Last week, Wrestling Observer Radio confirmed that William Regal is heading back to WWE. Since arriving at AEW, Regal established the Blackpool Combat Club before turning on them to align with AEW champion MJF.
On the Dec. 1 edition of “Dynamite,” MJF quickly turned on Regal, and it appeared as if Regal was being written off of AEW television to make way for his exit from the company.
“Regal’s gone,” pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer said. “It’s not like maybe he’s gone. I believe there’s going to be something on Wednesday’s show where there will be something addressing certain things. That story is supposed to keep going in some way. But he is going back to WWE. That’s just the deal.”
On Wednesday during the media briefing previewing this weekend’s Ring Of Honor pay-per-view, “Final Battle,” Tony Khan detailed Regal’s exit, and it ultimately circled around AEW’s owner allowing the wrestling veteran the opportunity to work with his son in WWE. Khan also revealed that his mother recently suffered two strokes, which put Regal’s request to leave in a much different perspective.
“Basically he’s got a son who works at another wrestling promotion, and he really wanted us at the end of the year when we had the option to renew his contract — he was asking that we not (renew),” Khan said.
“It’s a very complex situation for AEW because he’s a huge part of what we’re doing on screen and we really value him, and there’s multiple storylines he’s involved in at this point.”
Khan said the decision was ultimately made while the pair sat on a bench outside the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville while Khan’s mother was recovering from a major operation.
“We had this really long, good talk, and it was very positive,” Khan said. According to Khan, Regal said: “You know, given where you’re sitting right now, does it make sense to you that I would want to go back and be with my son?”
Khan replied: “It really did make a lot of sense to me, and frankly the last thing I wanted to do at that moment was prevent any parent and any child from being together, as I was sitting on a park bench at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville when my mom was sleeping inside and recovering from a major operation. I probably won’t be able to facilitate every family reunion, but I do try to make this a family first company and especially in this situation that’s what we’ve done.”
Khan also detailed that despite reports to the contrary and fans thinking he was written off of AEW television and out of AEW storylines, Regal is still with the company through the end of the month.
Khan also said that he was surprised about the clip of Regal that popped up on Triple H’s Twitter, and said it’s written in Regal’s release that he can go back to coach at WWE but not appear as an on-screen character.
“I didn’t necessarily think it was in the spirit of how accommodating we are being, but whatever,” Khan said about the tweet.
