mercy, Regal stated that while he had once been one of the world's greatest wrestlers, he had since become a doormat for other SmackDown! wrestlers. He referred to being dressed as

8255-555: The ECW Champion Christian in which Jackson attacked Christian to ensure Regal's victory, with the trio of Regal, Kozlov and Jackson forming a new alliance which was later dubbed the Ruthless Roundtable. At SummerSlam , Regal challenged Christian for his title, but was defeated in eight seconds. With the Roundtable's help, Regal defeated Christian in a non-title match on 25 August episode of ECW to earn

8382-478: The European Championship to Raw . Regal lost the European Championship to Spike Dudley on 8 April episode of Raw . He regained the championship from Dudley on 6 May episode of Raw to become a four-time champion. Throughout April, Regal would also hold the WWF Hardcore Championship five times, with all of these reigns coming at non-televised house shows . Regal entered the 2002 King of

8509-758: The Fantastic Ones. After they split up, Fulton teamed with Tommy Rogers to form The Fantastics . On June 7, 1981, Taylor won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Les Thornton at the Roanoke Civic Center , dropping it back to him in the return match thirteen days later. Also wrestled for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1981 and 1982. Taylor made his way to Mid-South in January 1984 and feuded with

8636-488: The Hurricane and Rosey, who became the new champions. In an episode of Raw prior to ECW One Night Stand, Regal questioned Tajiri in backstage about his decision to appear in the event, turning heel in the process. Regal appeared at ECW One Night Stand as an anti-ECW "crusader" led by Eric Bischoff. At the end of show, Regal and other "crusaders" would engage in a brawl with ECW alumni led by Stone Cold Steve Austin, in which

8763-502: The NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship is not the same promotion that was once owned by Jim Crockett Jr. and sold to Ted Turner in 1988. That promotion went on to be renamed World Championship Wrestling and was sold to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2001. This current promotion, however, operates within the same region as the original and uses some of the same regional championships, primarily

8890-453: The North American Heavyweight Championship, the Mid South region's top title at the time. Moving back to the Mid-South region in 1986, which been renamed the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), Taylor became one of the promotion's biggest stars and defeated Buzz Sawyer for the UWF Television Championship in May. He won the UWF Tag Team Championship with "Gentleman" Chris Adams in early 1987, before breaking up their "Dream Team" to begin

9017-430: The Red Rooster gimmick. Heenan feigned wanting to make amends with Taylor on Prime Time Wrestling , but it was a set-up for Taylor to be ambushed by Heenan's new protege, long-time enhancement talent Steve Lombardi , who Heenan reinvented as "The Brooklyn Brawler". The two feuded, leading to the Rooster defeating the Brawler on the March 11, 1989 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XX and then defeating Heenan in

9144-595: The Ring tournament , but lost to Booker T in the qualifiers. Regal later lost the European Championship to Jeff Hardy on 8 July episode of Raw , making Regal the antepenultimate champion as the championship was retired later in the year. He joined The Un-Americans , an anti-American alliance consisting of Canadian wrestlers Lance Storm , Christian and Test on 2 September episode of Raw . At Unforgiven , The Un-Americans lost to Bubba Ray Dudley , Kane and Booker T and Goldust. On 30 September episode of Raw , every member of The Un-Americans lost their matches, causing

9271-735: The Texas Heavyweight Championship from Matt Borne and defended it against Adams, Kevin Von Erich , and others. Terry also held the tag team title with Iceman King Parsons for a short time. Taylor eventually departed WCCW. In 1988, Taylor signed with the World Wrestling Federation . He made his initial debut in a house show defeating Tito Santana on July 10, 1988 in Las Vegas, NV. Three days later he made his televised debut as babyface "Scary Terry" Taylor, he teamed with Sam Houston against The Conquistadors on

