After weeks of rampant speculation it was reported on December 4th that William Regal was “gone” from AEW. Furthermore, the star is said to be going back to WWE, less than a year after being released by the company.
On the November 30th episode of AEW Dynamite, William Regal appeared to be written off television after being attacked by MJF less than two weeks after helping the young star win the AEW World Championship at Full Gear. Just moments after presenting the AEW World Champion with a new championship belt, MJF took out Regal, who left on a stretcher.
With the rumor mill in full swing, EC3 claimed that he has heard that Regal “immediately regretted” his decision to join All Elite Wrestling, claiming there was a maturity issue with management. There have also been suggestions that Regal’s advice wasn’t always appreciated by those within the company.
Sources Within AEW Refute Claims Made By EC3 About William Regal
A new report from SEScoops refutes the claims that William Regal regretted his decision to go to AEW. According to the report, one source within AEW called the report “completely inaccurate,” while another said that EC3 was frustrated at not having landed a job with the company himself.
When speaking about the teaching sessions that William Regal would hold, one source had this to say, indicating that plenty of AEW talent would gather to listen to the veteran and learn from him.
“There was no formal coaching session, where it was something that was scheduled or anything like that. Usually he would go down to the ring to help someone, and word would spread, like, “Hey, Regal is down in the ring.”
That same source said that Dustin Rhodes is instrumental in training younger women’s wrestlers on the roster, and that Bryan Danielson regularly works with people in sessions that include stars appearing on AEW Dynamite and Rampage television.
Another source called EC3’s claims “complete bullsh*t,” also pointing out the impromptu nature of Williaim Regal’s training sessions.
“I can’t believe this is a story. It’s complete bullshit. There was never some schedule you had to be down at the ring and people blew it off, and (Regal) was never going to flat tell someone they had to come to the ring so he could coach them. Regal would work with someone, people would go down and show up, a lot of people took advantage of it. Other vets do it all the time. It’s always the younger women and men. Sometimes someone would work with someone one on one, other times there could be quite a few people down. It was totally informal.”
Yet another source had this to say about people taking Regal’s advice:
“Regal would even sit in the stands with guys to talk about the fans point of view, or the point of view of watching on TV. He would tell you about making sure to know how you are looking to fans as you come to the ring or how you would look on TV. He said to make sure you’re always really nice to the camera guys, they’re the ones who make you look good (laughing).”
As his in-ring career wound down William Regal moved into a backstage role with WWE, and became an integral part of NXT. As well as appearing as the on-screen General Manager, the British star played a key role in recruitment, and helped sign the likes of Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor and more. During this period, Regal formed a formidable team with Triple H, which built on their existing friendship which goes back decades.
With Triple H away from WWE, William Regal was released in January 2022 and debuted with AEW just two months later. There have long been suggestions that Regal would eventually return to WWE to work with Triple H now that he has become Chief Content Officer.