Review Of WWE Network “Table For 3” With William Regal, Sheamus & King Barrett

The latest installment of WWE Network’s “Table for 3” series featured two former Kings of the Ring, William Regal and Sheamus along with the reigning King Barrett. The episode was entitled “Kings Court” centering on the title they have in common. Their discussion lasted roughly 20 minutes over a meal in an empty restaurant.

Let’s begin with a recap of their conversation:

– The conversation opens with Barrett surmising that the three of them were put together because of their King Of The Ring history. He decides Sheamus should kick it off with his “glorious” reign.

– Sheamus recalls sitting on the throne with a “Burger King” crown on his lap and a red cape. He said he looked like something out of Disney’s “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” which is actually a classic children’s movie. If you haven’t seen it, see it.

– Sheamus says he immediately knew he needed to change the outfit and make it his own. That’s when he got the horned crown and emerald cape.

– Barrett asks at what point did Sheamus realize his outfit was a really bad idea. I get the impression that Sheamus didn’t agree it was bad, as he never answered. Barrett joked that it must have been as soon as he watched it back.

– We hear from Regal for the first time, who says he believes they are arguably the worst three Kings Of The Ring of all time. He says this is probably all an attempt to mock them.

– Barrett and Sheamus talk about how neither thinks they won a match as King. Regal says that he wasn’t really wrestling at the time, and that as Raw GM he became the most powerful entity in WWE, which led to his suspension.

– They remember that Regal never wore a cape or crown. He says that he was going in a different direction as King. He had been doing mostly comedic work and he wanted to get to a really dark place.

– Sheamus and Barrett say they took being King Of The Ring back to its roots. Regal says if he had won it a few years earlier he would have as well.

– The conversation takes a turn to Regal’s Las Vegas Showgirl’s Match. They laugh about the old Raw Roulette, which is how the match was set up. Regal says the idea came up because he loved to do comedy. Regal says that he embraced it and if he had to “drag up” he wanted to do it right. So he shopped on the Vegas strip, finding a pair of size 13 red high heels.

– Regal says wrestling and comedy were the two things he grew up wanting to do. He says being a Vegas Showgirl gave him an opportunity to play little bits of some of his comedy heroes. He says it’s the most fun he ever had performing.

– Barrett compliments Regal on the ability he had to change things up with his character throughout his career. Barrett says he tries to do that whether it’s a character change, costume or name change.

– He then brings up Sheamus’ character change when he returned. Sheamus says he always tries to change things up and defends his King attire, saying it was one of the best Mattel action figures.

– Regal chimes in with some advice for anyone watching. He says it’s important to change every year so you can get a new action figure. He says he decided to be revolting to children because the only way they’d buy his action figure is to beat it up.

– Regal jokes that the fish on his plate must not be cooked because it seems to have eaten the potatoes he was supposed to get. Sheamus shares his potatoes with him.

– Barrett brings up Regal’s change to more of a backstage guy. Regal jokes that it’s Barrett’s way of saying he’s washed up.

– Regal says he’s in talent scouting and development now, but in a way he was always doing that by helping newcomers. Barrett and Sheamus say he helped both of them a lot when they were starting. Regal says he’s enjoying just being over.

– Sheamus says over in Ireland he was on Irish Whip Wrestling and he was green as grass. He was dying to get into the ring with more experienced guys. He went to Celtic Pro Wrestling in Wales and everyone was small, until he met Barrett.

– Regal says he felt like a giant in England and then along came Barrett, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre who were like a new breed. Barrett says they became really close and wrestled a lot with each other.

– Sheamus always believe that the three of them would be hired together by WWE, but Barrett says he always thought only one of them would. He said he didn’t think WWE would have room for more than two wrestlers from the U.K.

– Sheamus says based on his look as a kid, being round with red hair, it’s important to him to be a star now. He says he wants kids to believe that they can do whatever they dream of in life.

– The talk continues about having what it takes to chase what you want and how some people are afraid to take the chance. Sheamus says those are the people that will talk down the people who make it, while making excuses for themselves.

– Sheamus brings up Barrett’s possible next character, “The Shoveler”. Barrett tells Sheamus to tell the story and he’ll correct it after Sheamus tells it wrong.

– Barrett was supposed to show up to a match in Irish Whip with a weapon. He didn’t have anything so they gave him a shovel. It didn’t get over with the crowd. Barrett says, “Triple H had his sledgehammer and I had my shovel.”

