Evolution Schematic 12.06.06: Steven William Regal (Part 1)
Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 12.06.2006
Listen Up, Sunshine!
Overview
Steven William Regal is a very naughty boy. And proud of it. The south paw from Blackpool has had a history of being sneaky, manipulative, a lying hound and other general unsavory tendencies and attributes to his name. This has directly led to many titles, even more victories and a career of proving that good guys do, sometimes, finish dead last.
Of course, he does have his good points. Although it takes a while, once Regal has warmed to someone, once he has begun to like them, he is loyal, and this can lead to him being, well, nice, if his friend wants it. He is polite, sometimes to the point of snobbery. He is an example of how addictions can be overcome. And he does have a beautiful left hook. In his 23rd professional year, Regal is, once again, close to winning gold. And thus, glory for himself.
Oh, and England.
Origins- Oh, I do love a sit beside the sea-side.
Steven grew up in Blackpool, one of England's sea side resort towns. This doesn't sound like a particularly tough place to come from, but really, when one thinks about it, where would one learn how to brawl with drunks? Where would one learn how to handle muggers? Where would one be able to spot a con a mile away? In a resort town, where lots of people come for holiday. Especially important was that at the time Regal was growing up, Blackpool was on a downturn, as cheaper flights meant more English people went to Spain, or France, or other European beaches for holidays. Hence, things were that little bit tougher, that little more rugged.
And it also had Blackpool Pleasure Beach, an amusement park opened in 1896(!). It was there than Steven got his rather unique start in Wrestling.
Debut-"A thousand pounds to any man who can last one round with Ivan The T-" "I'll Do It!"
For, at the tender age of 15, Regal was at the Pleasure Beach, and there he answered the Pleasure Beach's wrestling group's challenge. Anyone who could last 3 3 minute rounds with one of the group's toughest men would get 100 pounds sterling.
That, at the time, was quite a lot. Heck, today it's not really pocket change, but back then, quite a tidy sum.
Regal answered the challenge several times, holding his own, although the results of the challenges are not well known. But it is entirely possible that he won one, or several, and may indeed have spent the cash on his first pair of brass knuckles.
Or maybe he just blew it all on carnival rides and sodas.
Regardless, eventually Regal realised he was pretty good at wrestling, and perhaps the troupe tired of him answering the challenge. So, eventually a veteran by the name of Marty Jones trained the young boy, and, still only 15 years old, he became a professional wrestler.
Phase 2- Roy Regal? ROY Regal?
At the time of his start in true Pro Wrestling, he obviously felt that ‘Steve' or ‘Bill' were names that no-one could take seriously. So, he debuted using the name Roy.
Well, it's sort of like Roy-al, so it had that going for it.
After a couple of years, he woke up one day and realised that he was coming out to the ring with a name like a sci-fi superhero sidekick, and decided to just be himself. An outright bastard.
Phase 3- The Steven Regal World Tour: Breaking Rules, Drinking Tea, '85-'91.
Regal then spent the next several years being an outright bastard. He was an outright bastard in England, Germany, South Africa, France, The Middle East, all over Europe. He was an outright bastard when he won many minor titles, far too many to list. He was an outright bastard who learnt, who studied, who got tough, and who developed a style that would serve him well.
Eventually, in 1991, North America came calling. The WWF had a look at him, but couldn't quite understand him; he just wasn't what they wanted. Plus he was an outright bastard.
But then WCW, on a tour of England, had a look at this guy who won so many titles, was a major player in European wrestling, a superb technical wrestler and yes, an outright bastard. And Steve did impress the WCW front office. So much so that a few months later they offered him a contract!
After fulfilling some obligations, and training hard for his new level of competition, Steven debuted in mid-1993.
Phase 4- Gosh, I'm so happy to be here!
At first, Steve Regal was, well, nice. He seemed such a nice young man. But this was possibly a case of euphoria at having achieved the level of success that was being a WCW employed wrestler, or perhaps more likely a case of not wanting to rock the boat until he was established. Soon enough though, he snapped out of it, and finally regained his true path, and a bit of an attitude.
A snotty one, not a bird-flipping buttock-mooning one.
Phase 5- Bow to your Lord, peasant!
When Steven finally made it to WCW TV on an extended basis, having competed at live events at first but then finally earning a place on the big shows, he had undergone a bit of a change. Instead of the rough and tumble kid that had first stepped into a ring for a chance at 100 quid, or the nice guy he pretended to be at first, he became known as a refined, technically sound pompous git. But then, can you blame him? He had won so many titles, beaten so many people, done such awful things and gotten away with them; naturally some confidence was to be expected.
‘Lord' Steven Regal as he now instead he be called, made reference to the fact he was directly descended from William The Conqueror (hence his middle name and possibly his attitude, since after all William The Conqueror was also known as William The Bastard, although if this claim is true, it does mean that Steven, in some distant way, is related to the British Royal Family), and took on ‘Sir' William Dundee, a Scottish born Australian trained veteran of the industry, he soon rose up the ranks, starting his career proper in WCW with a pinfall win over Marcus ‘Not Yet Buff' Bagwell at the 23rd Clash Of The Champions. He followed this with a victory over Erik Watts at Beach Blast 93. And then came a unique occurrence.
Phase 5b- Steven Regal, pitch-hitting for Brian Pillman…
For at the next Clash Of The Champions, the Hollywood Blondes, Steve Austin and Brian Pillman, had a title defense against Arn Anderson and Paul Roma.
