William Regal On Almost Being Shot For Not Knowing American History

William Regal has recounted a frightening tale where he had a gun pointed at his forehead because he messed with an American flag.

During his days as Lord Steven Regal, the leader of The Blackpool Combat club was loathed by fans, and knew exactly how to get under their skins – but on one occasion, he almost went too far for one police officer.

In a discussion on his Gentleman Villain podcast, William Regal recalled how he looked to pull down an American flag following a victory over Larry Zbyszko, only to be confronted with a gun pointed straight at him.

I wrestled Larry Zbyszko at the old Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida one night when I was doing the thing with him in ’94. And [I was] maybe only 26, just turned 26 and all about getting heat. You used to go up onto a stage, like up some steps onto a stage, and then off the side of the stage into the dressing rooms. On the wall at the back of the stage there is a huge American flag. Me, I’ve just beat Larry Zbyszko, people are booing and booing and booing and it’s all that in the days when it was easy to [get heat], it was ‘USA, USA.’

Me, not thinking and not knowing any better really because I’m 26 and I really, you know, I’ve been travelling the world before for four years and not really noticed anything that was going on in the world, never knowing American history, I wasn’t taught American history at school, I was taught English history. Right? I grabbed and was about to pull this, I don’t know how big it was, but it was huge, big American flag off [the] thing.

I’m looking at the crowd, to my right. As I turned to the left, I just felt a tap in my forehead. From the side of the stage, there was a Jacksonville police officer stood, and as I turned my head, there was a gun in my forehead. And he said, ‘I suggest you don’t do that, sir.’ And I went, ‘I think you’re right, officer.’ And I just walked off the other side, and completely went out of character. I was just like, ‘Oof, a gun pointing in my forehead.’ This isn’t the first time I’ve told this. So I’m not making this up, right?

Continuing on, William Regal spoke of how he was unsurprisingly shaking following the incident.

Luckily, there was two lots of steps. I hadn’t got to [the dressing room] I went, ‘Oof.’ And I had that in the head, the gun was pointing in my head, and he said, ‘I suggest you don’t do that, sir.’ And I walked off the stage and went down the steps. And, again, people think I’m a tough guy, this thing, and people have seen me do things at certain times when we can tell stories about that. I went down the stairs, found a quiet spot, and I was shaking. Because I’ve seen a lot of things in my time, but I’d never had a revolver stuck right in my head, and a cocked revolver.

William Regal would trade the WCW World Television Championship with Larry Zbyszko on multiple occasions, before eventually losing it one final time to Johnny B. Badd at Fall Brawl.

Gordon Ramsey and Simon Cowell have also recently been in the firing line from William Regal, who claims the pair have been copying him.

With thanks to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.