9398-605: The United States Championship by pinning Regal. Regal was traded to the ECW brand on 29 June. In his first match on ECW on Syfy the following night, he teamed with Vladimir Kozlov to defeat Tommy Dreamer and Christian. After winning a tag match on 6 August episode of Superstars , Regal was named as the number one contender to the ECW Championship . On 18 August episode of ECW , Regal teamed with Kozlov again to face Ezekiel Jackson and

9525-525: The WWF (later WWE), where he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion , a five-time Hardcore Champion , a four-time European Champion , a four-time World Tag Team Champion , and the 2008 winner of the King of the Ring tournament . He also had stints as on-screen authority figures such as commissioner, General Manager of Raw , and match co-ordinator for the 2011 season of the original NXT . As NXT became WWE's developmental brand in 2012, he appeared as

9652-474: The WWF as a heel under the name "Terrific Terry Taylor" and continued to use his Red Rooster entrance theme but minus the rooster crows. His first match under this was when he defeated Jim Brunzell at a WWF Superstars taping in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was undefeated for his first month, gaining a series of house show victories over Jim Powers. In November he began a house show program with Max Moon , followed

9779-513: The World Tag Team Championship in what would be his last match for over a year. In his 2005 autobiography, Regal recalls having swelling all over his body, high heart rate and trouble sleeping in the lead-up to the match at No Way Out. During the match, he suffered a concussion and was briefly knocked unconscious. Over the next few days, Regal's health worsened and he consulted a doctor. He was informed that he had contracted

9906-517: The age of 15 in 1983. His first matches took place at one of the rare final wrestling carnival booths at Blackpool Pleasure Beach . He went on to wrestle for national promotions on the British wrestling circuit and wrestled on television for ITV . He then progressed to touring around the world until 1993 when he was signed to WCW, where he took the ring name Steven Regal and became a four-time WCW World Television Champion . In 1998, Matthews joined

10033-431: The character showed him doing "manly" things like chopping wood, shaving with a straight razor , and squeezing his own orange juice. After he made his full-time debut in October 1998, he faced X-Pac in the opening round of the tournament for the vacant WWF Championship at Survivor Series , ending in a double countout and thus eliminating both men from the tournament. Regal then began a feud with The Godfather , but he

10160-429: The color commentator for the fifth season of NXT . On 26 April, Regal was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2011 WWE supplemental draft . On NXT , Regal began a feud with rookie Jacob Novak after Novak taunted him as old and washed up. On the 3 May episode of NXT , Regal was set to face Novak, but Novak's Pro JTG stepped in to replace Novak. While Regal had the match won, Novak interfered, attacking Regal and causing

10287-406: The crusaders were soundly beaten. On 30 June, Regal was sent to SmackDown! as part of an eleven-person trade during the draft lottery . His first match on SmackDown! was on 7 July against Matt Morgan in what was to be Morgan's final WWE match. It was interrupted before Regal was even able to enter the ring by Mexicools . His first full match as part of the roster was a loss to Chris Benoit in

10414-543: The final ECW Champion. After ECW was cancelled to be replaced by NXT , Regal returned to the Raw brand, but he also became the Pro to Rookie Skip Sheffield on the first season of NXT . Regal made his debut on 2 March episode of NXT , teaming with Sheffield in a losing effort against Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel . On 13 April episode of NXT , Regal won his first match on the show, defeating former pupil Daniel Bryan . On

10541-442: The first man to make Punk submit. Regal's coronation ceremony the next week was interrupted by the returning Mr. Kennedy . A few weeks later, Regal lost a Loser Gets Fired match to Mr. Kennedy, after which Regal was kayfabe forced to leave WWE. In reality, Regal was suspended on 20 May for sixty days for his second violation of the company's Substance Abuse and Drug Testing Policy . On 28 July, Regal returned from his suspension as

10668-464: The first round before losing to Johnny B. Badd in the quarterfinals. He became the villain "Lord Steven Regal" on 12 June episode of Saturday Night , claiming descent from William the Conqueror and Sir William began serving as his manager . At times arrogantly charming in this persona, one of his memorable statements to a post-match interviewer was: "Do you know what my New Year's resolution