– Regal turns to his days with the brass knuckles. He says he liked to stay in character at all times, so he carried rubber brass knuckles in case people asked for a picture. He says one time he was going through airport security in Atlanta and the whole place shuts down and police descend on him because they think the rubber brass knuckles are a weapon. He says he was mortified, then two officers knew who he was and put the brass knuckles on and pretended to fight each other, embarrassing him even more. Regal says he was so embarrassed he wanted to “crawl up me own backside”. Maybe the high point of the show for me so far, I couldn’t stop laughing at that phrasing. Unsurprisingly, Regal says it was the last time he ever carried brass knuckles on the road.

– Sheamus recalls a promo he cut in Scotland where he called the crowd a bunch of twats. He got a ton of heat from the crowd but the promotion wasn’t happy. When asked if he knew what the word meant he said it means idiot. Regal and Barrett say that’s not what it means in most places. Although they did have a good laugh, Barrett says they should move on pretty rapidly from that story.

– Barrett says that himself and Sheamus consumed as much wrestling as they could when they were younger and they were both huge fans of Regal’s “Real Man’s Man” character. When asked about it, Regal says the best part of that character is that he doesn’t remember any of it. I loved it, it was one of my favorite characters.

– Regal says he was “off the rails” when he left WCW and WWE brought him in. They had to work with him to get him in shape and he ended up breaking his leg and ankle. During his recovery, Vince approached him with the Man’s Man idea. Regal says he was in the depths of his abuse issues and the character only lasted for five weeks, which is hard to believe. While he doesn’t remember any of it, he says anytime he calls the main office and is put on hold the “Real Man’s Man” music is playing. He also says it’s the thing from his career people remember most.

– Regal says it’s important to make the most of every opportunity given to you and make it memorable. He says the business is all about memories. He says one out of 100 people will come up and mention his wrestling, the rest talk about how he made them laugh or how much they hated him as a kid and that’s what he appreciates most.

– Sheamus agrees and says they are out there in their “nick-nick’s” and knee pads. Regal asks, “How am I supposed to be someone’s hero out there with trunks pulled up to me arm pits?” He says the goal is to make people enjoy the time that you’re out there. He says Dusty always said it was about making moments and making movies.

– Regal says if you are able to entertain people you will have a great body of work to look back on.

– Sheamus agrees with Regal about the entertainment aspect. When people talk about the greatest moments on Raw it’s always Austin with the beer truck, Mike Tyson or Angle with the milk truck, never actual wrestling.

– Regal commends Austin and Angle for being so comfortable with themselves that they were never afraid to try anything and they could make anything work.

– Barrett says the waitress looks like she’s waving over at them and it seems like it’s time to go. He asks if Sheamus will take care of the check, but Regal says to have Mick Foley take care of it, which draws a big laugh.

– The show ends with Regal sending his compliments to the chef.

MY THOUGHTS:

Once again I’ll say “Table For 3” is a real highlight of the WWE Network’s original programming. If you enjoy the business and hearing little bits about the ins and outs, you will love this show. Also, it really humanizes these men and women who we typically only see in character.

I actually felt all three guys were entertaining and shared a lot of insight into what makes them who they are. It was also apparent that they have spent a lot of time with each other and are genuinely friends. It’s also apparent the level of respect both Barrett and Sheamus have for William Regal.

The more I watch this show, the more I realize that WWE is dropping the ball with how they present their talent on TV. Everyone on this show is engaging and interesting and yet almost none of that comes across every Monday on Raw.

Barrett has been relegated to little more than a sidekick for Sheamus while Sheamus has absolutely no narrative story taking place. Creative just basically handed him a briefcase to carry around and that’s the end of it. They were both more compelling on this show than they’ve been on Raw for months.

Another thing I found interesting was that even the three of them kind of find the whole King Of The Ring thing to be a joke. They all said that once they became King they stopped winning matches. Why crown someone King if all you’re going to do is book them to lose? What purpose does that serve? It was also telling that they spent all of 3-4 minutes even talking about King Of The Ring.

Perhaps my biggest takeaway was Regal’s discussion about entertainment over wrestling. It’s a conflict I’ve had in my own head about WWE for a while. I’ve long thought that the wrestling gets put on the back burner for bad promos and advertisements. But when he said wrestling is all about how you make people feel, that resonated with me.

I think the wrestling aspect of the show needs to be showcased and respected, but the part about making people feel something has been mostly lost in WWE. That is really the biggest key to making the product matter and they are failing in that aspect.

My hope is that WWE sees how enjoyable this series is and allows the talent to open up a bit more on TV. They have a ton of talented performers on the roster and here’s to hoping that they figure out better and more creative ways to use them. As far as “Table For 3” goes, this was another highly successful episode.