William Regal Jokes About Gordon Ramsay & Simon Cowell Copying His Act
William Regal is known for having a great sense of humor and now the legendary wrestler has talked about how Gordon Ramsay & Cowell managed to build successful TV careers by being the British bad guy just like he was.
When William Regal first got his big break in American wrestling, he was known as Lord Steven Regal in World Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s. Lord Steven was a heel character that had a butler while also cheating along the way as much as he could. He even formed a tag team called The Blue Bloods with Bobby Eaton as well. Regal also worked with a young Jean-Paul Lévesque in WCW, who would end up being Hunter Hearst Helmsley (aka Triple H) in WWE and a close friend of Regal.
When Regal went to WWE, the “Real Man’s Man” gimmick failed miserably and then he had a similar gimmick to what he did in WCW, this time as William Regal. While in WWE, he had a lot of roles in addition to being a wrestler since he was the on-screen Commissioner during parts of the Attitude Era and would often be in comedic bits like drinking tea after Chris Jericho peed in it (without Regal seeing it). Regal also danced in the ring and wrestled in a showgirls outfit among other things. In NXT, Regal was more of a babyface authority figure.
During an episode of Regal’s Gentleman Villain podcast, Regal joked that his heel persona was stolen by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and record executive Simon Cowell. Ramsay is well-known on American TV with several television while Cowell had major success with competition shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent, which is he still a big part of.
“Another thing, British [people] you know, usually quiet and humble and whatever on this, but there’s a lot of people from Britain, showbiz people, anybody, sports people, they all want to break America. Bands, it’s just normal, right? Well, before Gordon Ramsay or Simon Cowell came over there being the British bad guy, who broke TV? Me. So I’ve topped them all.”
“And basically if you look at them, that they just copied my act. I mean, they have no idea about that. They just did their thing. I’m just me trying to talk a lot of nonsense. But also, I’m wearing my Fred Perry shirt today, which is nice and buttoned up how it should be and it’s about time they gave me a bit of recognition because I’ve been wearing, brand loyal to them since I was 12.”
Regal continued his comedy bit talking about how he should be on the stamps following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last Thursday because “my ears will fit” in reference to King Charles having big ears:
“So that’s the start of the day. Yeah, I mean, let’s face facts. I’m just a journeyman wrestler, but I’m a British icon, they need to put me on the stamps because my ears will fit.”
While Regal has retired as an active wrestler, he currently works for AEW as a mentor to the Blackpool Combat Club group while also providing guest commentary during the BCC matches. Two members of the BCC, Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson, will face off in the finals of a tournament to crown a new AEW World Champion next Wednesday on the September 21 episode of Dynamite.