10795-430: The group to separate later in the night and break away into separate groups. Regal began teaming with Lance Storm, Christian formed a tag team with Chris Jericho and Test branched off into single competition. On 30 September episode of Raw , both Christian and Storm lost matches to Randy Orton , while Regal and Test lost to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer . This led to all four members attacking each other, thus disbanding

10922-511: The hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship , but the team's biggest exposure was a loss in a handicap match against Bobby Lashley at Armageddon . On 3 February 2006 episode of SmackDown! , Regal and Burchill told the "network representative" Palmer Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion, Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traced back to

11049-482: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which

11176-523: The match in any way, he would not participate in the Royal Rumble match at the 2008 Royal Rumble . This was to give Triple H a reason to want to win the match rather than avoid ending the career of his best friend and idol. Regal was scheduled to compete against Hornswoggle that night with Mr. McMahon at ringside. McMahon tossed Regal some brass knuckles during the match and encouraged him to use them on Hornswoggle, but he let Hornswoggle go and left

11303-493: The number one contender to the ECW Championship. Jackson won the ECW Homecoming battle royal and was granted a title shot, but Christian defeated him at the Royal Rumble to retain his title. Despite the loss, Regal and Jackson continued to assault Christian, who accepted Jackson's title challenge. On the final episode of ECW on 16 February 2010, Regal helped Jackson defeating Christian in an Extreme Rules match to become

11430-408: The number one contenders. This interference led to a triple threat match the next week on SmackDown! in which Deuce 'n Domino retained the title. On 17 June, Regal was drafted back to the Raw brand during the supplemental draft, ending his tag team with Dave Taylor. On 2 July, Regal served as Interim general manager of Raw, filling in for Jonathan Coachman . While general manager, Regal introduced

11557-477: The on-screen General Manager; behind the scenes, he began serving as WWE's Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting from 2018 until he was released in 2022. He then signed with AEW and debuted as the founder and manager of the Blackpool Combat Club , leaving the company nine months later to return to WWE as the Vice-President of Global Talent Development. Darren Kenneth Matthews

11684-681: The on-screen commissioner and self-proclaimed "Goodwill Ambassador" of the WWF and was given a comedy sidekick in Tajiri . During The Invasion storyline , Regal turned face as he remained the WWF Commissioner. During the WCW/ECW Alliance storyline, Regal turned heel once again by costing Kurt Angle the WWF Championship and joining The Alliance . He was fired as commissioner by Linda McMahon , but Shane McMahon , who

11811-593: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: Terry Taylor Paul Worden Taylor III (born August 12, 1955)

11938-410: The public. By this time, he wrestled professionally all over Britain for All Star Wrestling where he regularly teamed with Robbie Brookside as The Golden Boys tag team. Both Regal and Brookside appeared in several televised matches during the final years (1987–1988) of ITV 's coverage of British wrestling . Matthews went on to tour worldwide, including Germany and South Africa. In 1991, he received

12065-698: The ring on April 20, 1996 in Little Rock, AR when he defeated Steve Regal and would occasionally wrestle on house shows over the next two and a half years. His last match came on September 23, 1998, when he faced Steve McMichael in Utica, NY at a house show. Taylor returned to the WWF in 1998, doing interviews backstage and sometimes commentary on WWF television. As with WCW, he would occasionally wrestle on live events. His first match would be against Kurt Angle on May 15, 1999 in Baltimore, MD. His final match

12192-522: The ring. During the Flair versus Triple H match, Triple H was about to pin Flair for the win when Regal suddenly punched Flair in the face with the brass knuckles. This gave Flair the win by disqualification , ensuring that he could continue to wrestle and that Triple H would not be part of the Royal Rumble. As a result of Regal's actions towards Triple H, the following week on Raw Roulette he lost

