William Regal

Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler.

He is currently signed to WWE, where he serves as the Vice President of Global Talent Development.

He is also known for his tenures as a wrestler in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and as a manager in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Darren Kenneth Matthews was born in Codsall on 10 May 1968.

He grew up admiring wrestlers Terry Rudge and Jon Cortez, whom he later called "wrestlers' wrestlers".

After training under Marty Jones, Matthews made his debut wrestling for promoter Bobby Barron at his wrestling challenge booth at the Horseshoe Showbar at Blackpool Pleasure Beach at the age of 15.

In time, he graduated to be a shooter at the booth, using brutal submission holds to defend prize money against challenges from members of the public.

By this time, he wrestled professionally all over Britain for All Star Wrestling where he regularly teamed with Robbie Brookside as The Golden Boys tag team.

Trained by Marty Jones, Matthews started his career at the age of 15 in 1983.

His first matches took place at one of the rare final wrestling carnival booths at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

He went on to wrestle for national promotions on the British wrestling circuit and wrestled on television for ITV.

The other was a brief stint for Joint Promotions in 1986 where he wrestled his first two televised matches under the name Roy Regal.

Otherwise, he stuck with the name Steve Regal up until shortly after his arrival in World Championship Wrestling.

Both Regal and Brookside appeared in several televised matches during the final years (1987–1988) of ITV's coverage of British wrestling.

Matthews went on to tour worldwide, including Germany and South Africa.

In 1991, he received a tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation.

Matthews relayed that through Lord Alfred Hayes, WWF had become interested in seeing the young wrestler and offered him an opportunity at the WWF UK Rampage Show on 24 April 1991.

Wrestling in a dark match, he appeared as Steve Regal and teamed with Dave Taylor and Tony St. Clair to defeat Drew McDonald, Chic Cullen, & Johnny South.

Later that year, he received a second booking and wrestled Brian Maxine at the Battle Royal at Albert Hall in London, England on 3 October 1991.

Two months later, Matthews was again wrestling on the UK swing of a major American promotion, although this time it was World Championship Wrestling.

Appearing as Steve Regal, he wrestled six matches on WCW's tour of the United Kingdom and faced Terrance Taylor, Jimmy Garvin, Giant Haystacks, and Oz (Kevin Nash).

During this early period, he was billed as Steve Regal, a name he saw in an American wrestling magazine (in use by "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal).

There were two exceptions to this.

One was when he wrestled in Wales during this period, including appearances on S4C's Welsh language wrestling TV show Reslo under the name Steve Jones and was billed from Cardiff, Wales, teaming with Orig Williams and faced Fit Finlay amongst others.

In the fall of 1992, Matthews reached out to Bill Watts on a position in World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Watts responded favourably to Regal's letter and offered him a contract.

Appearing still as Steve Regal, beginning as a fan favourite character.

He then progressed to touring around the world until 1993 when he was signed to WCW, where he took the ring name Steven Regal and became a four-time World Television Champion.

Regal made his televised debut on 30 January 1993 episode of Saturday Night and defeated enhancement talent Bob Cook in his in-ring debut on the following week's Saturday Night.

Shortly after his debut, Regal entered a tournament for the vacant WCW World Television Championship in which he defeated The Barbarian in the first round before losing to Johnny B. Badd in the quarterfinals.

He became the villain "Lord Steven Regal" on 12 June episode of Saturday Night, claiming descent from William the Conqueror and Sir William began serving as his manager.

At times arrogantly charming in this persona, one of his memorable statements to a post-match interviewer was: "Do you know what my New Year's resolution is going to be? To wake up a half an hour earlier so I can hate you more".

His first major win after the character change was against Marcus Alexander Bagwell on 16 June Clash of the Champions XXIII.

Regal was scheduled to face Bagwell's partner 2 Cold Scorpio on 18 August Clash of the Champions XXIV, but he was replaced by Bobby Eaton.

Regal himself substituted for the injured Brian Pillman to team with Steve Austin in a WCW World Tag Team Championship defence against Arn Anderson and Paul Roma; Regal and Austin lost that match.

Regal won the World Television Championship by defeating Ricky Steamboat at the inaugural Fall Brawl pay-per-view on 18 September with the help of Sir William.

In 1998, Matthews joined the WWF (later WWE), where he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Hardcore Champion, a four-time European Champion, a four-time World Tag Team Champion, and the 2008 winner of the King of the Ring tournament.

He also had stints as on-screen authority figures such as commissioner, General Manager of Raw, and match co-ordinator for the 2011 season of the original NXT.

As NXT became WWE's developmental brand in 2012, he appeared as the on-screen General Manager; behind the scenes, he began serving as WWE's Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting from 2018 until he was released in 2022.

He then signed with AEW and debuted as the founder and manager of the Blackpool Combat Club, leaving the company nine months later to return to WWE as the Vice President of Global Talent Development.