Major Update On William Regal Returning To WWE And When He Will Begin
William Regal’s WWE return is in motion with a new report providing an update on when he’ll restart with the company.
For the last week, the WWE return of William Regal has garnered a lot of attention due to the unique situation. Regal has worked for AEW since March 2022 after he was released by WWE when Vince McMahon from running the company. Regal had apparently signed a three-year deal with AEW, but apparently, there was some out clause that allowed him to get out of the deal since his good friend Paul “Triple H” Levesque is running WWE creatively since Vince retired in late July.
On the November 30th episode of AEW Dynamite, the AEW World Champion MJF attacked Regal from behind with a forearm while he had brass knuckles on his fist and Regal sold it like he was knocked out. Regal was taken away in an ambulance as a way to write him out of the company.
In an update, PWInsider has reported that Regal is finalizing a new deal with WWE and will start with WWE again in the New Year. The report did not say if he would work in NXT/developmental again as he had in the past or if he would work behind the scenes for the main roster.
It was also reported by Fightful Select that Triple H was “very unhappy” that Regal was let go in the first place.
Dave Meltzer also commented on Regal’s WWE return on Wrestling Observer Radio:
“Regal’s gone. It’s not like ‘maybe he’s gone, maybe he’s not.’ Regal’s gone. I believe that was his farewell. There’s going to be something on Wednesday’s show, there will be something addressing certain things.”
As Meltzer talked about it more, he said that he had heard different things from different people.
“He is going back to WWE. That’s just the deal. I’ve had so many different people tell me so many different stories. The primary source story is that his contract was short-term. The WWE side says he had an out. Did he sign a nine-month deal [with AEW?] Doesn’t sound right.”
“The closest thing to what I would say is official is that he signed a short-term deal. Others say he had an out or Tony [Khan] gave him an out.”
The close friendship between Triple H and Regal was also mentioned by Meltzer.
“When he signed it was a three-year deal, supposedly and nine months now it’s over. Sounds weird? But if he had an out, he had an out. Or maybe Tony just said to him ‘hey look. He [WWE’s Head of Creative and Talent Triple H] is your buddy. You can go [to WWE] with the restrictions that maybe you’re not going to be on TV.”
“I know he’s going there to work behind the scenes but I don’t know if he’s going over there to be a TV character.”
For most of the last decade when he was WWE, William Regal was the on-screen General Manager of NXT. It’s unknown if he’ll be back in that role or strictly stay behind the scenes.