12319-439: The role of a town crier . As a member of the Court, Regal helped King Booker in his feud against Bobby Lashley, occasionally teaming up with fellow Court member Finlay in tag team matches. However, during this time he also feuded with Finlay for the United States Championship. Regal was knighted by King Booker and was given the title of "Sir". At No Mercy , Regal lost to a returning Chris Benoit, resulting in him turning his back on

12446-583: The subsequent week when Layla declared that Noble was a loser and that she found a man worthy of her in Regal. However, the feud was short lived. On 3 November episode of Raw , Regal won an over-the-top battle royal to face Santino Marella for the Intercontinental Championship and the next week in Manchester , Regal defeated Marella in a 40-second squash match to win his second Intercontinental Championship. Later, he entered into

12573-421: The tag team titles against Harlem Heat ( Booker T and Stevie Ray ). Blue Bloods faced Harlem Heat and Nasty Boys for the title in a triangle match at Bash at the Beach , where they failed again. Blue Bloods soon dropped off the title picture and continued to compete as a mid-card tag team. They added "Squire" David Taylor to the team and Jeeves as their lackey by the end of the year. Eaton and Regal received

12700-639: The team of Nikolai Volkoff and Krusher Darsow . Darsow changed his name to Krusher Khruschev, and he and Taylor met in the finals of a May tournament to crown the first ever Mid-South TV champion , which Khruschev won. 45 days later, Taylor defeated Khruschev in New Orleans to begin his first of four TV title reigns. Taylor feuded with "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel over the NWA National Heavyweight Championship in 1985. On March 13 of that year, he defeated Ted DiBiase for

12827-587: The team was quickly put into jeopardy in their second match together when Taylor suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee, leaving him injured. Taylor took a more relaxed role for a couple of weeks as a corner man for Regal and only wrestled in a few short house show matches. Taylor quickly healed from his injury and the pair feuded with the WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Brian Kendrick . After defeating London and Kendrick on several occasions, at Armageddon they took part in

12954-573: The team. Storm and Regal won the World Tag Team Championship from Booker T and Goldust thanks to Regal's brass knuckles on 6 January 2003 episode of Raw . They lost the championship to Dudley Boyz at the Royal Rumble on 19 January, but they regained the championship the next night on Raw thanks to an impromptu match set up by Chief Morley after Regal and Storm had put Bubba through a table. At No Way Out on 23 February, Regal and Storm defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam to retain

13081-430: The television title to Badd, Regal dropped Sir William as his manager (Dundee was fired from WCW due to a contract dispute). Beginning with 26 November episode of Saturday Night , Regal began scouting fellow aristocrat Jean-Paul Levesque during his matches, which lead to the duo forming a tag team on 21 January 1995 episode of Pro , when they defeated Brad and Scott Armstrong . Shortly after, Levesque left WCW and he

13208-498: The title against next champion Alex Wright on 15 September episode of Nitro , but he failed to capture the title. In the fall of 1997, Regal reformed the Blue Bloods with Dave Taylor and they unsuccessfully challenged Steiner Brothers for the WCW World Tag Team Championship at World War 3 . Later that night, Regal participated in the World War 3 three-ring battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match. On

13335-509: The title shot against Iaukea at SuperBrawl VII. Regal got a rematch against Iaukea for the title at Spring Stampede , which he lost. Regal attacked Iaukea on 7 April episode of Nitro , which resulted in Iaukea losing the title to Último Dragón later that night. At Slamboree , Regal defeated Ultimo Dragon to win the belt for a fourth time, but lost the title back to Dragon two months later on 22 July episode of Nitro . Regal got another shot at

13462-434: The title to Crash Holly at Rebellion on 2 December, before winning it back two days later on Raw Is War . Regal would enter his first Royal Rumble match at the eponymous pay-per-view on 21 January 2001, but failed to win. The next night on Raw Is War , Regal lost the European Championship to Test . On 8 March episode of SmackDown! , Regal became the new WWF commissioner, after defeating Al Snow. Regal later became

