William Regal wrestled for over 12 years with a broken neck, the former WWE King of the Ring revealed.
The current WWE executive retired in 2013 after a fantastic match against Cesaro in NXT, ending a career that began in the circuses in Blackpool in the 1970s.
He wrestled throughout the decades, starting on TV in Britain alongside Big Daddy, before moving on to WCW and then WWE, where he became a legend of the sport.
Despite a short stint in AEW, Regal is back in WWE and is Triple H’s right-hand man at the helm of the company.
With his vast experience in the business, he has numerous stories to tell about his life, including about his years of wrestling with a debilitating injury.
William Regal wrestled with a broken neck for years
In the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, William Regal talked to Chris Jericho about the ailments he has suffered through his career and how his health is now he is signed with AEW.
The interview was a fantastic listen, hearing two of the all time greats talking, and Regal revealed details of many injuries fans never even knew about from his 35+ year career.
William Regal’s broken neck which he didn’t get fixed for 12 years was one key talking point, as well as other injuries and his last match in his career.
William Regal’s broken neck was a key part of the episode, the British wrestling legend had this to say about it
“I’ve been wrestling with a broken neck since 1993. There’s a match, the first time I won the WCW television Title against Ricky Steamboat, and I was 25 years old.” William Regal said, speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho.
“You can actually watch this. The finish is me giving him a German suplex. I land and you can see clear as day if you watch this right now, my head hits my neck, goes to the side and it goes crack.”
“All my arms went dead, and it was never right after that. It was never right, but it got better and went away. What I used to get a lot was all this spasm in my left track and my neck would get stiff. I ended up having my neck done in 2004.” – h/t WrestlingNews.co
Drug Issues and AEW Future
Most fans will not have known that William Regal suffered a broken neck at all, although looking back at the footage, it is clear that something went wrong with his neck.
However he never let it get in the way of his career, and wrestled another 11 years before finally get his neck sorted by doctors.
It was after this that he wrestled some of the best matches of his career, and had an incredible run as the King of the Ring and Raw General Manager in 2008.
Unfortunately, drug issues in his life caused that push to falter and cost him a WWE Championship reign and a main event program with Triple H.
William Regal had all the talent in the world and could have been an incredible heel world champion in WWE, but alas it was not meant to be.
He recently signed with AEW and aligned himself with top stars Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley.
There have been rumours of one last Bryan Danielson vs William Regal match in AEW, but based on the Englishman’s ailing health, it seems like his role will simply be that of a manager in AEW.
We can dream, though.
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