Evolution Schematic 12.13.06: Steven William Regal (Part 2)
Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 12.13.2006
Now look here smeghead, you'll take what you're given and be bloody thankful for it! Now get to reading or I'll give you a clip round the earhole!
Writer's Notes
I'm tired, cranky, sore, and a variety of other things, and really only in a good enough mood to do this (shortish one) due to Dunn's Dr. Edge Cox joke in the Raw Recap. So, Part 1 is here, and covers his birth to his loss of the WCW TV title to Johnny B Badd.
Phase 7- Finally, a man worth tagging with.
After this humiliating loss, Regal lay low for a while to regroup and try to come to grips with how he could lose his title to Johnny B Badd of all people. But before he could scout, he was chosen to represent WCW, along with fellow stalwart Mike Enos, in New Japan Pro Wrestling's Super Grade Tag League tournament. But Regal and Enos were fairly new to each other, being a thrown together team, and they did not do too well, and so when Regal returned to WCW, he officially began scouting. And soon, a young man appeared on the scene who, like Regal, was a proper man, a man of breeding and culture.
Well, that is, like Regal, pretended to be a proper man of breeding and culture.
A young man who at that stage was going by the name of Jean Paul Levesque.
A man who would later be called HHH.
But then he left WCW, and so Regal kept searching. And eventually, he found someone. Bobby Eaton. But Regal didn't just go "Hey, you're a former Midnight Express member, I'm really good, let's team up!", no no. He managed to convince Bobby that Eaton was an old English name (well, it is…), and thus he, Bobby, was English.
Alabama's own Bobby was really English.
Regardless of the question of whether or not Bobby believed him, they formed a team, Steven renaming Bobby "Early Robert Eaton" as one half of the Blue Bloods. Bobby remained the Alabama Jam as the Tower of London, and the two began to team up, beating Los Especialistas in less than 90 seconds at Slamboree 95 (albeit before the PPV portion of the card began). The two fought as a team, and Eaton would occasionally get lessons on how to be a true Earl, and this all led to their World Tag Title shot against the Nasty Boys at the Great American Bash 95, where the Nasty Boys won with no thanks to Harlem Heat, who tried but failed to help Regal out, Knobbs pinning Regal.
So, the natural extension was a triangle match the following month at Bash At The Beach between the 3 teams. And this led to Regal getting splashed by pretty much everyone not named Bobby, and thus pinned, Stevie Ray being the guy who officially got the pin on Regal to win the titles.
This did not amuse Steven.
Regal and Eaton then fell slightly out of contention and had to work slowly back up the ranks. A loss to Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit in the Halloween Havoc pre-show did not help this rebuilding, no matter how a good a match that should be. So, what to do? Hire a third man!
Phase 8- Finally, TWO men worth tagging with!
They found ‘Squire' Dave Taylor, who became Steve and Bobby's apprentice, their lackey and student. The three of them teamed up a lot, as stables tend to do, although it was every man for himself in the World War III match at, well, World War III 95. And Eaton got close to the final ring, Taylor did make it before being tossed by Hulk Hogan, and Regal was tossed soon after.
The Blue Bloods value went down more at the Starrcade show where again, Regal and Eaton were on the preshow, and again they lost, this time to American Males when Riggs pinned Eaton.
But then things seemed to be on the up and up at the next major show, Clash of the Champions 32. Regal beat Chris Benoit early on, and then using that momentum, he and Eaton rolled into a tag title match later that night. But since the tag champs at the time were Sting and Lex Luger, momentum wasn't enough and they lost, Eaton tapping to Sting.
Regal then decided to take a short breath, and refocus the Bluebloods. Obviously this wasn't working out as well as he hoped. So, what to do? Regain single competition ranking and prestige, and that would raise everyone else up be default. Or at the very least, give something for Eaton and Taylor to work towards. Sounds like a plan.
Unfortunately its first speed bump was an Irishman who LOVED to fight…
Phase 8b- A storied history begins.
Regal's first major single's match after his long tag team focus was against the Belfast Bruiser at Uncensored 96. The Belfast Bruiser is nowadays better known as Finlay. Hence, what Regal had hoped to be an easy match turned into an outright brawl, one of the most brutal in WCW history that didn't involve large steel structures or Flair and/or Benoit chops. Eventually Eaton and Taylor had to run in for a DQ to save Regal from injury, although Steve was aware enough to give Fit one last slap across the face to send a message.
The Bluebloods then all entered Slamboree's Battlebowl. And as luck would have it, Regal ended up being randomly chosen to team with Dave Taylor. And as luck would also have it, they were still beaten by Hacksaw Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet (Mike Rotunda/IRS) despite those men hating each other and Hacksaw actually hitting his own partner deliberately near the end.