13589-518: The titles, Eugene would be out of action for over six months. This ultimately cost them the World Tag Team Championship as Regal lost the titles back to La Résistance at a 16 January house show in Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada , with announcer Jonathan Coachman as Eugene's replacement. On 7 February episode of Raw , Regal teamed with former tag partner Tajiri to reclaim the titles. On the following week's Raw , Regal and Tajiri faced La Résistance in

13716-409: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude

13843-497: Was a brief stint for Joint Promotions in 1986 where he wrestled his first two televised matches under the name Roy Regal. Otherwise, he stuck with the name Steve Regal up until shortly after his arrival in World Championship Wrestling . In the fall of 1992, Matthews reached out to Bill Watts on a position in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Watts responded favourably to Regal's letter and offered him

13970-448: Was against Joey Abs on September 23, 1999. After conducting backstage interviews for a year in the WWF, Taylor returned to WCW yet again. He appeared in a backstage segment with Kimberly on Monday Nitro on November 15, 1999. During this run in WCW, Taylor co-hosted and provided commentary for WCW Saturday Night with Larry Zbyszko . While in WCW, Taylor would also wrestle for the independent promotions . He defeated Tom Prichard at

14097-454: Was attacked by WWE Champion John Cena in retaliation for rewarding Randy Orton with a WWE title shot after Orton had kicked John Cena's father in the head the previous week. Regal was missing from Raw programming for one month due to this attack, making his return by siding with Vince McMahon. On New Year's Eve, Triple H was scheduled to face Ric Flair in which Flair's win or retire ultimatum was still active. Regal announced that if Triple H lost

14224-476: Was billed as Steve Regal, a name he saw in an American wrestling magazine (in use by "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal ). There were two exceptions to this. One was when he wrestled in Wales during this period, including appearances on S4C 's Welsh language wrestling TV show Reslo under the name Steve Jones and was billed from Cardiff , Wales, teaming with Orig Williams and faced Fit Finlay among others. The other

14351-607: Was born in Codsall on 10 May 1968. He grew up admiring wrestlers Terry Rudge and Jon Cortez, whom he later called "wrestlers' wrestlers". After training under Marty Jones , Matthews made his debut wrestling for promoter Bobby Barron at his wrestling challenge booth at the Horseshoe Showbar at Blackpool Pleasure Beach at the age of 15. In time, he graduated to be a shooter at the booth, using brutal submission holds to defend prize money against challenges from members of

14478-456: Was demanded to do so in order to be reinstated onto the active roster. Initially annoyed at having to "babysit" Eugene, Regal eventually grew very fond of him and they became friends, becoming a face in the process. On the 10 May episode of Raw , Bischoff told Regal to sabotage Eugene's match so he would quit with embarrassment, in return for Regal being reinstated. Despite reluctantly tripping Eugene, he still managed to defeat his opponent. Regal

14605-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as

14732-555: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with

14859-551: Was eventually reinstated on 21 June episode of Raw , before being put in a match with Kane at Bischoff's behest, which Regal lost after being knocked out by Kane. In June, Regal was inserted into a feud with Evolution , after the group's leader Triple H tried to convince Eugene that Regal was secretly plotting against him. After weeks of manipulation, Evolution turned on and attacked Eugene on 12 July episode of Raw , much to Regal's dismay. Triple H would then continue to torment Regal and Eugene, and on 9 August episode of Raw , Regal

14986-542: Was fired after the bout. Regal's first appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was on the 29 June 1998 episode of Raw Is War in which he defeated Droz via submission with the Regal Stretch . After featuring in one more match against Tiger Ali Singh in Pennsylvania, Regal was sent to a training camp run by Dory Funk Jr. in order to get into shape. On his last day, he twisted his ankle in

