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William Regal Planned To Take A Year Off From Wrestling Before Being Called By Bryan Danielson | Fightful News
William Regal talks joining AEW.
William Regal was released by WWE in January after serving as the on-screen general manager for NXT and WWE's Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting.
He made his AEW debut at Revolution, bringing together Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, who he has a long history with.
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Regal detailed his journey to AEW and aligning with Moxley and Danielson.
"Very quickly," Regal said when asked how things came together with AEW. "I was checked out. As yu can get older, and you hear all these things when you're younger about how 'time flies when you get old,' it may have only been a couple of months, but once I was no longer needed in my former line of work, I've done nothing but do this for a living since I was 16 full-time, apart from a couple of years off with different things that had gone on health-wise and a few injuries, I had done nothing but wrestling. That's it, I had a great run and I'm going to take maybe a year off except for, I was thinking about this time, I would start looking for the odd things in the UK, just so I could go and see my family and go home for a bit. Then, I get a call from Bryan Danielson. It sounded very exciting, just to go back and be talent, basically. As soon as I walk in the door, everyone seems to be asking me to do other things. 'You can do this.' A lot of that, but for the last ten years, I've been doing a lot of everything. It's been nice to just go out and be me. I'm going to do things anyway, I can't help that. The reason I ended up with the job before is I know Bryan and all these people, is because I will always be at the ring showing people stuff and I got to know a lot of people over the years because people did that for me in Britain. Once they realized I wasn't going anywhere, I couldn't have any better wrestlers take me under their wing and teach me and show me and put me into places. I felt that was part of my...if I don't do that, I'm not leaving this job in the right way."
While speaking about Danielson, Regal called him "Daniel Bryan," and said he could get away with that because he's the one who came up with the name.
Regal continued by saying, "I was checked out, Bryan called me, 'that sounds like fun, exciting.' I love being around young talent who want to do this. It turned into a job for me with my former employees. I had a great ten years being able to do that. A lot of other things, but that was the main thing, being around a group of talent. I would never like there to be a day where there isn't a wrestling business. Although I've worked for other companies, 've never worked for a company, I work for wrestling because I would help anybody who is interested. I wouldn't force myself, but if you come to me, I would hate to be at a time like when I was younger because there was no way to get into the wrestling business when I started. I never heard of a wrestling school until I came to America and you had to find a wrestler to get you in somehow or you were an amateur wrestler. Then you have to find a way and stay in it. I want there to be a wrestling business."
The story between Regal and Moxley extends to when Moxley first started at FCW in 2011 when Regal was just starting his role as a coach and producer.
Regal recalled his early time with Moxley, saying, "Bryan called me, sounded interesting, I start watching. All of a sudden, this is two weeks before I turned up, 'Oh, it's Bryan and Jon,' somehow else who, from day one...it's funny because the first day o the job, at my last job, I went down to Florida when it was FCW and I always watch what's going on. I had seen Jon and seen him doing the promos. He had just got there and nobody knew who he was. I didn't get him the gig there, I started doing that right after this day. The first day we turned up, he was sat in the corner, it was a showcase, people had a match and a promo, and whoever was running it at the time said, 'is there anybody you'd like to see?' and I said, 'Can we see Jon Moxley please?' There was a lot of people like, 'Who?' He just sat in the corner in his denim jacket. He slowly walked through the crowd and climbed in the ring and I'm thinking, 'I hope he's as good as I've seen him be because otherwise I'm gonna look pretty [dumb].' He started, he had a one-minute promo, and within ten seconds I thought, 'thank goodness for that, he's as good as I thought he was.' In 20 seconds, I'm looking around and everyone in the place was [in awe]. It crushed everybody's spirits because whatever they had just done, this had done them out the water. I looked at Triple H and he went, 'hmmm,' meaning he got goosebumps. The following week, it used to take six months to get on TV by the time you got there, I had been doing commentary. We taped three shows, he was on the first show doing a promo, he was on the second show beating somebody in about two minutes and he was on the third show doing a promo and from then on he was on the main roster. We have that connection and while he was there, we had a lot of things go one, which no need to get into. There's always been that connection."
The story between Moxley and Danielson on AEW television began in January when Moxley return to television. Danielson wanted to team with Moxley, which turned into a match between the two at AEW Revoluton.
Regal said about the pairing, "When I found out it was the two of them, it can't be any better. This is the day for me to turn up, get myself interjected, and go from there. I'm watching two people that I think the world of. Both very different. Don't anybody ever think that Jon isn't an incredible wrestler, it's not his style, but he knows what he's doing. He's great. Technical wrestler gets thrown about, but he knows what he's doing and is a very good wrestler."
While Regal has been around wrestling for decades and is one of the most respected names in the business, he's still getting caught up on all things AEW.
"I still don't know what I'm doing. I'm 53, walking into a new company, and I'm trying to watch everything and see all this young talent and my brain is like, 'You don't have to do that anymore. That's not your job,' but I still can't help it. When people wanted to talk o me, I'm like, 'Okay, can you just give me a bit of time.' I'm not feeling like I fit it, at first. That's a weird thing because I'm naturally quiet. If I need to insert myself into a situation, I can, very quickly, but in real life, I keep quiet until I get to know people. I know a lot of people, but there's a lot going on and everyone is doing their own thing. I'm sort of trying to fit in. Last week was the first week I started feeling comfortable. Everyone has been welcoming, but I was just a bit overwhelmed. In that two months I was off, when I say I checked out of wrestling, I checked out on wrestling. My wrestling brain hasn't caught off. I felt comfortable last week, I don't feel like my wrestling brain is in full working order yet. The first few weeks were just, go out and do my bit and then just watch. The first night was a blur and an incredible experience, but I just did my thing and got out. Whatever else is going on in my brain, I still haven't gotten up, I'm slowly getting there. I'm walking around and it's the energy," he said.
Regal praised the atmosphere and different styles in AEW.
On television, Wheeler YUTA has been flirting with joining Regal in the Blackpool Combat Club and was slapped by Regal before getting in his face. YUTA is set to face Jon Moxley on Friday's AEW Dynamite.