So, Regal continued to walk a fine line between tag team partner and singles competitor, although sometimes the two sides would cross, like at the Great American Bash where Steve got a shot at Sting, who was still one half of the tag champs. A win over Sting would both help his tag title aspirations (given that he'd have beaten one half of the current champs) as well as his single's career (given that he'd have beaten STING). But it was not to be, as Sting, despite being in a transition period of his career, still won the match with the Scorpion Deathlock.
Then, on the night the whole industry changed, on the night Hulk Hogan turned his back on WCW and joined the nWo, Regal…lost to Eddy Guerrero in the preshow. Wonderful. But then Regal held back, and watched as WCW tried to come to grips with the issue of how to deal with the nWo. And he watched, and waited, and at the right moment, swooped in and on August 30th, Regal beat Lex Luger to claim his 3rd WCW TV Title reign.
Phase 9- Happy Days Are Here Again!
Regal, by virtue of his new title, his experience and his ability to be a cheating bastard who wins at any cost got him a spot on the Japan/US All-Star tourney, joining such legends as Sting, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell.
Well, 4 out of 5…
By this time however, Bobby Eaton had left the Bluebloods and David Taylor was more a loose associate. The two would team up on occasion (the duo entering the New Japan Pro Wrestling's Super Grade Tag League tournament in October 96, the result similar to Regal/Enos despite Regal and Taylor having experience as a team), but for the most part, Regal was now a solo wrestler. He defended his TV title regularly, although he didn't get on the PPVs, given that for the most part people were focused on either the brand new Cruiserweight division or the whole WCW vs. nWo war.
He, like the vast majority of the roster, got a slot in the World War III Battle Royal, and did shockingly well, ending up in the final 6, and one of the last two men from WCW in the match, although since that meant there were 4 nWo members, he was eliminated by them.
This did get him a slot in the US Title Tournament, held when Flair didn't defend it in 30 days due to injury. Unfortunately he went up against Benoit in the first round and promptly lost.
Still, Regal had his TV title, so everything was A-OK. He was heading into Superbrawl VII, February 23rd 1997, and he finally got a title match on PPV, against Rey Mysterio.
On the Nitro before the PPV, he lost the TV title to Prince Iaukea.
Phase 10- I beg your pardon Sunshine?
Regal was, quite understandably, pissed off as all get out, and thus at the PPV came out and interfered to give Prince the win and kept the belt on Rey.
Before you go ‘huh?', the reasoning is sound. He wanted to make sure he would beat Iaukea to win back his belt, since he had to prove he was better than him. Standard Wrestling Ego Logic 102. However the Prince didn't want a cheap win like he got before realizing what Regal did, so they had a rematch the following month where Iaukea went to the time limit with Rey, Prince demanded more time, and got it then won. Regal had to sit back and stew while Iaukea and Rey got this respect crap out of their systems, then finally got his shot at regaining his title at Spring Stampede in April.
A shot he would promptly blow, Iaukea pinning him on a sunset flip reversal. Regal responded by beating the snot out of the Samoan afterwards. This then led to Iaukea losing the belt to Ultimo Dragon. So Regal got a shot at Dragon at Slamboree, and this time he didn't blow it, making Dragon tap out to the Regal Stretch to win the TV title for a 4th time.
Phase 11- Remember those happy times? Well they are here again again!
Regal kept his belt for 35 days, before losing it back to Dragon on an episode of Thunder.
Phase 12- And there they go again…
This loss seemed to take a massive toll on Regal. He seemed to drop out of the spotlight; his career was on a major downswing. This led, or perhaps was partly caused by, his growing addiction to drugs and alcohol, although technically alcohol is a drug, but that's picking hairs.
After losing the TV title, Regal's next major match would not come until World War III in November, where he got 2 matches! The first was a tag title shot for him and David Taylor, Regal reverting a little if it got him a title shot. Unfortunately, after a top rope bulldog Regal was pinned by Rick Steiner. Regal then entered the WW3 match itself, but was tossed near the start of the match.
And then, Regal's next major match was one that, at the time, didn't seem so major.
Phase 12b- The infamous "Non-Squash" Squash.
February 9th, 1998. Goldberg was 31-0. And naturally, Regal was going to have to fight the monster that was Goldberg sooner or later. But then a funny thing happened. Regal didn't lose in 45 seconds. He managed to confuse and disorientate Goldberg with a classic, down to earth European style. Eventually Goldberg still got the win, but the fact that Regal was able to halt and show signs of maybe, had he been able to continue his attack, win, shook up some people. Or perhaps his backstage behaviour was spiraling out of control and this seemed a good as excuse as any. Regardless of who thought what, after the Regal/Goldberg match, Steven Regal was fired by WCW.
Phase 13- The downtime.
Like many wrestlers, Regal spent some time relaxing and recovering after being fired, although he did contract pneumonia in his off time. And unlike other wrestlers, instead of using this time to relax, soothe pain and perhaps decrease any need to take medication, he went the other way, and began taking more.
Perhaps that's why, the next time he appeared, it was really different to what people had grown to expect from Mr. Regal…
