William Regal On His “Close” Relationship With Triple H
William Regal has discussed his “incredibly close” friendship with Triple H and revealed whether the two still speak despite working for rival companies.
Triple H and William Regal first worked together in WCW in the mid-1990s. The two very briefly teamed up on television, before Triple H switched to WWE in 1995.
When Regal also moved to WWE, the pair reconnected before working together more closely to develop NXT. The pair worked on the developmental territory for nearly a decade signing and helping train a number of WWE’s biggest stars.
During this time, both men earned a lot of praise from fans and wrestling insiders for their work in building the brand which became increasingly popular, blending WWE’s production values with the independent style of wrestling.
Then, in September 2021, Triple H suffered a serious cardiac event, forcing him to take a lengthy leave of absence from the company, and by the time he returned William Regal had been released.
During a recent edition of his Gentleman Villain podcast, Regal discussed his close friendship with The Game and how they learned to work with each other.
“We are very, very close, incredibly Close. But we don’t talk to each other much. I’m gonna say this on this podcast, he knows I work for somewhere else. Now the reason we get on when I started working at NXT is he knows that I will never say yes if the answer’s no, if I think the answer is no. That might tell you a lot of things about me and there’s enough people will tell you that.
“The reason I have the whatever standard I have in this job is because I am as straight up of a geezer as you can find. We’ve talked a bit about this before, but me and H don’t have great conversations. We don’t really you know, the one thing we do have is music though we get on about Motorhead and stuff.
“But we just get on and he can look at me because of the time we spent together, a short time in WCW. Well a year, just over a year, but we spent time learning our craft together. And me and him could just look at each other from across an arena and I know what he wants and I’ll take care of it.
“When we worked together, I was the last person, I probably spoke to him less than anybody else in the entire company. He didn’t need to speak to me, I get it, sometimes I get a one word text, and I will just take care of whatever, I knew what he meant. That’s how we work together. He knows now that I work somewhere else, he knows I would never talk to anybody. I know it’s hard for people to imagine that because everybody’s like, everybody’s different now. They think it’s okay to talk. No, he knows that’s the way I am.
“So we’ve obviously been in touch in the last several months, just an occasional thing. I’ve sent him a happy birthday mail, but he would never ask me about what I’m doing now. Because he knows that’s why I keep whatever standards I have. I don’t ask him, I’ve got no idea what’s going on there. I’ve no idea, no idea, because I’m not working there. I don’t need to know it’s none of my business. None of my business what other people’s business is. So I’m working somewhere else.”
After departing WWE, Regal joined AEW and formed the highly successful Blackpool Combat Club with Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley.
Meanwhile, Triple H has been named WWE’s Head of Creative and Head of Talent Relations following the retirement of Vince McMahon.
H/T to Inside The Ropes for the above transcription.