William Regal was thought to have retired from the ring in 2013, taking a backstage role as one of the head coaches of NXT.
Under his tutelage, many stars have thrived under the NXT umbrella and onto the WWE main roster. Some of his former students have become World Champions in WWE, like Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens to name a few.
However, he was released by WWE in early 2022 and quickly snapped up by AEW. As a surprise to everyone he accepted an on-screen role, coming in as the manager of Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley as the Blackpool Combat Club (later adding Wheeler Yuta to the group).
Since his debut AEW Revolution 2022 in March, fans have wondered if William Regal is retired and if he will ever wrestle again in AEW. A Bryan Danielson vs William Regal match is one fans and wrestlers would love to see, but will William Regal wrestle again?
William Regal is retired
While fans are wondering is William Regal is retired, the former King of the Ring revealed in a recent interview with a top British publication
In an exclusive interview with British newspaper The Metro, William Regal about the end of his career and how he will “never” wrestle again. He also remarked how his last match was against Cesaro, although he later had two behind closed-doors matches against Sami Zayn and Charlie Dempsey (William Regal’s son).
‘No, never. No. My last official match was against Cesaro. My last few years, I didn’t realise – it’s come out recently, I had a serious neck problem for 20-odd years. It finally caught up with me.
‘All I ever wanted was a 20-year wrestling career when I started – I ended up with a 30-year wrestling career. I couldn’t have asked for any more. If you’re not me and you’re just looking from the outside, “Oh he should have been this, he should have been that” – no.
‘I was very happy with what I achieved. If I’d have never come to America, I had an incredible career. By the time I was 24, I’d been to 19 countries. In 20 to 24, I’d been to all the best places you could go to, wrestling all the best wrestling.
‘If it’d stopped then, I’d have had an incredible career. Everything after that – everything after leaving Blackpool Pleasure Beach was a bonus for me!’
It’s a shame that we will never see Bryan Danielson and William Regal lock horns inside the ring again. However, with the litany of health issues that brought Regal close to death in the last few years, it better he enjoys his later years outside the ring rather than risk it all inside it.
Retirement match
William Regal’s last match in WWE to be televised was against Antonio Cesaro on an episode of NXT.
You can read all about the William Regal vs Cesaro match by click the link below.