Brian was injured.
Hence, Steven Regal was picked to defend Brian's belt for him.
There seems to be some logic steps missing there, but then WCW always had a strange way of doing business. In any case, the question of who would be tag champions if Regal and Austin won was lost to the ages as Sir William's Umbrella Shot (The Umbrella being Sir William's signature weapon at the time) hit Austin instead of Arn and the Horsemen won the titles.
Austin and Regal then ‘split', as Austin was angry and Regal's taste for gold was reborn. And on the night before the following major WCW show, Fall Brawl ‘93, Regal attacked and injured TV Champion Ricky Steamboat's ribs. The night OF the following major WCW show, Fall Brawl '93, Regal used this injury and a well timed shot from Sir William when Ricky was skinning the cat to win the TV title for the first time.
Phase 6- "I don't want to be associated with your country, thus I do not wrestle for the U.S. title. I'm not a bloody midget, so I can't compete for the Cruiserweight title. There is nobody in WCW worthy of teaming with me for the Tag Team title, and the people who run this federation have always done their best to keep me away from the World title. And so, I have made the Television title my home."
(For the record, that quote was a few years later. I just REALLY like it.)
Steven Regal was right at home with the TV title, its strict 15 minute time limit and constant defenses suiting Regal to a tea. His first major defense was proof that he instantly got the logic of how to keep the belt when he drew with fellow countryman The British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith after the 15:00 minute time limit expired.
Which is not to say Regal was undeserving of the title. He defeated Johnny B. Badd (a.k.a Marc Mero) at the 25th Clash to retain the title, and Regal was defending the title all the time on the WCW TV shows, as the champion had to, while still maintaining his air of aloof Britishness, "Do you know what my New Year's resolution is going to be? To wake up a half an hour earlier so I can hate you more." and so on. Still, not everything was wine and roses. At Battlebowl, Regal drew Ricky Steamboat for a partner in the random tag team round, who objected to the use of the Umbrella to hit Paul Orndorff and/or The Shockmaster. This led to a tug of war and thus Regal nailing himself with the (probably loaded) umbrella and thus pinned.
This led to Steamboat realizing that he had a rematch coming, and he cashed it in at Starrcade, where the two had a technically sound match that ended in a time limit draw due to Steamboat's bad choice of tactics by trying to wear down Regal's arm, which while sound, did not lend itself to a quick win which was needed to beat Regal.
Dustin Rhodes then made the same mistake at the 26th Clash, again drawing with Regal when the 15 minute time limit, Regal not about to go for a risky win when a nice, safe draw kept him the belt and proved that no-one could actually BEAT him. But he could beat other people, be they up and comers or veterans. And also legends, as he did at Superbrawl 4, sorry, IV, where he was forced into a no time limit match and thus had to actually WIN against Arn Anderson, which, thanks to Sir William, he did.
He then entered the European Cup tournament, something you'd expect Regal to dominate and win for Mother England. But while he got past Johnny B. Badd in the first round, his second round opponent was Ric Flair.
Darn.
Hence Flair advanced in a match I'd really like to see. But then Regal still had his TV title, so life was good.
Then Regal injured his leg, so life was less good. But his injury was not severe enough to require time off, so life was still good, overall. And his next major defense was against Brian Pillman, who luckily was so lost at this point in his career that despite a giant bandage on Regal's leg at Spring Stampede 94, Pillman rarely went for it, and ended up getting a mere 15 minute time limit draw result (although he did escape what would eventually be known as the Regal Stretch, so Pillman was not totally without hope). And thus, Regal's long title reign looked set to continue.
And of course, given that set up, he promptly lost the title. To of all people, Larry Zbyszko?
Phase 6b- Regal vs. Larry Z.
You see, Larry Z had pretty much retired, and become a broadcaster. Hence, he would often interview people after and before matches. He tended to not do it during them. And Regal, being constantly on TV defending his TV title, was one of them. And Regal tended to make pro-Regal comments, pro-England comments, and anti-American comments. This continued for a few months until Larry just got sick and tired of it and socked him one. Regal challenged him to a match, Larry accepted, and won the title on May 2nd. And then, to make matters worse, Regal got a match against Larry at Slamboree that was non-title, which Larry then won again!
Regal finally got his rematch, at Clash 27, where, slightly overshadowed by Ric Flair's World Title unification, Regal regained his precious TV title.
Phase 6c- Ah, sweet stability.
His first defense was set to be Sting.
Cue heart attack.
Luckily Sting got injured by a Sherri eye-rake, so Johnny B. Badd got the shot at the Bash At The Beach instead. Regal then won the match and then, as he went to the back, to await the glory he deserved, the WCW focused instead of giving an award to Antonio Inoki. Regal took exception to that.
Phase 6d- So much for stability…
And this led to a match between the two at Clash XXVIII, where the TV title was not on the line and thus when Inoki pinned Regal it didn't matter in the long run. But then, it may have been a blow to the ego, losing such a match. Regal prided himself on being the best, on being unbeatable, at least under 15 minutes. But Antonio won with a choke sleeper, beating him in less than 15 minutes. So he was off his game plan, not feeling as good about himself as he had been.
This may explain why, at Fall Brawl, he lost the TV title to Johnny B. Badd, to a backslide of a European uppercut of all things, to really hammer home the shock.
At this point, Regal took stock. He needed some back up, a partner. And thus began the next chapter in Regal's career, one that saw him team with a very interesting cross section of the industry…
