William Regal lifted the lid on his on-screen relationship with Excalibur when the two share the commentary booth in AEW.
Since joining All Elite Wrestling and founding the Blackpool Combat Club, William Regal can often be found behind the commentary desk, adding flavor to his faction’s matches. Though some may wonder if there’s something behind him seeming to flirt with Excalibur on air, William Regal insists on a recent episode of Gentleman Villain (available early via AdFreeShows) that he’s just being himself.
“There’s no [love story], it’s me. You know as I have, there’s that little impish part of me that when William Regal turns on, and I like it because even though I always had that part of my character. This is some advice for, it’s not advice, it’s just like, ever since I was Lord Steven Regal there was always [something] you didn’t know about, there was a little bit of we call it camping.”
Continuing, William Regal explained that the term “camp” has different connotations in America than it does in England, and that adding camp to his character throughout the years has never come from a place of malice.
“The version of camping in America is different to the camp in England. Camp in England means you’re not quite sure, it’s flirtatious, it could be taken as somebody who is not heterosexual. I’m going to try and be as polite as I can. I have a lot of the characters that I studied growing up and the character of British and British people in general portrayed in American movies, you just don’t know.
“And I found it as a useful tool, because I have, I’d like to think that I have no phobics or isms, I used to always have a bit of that in my act to dig people out. When I say dig people out to find out what they’re really like, in real life, or if it’s an audience member, I would if when I saw in my robes, I would just, if I thought somebody was being loud and obnoxious, I would stand there and just stare at them lovingly, because it shut them up more than anything I could show.
“Then you find out, okay. I know I’m dealing with somebody who doesn’t like certain people. And so I’m gonna play on that more just to make him I like to play on people’s insecurities. It helped me as a villain. So it’s just a bit of a thing that I do, because, and I won’t say it, but I’ve had a few people asking me why are you doing that? And I think why you bothered, right? Why other than what I’m saying, who does that? Why do you have to even bring that up? And it tells me more about you than it does me.”
At AEW Dynamite Grand Slam on September 21st, William Regal commentated the main event, which saw Blackpool Combat Club members Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson go head to head in the finals of the tournament to crown a new AEW Champion. Jox Moxley emerged victorious, marking his third AEW World Championship reign.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Gentleman Villain and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.