15113-642: Was kidnapped and brutalised by Triple H in order to gain an advantage against Eugene. At SummerSlam , Regal assisted Eugene in his match against Triple H by attacking his manager Ric Flair . However Eugene would still ultimately lose. In September, Regal teamed with Chris Benoit to defeat Evolution members Batista and Ric Flair at Unforgiven . Regal and Eugene won the World Tag Team Championship from La Résistance on 15 November episode of Raw . However, at New Year's Revolution on 9 January 2005, Eugene injured himself during their tag title defence against Christian and Tyson Tomko . Although they successfully retained

15240-527: Was once again unsuccessful. At Survivor Series , Regal participated in a traditional five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and was eliminated by MVP. Following Survivor Series, dissension was teased within The Ruthless Roundtable, although Jackson seemed poised to leave the group, Regal ultimately sided with Jackson and turned on Kozlov by assisting Jackson in defeating Kozlov to qualify for an ECW Homecoming battle royal to determine

15367-587: Was part of Dusty Rhodes 's "Dream Team". Though Taylor was eliminated from the match, the Dream Team was victorious. The Rooster's last pay-per-view appearance was as a participant in the 1990 Royal Rumble match (replacing The Widow Maker ), where he lasted only two minutes before being eliminated by André the Giant . Taylor left the federation in June 1990, and "The Red Rooster" gimmick that he had used has left

15494-687: Was replaced by Alabama -born Bobby Eaton when Regal and Eaton faced each other in a match on 18 March episode of Saturday Night . Regal stopped the match and proposed that he and Eaton form a team, which Eaton accepted. Regal formed the team The Blue Bloods with Eaton and was involved in humorous vignettes where he tried to teach Eaton the finer points of dining and the proper usage of the Queen's English . The duo first began teaming on 8 April episode of WCW Saturday Night . Regal also toured WCW's working partner New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on 16 April, where he unsuccessfully challenged Shinya Hashimoto for

15621-481: Was scheduled as the main event for the final episode of FCW on 15 July. The match began with Regal viciously attacking Ambrose's injured left arm, but Ambrose rammed Regal into the ring post to badly disorientate him. Then Ambrose ruthlessly kneed Regal's head into an exposed turnbuckle, causing Regal to bleed from the ear and the match was then ruled a no contest. After the match, Regal stared down Ambrose, then applauded him and turned his head to allow Ambrose to deliver

15748-641: Was taken off television soon after before subsequently checking into rehab in January 1999 and was released from the company in April. After checking out of rehab, Matthews was invited back into the wrestling world, making a somewhat brief return to WCW as "Lord Steven Regal". His official pay-per-view return took place during Bash at the Beach , where he was one of many participants in the first Hardcore Invitational . The following night on Nitro , Regal, accompanied by both Fit Finlay and Dave Taylor, fought Billy Kidman . Despite outside help from Finlay and Taylor, Regal

15875-527: Was the first wrestler eliminated from the match. On the January 7, 1989 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XIX , the Rooster lost a match to Tito Santana due to being distracted by an argument with Heenan. Following the loss, Heenan slapped Taylor. Taylor, tired of Heenan's demeaning style of coaching, turned against his manager and attacked him. He became a face as a result, though he retained

16002-608: Was the owner of WCW, hired him as the Alliance Commissioner. After the Alliance was defeated at Survivor Series in November 2001, Regal was forced to become the first member of Vince McMahon 's "Kiss My Ass" club by kissing McMahon's buttocks so he could keep his job. Regal defeated Edge to win the Intercontinental Championship at Royal Rumble on 20 January 2002, after using a set of brass knuckles in order to knock out Edge, an action that would later become

16129-636: Was unable to pick up the win. Two weeks later, he faced Mikey Whipwreck , but Jimmy Hart 's First Family came out to challenge The Blue Bloods at Road Wild for the Hardcore Trophy, causing Regal to lose the match. Nothing came of this challenge as neither the First Family or the Blue Bloods were featured on the Road Wild card. Similar to his previous run, much of Regal's performances took place in tag team bouts. Regal continued his role as

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