Mother Fucking Regal

[goodhelmet]

Interesting read over the last page. I like the micro in matches. I do often look for it. However, it's really hard for me to say a match is really awesome based off the micro. In fact, what usually makes a match great for me is always having at least one big spot remembered in a match. On the Funks vs. Abby/Shiek matches I always remember Shiek attempting murder by carving Terry up with a spike. When I think of Sarge vs. Iron Shiek I always recall that final boot swing to the face of Sheik. In Wargames 94, Terry Funk getting gonzo bombed between two rings is always there. From Eddie/J.B.L at JD Eddie's bloody mask he wears on his face is going to be there forever. Hell, I love Regal rubbing his forearm in the face of his opponents during pin covers but it's hard for me to think of very many out of this world great Regal matches. There's plenty of good ones and the general great match but there hasn't been one that's totally knocked me off my feet yet. I guess what I'm saying is a lot of times micro is only little points of the match but they don't define the overall picture. All of those spots I mentioned define those matches in one way or another through the whole picture.

 

 

For Regal, I thought the entire Regal vs. LArry feud was legit great as well as the "Boring" Arn vs. Regal PPV match. I would also call half the Finlay matches macro great. Regal is the next guy I dive into revisiting my comp to discover more gems.

[Exposer]

For Regal, I thought the entire Regal vs. LArry feud was legit great as well as the "Boring" Arn vs. Regal PPV match. I would also call half the Finlay matches macro great. Regal is the next guy I dive into revisiting my comp to discover more gems.

I love the SN match between Regal and Larry. That might be a match I would consider on that level. It is easily my favorite Regal match ever. Their other matches are very good to great but not incredibly great. I like the Arn match and think it gets an unfair label but I wouldn't call it off the charts. That Regal-Finlay feud was something I actually didn't like as much as others on first watch. I thought they were good and maybe very good but not great. I like Regal a lot mind you and he's someone who'd definitely finish high on a top 100 list when I do one again. Plus, if I ever get an income maybe I'll purchase your Regal comp and possibly find gems that constitute what I call a really great and tremendous match. He has too many good/very good/ and a fair number of great matches. With the exception of the Larry SN match which is something I would consider, I don't think he has anything really great or tremendous.

[Dylan Waco]

For Regal, I thought the entire Regal vs. LArry feud was legit great as well as the "Boring" Arn vs. Regal PPV match. I would also call half the Finlay matches macro great. Regal is the next guy I dive into revisiting my comp to discover more gems.

I love the SN match between Regal and Larry. That might be a match I would consider on that level. It is easily my favorite Regal match ever. Their other matches are very good to great but not incredibly great. I like the Arn match and think it gets an unfair label but I wouldn't call it off the charts. That Regal-Finlay feud was something I actually didn't like as much as others on first watch. I thought they were good and maybe very good but not great. I like Regal a lot mind you and he's someone who'd definitely finish high on a top 100 list when I do one again. Plus, if I ever get an income maybe I'll purchase your Regal comp and possibly find gems that constitute what I call a really great and tremendous match. He has too many good/very good/ and a fair number of great matches. With the exception of the Larry SN match which is something I would consider, I don't think he has anything really great or tremendous.

 

What hurts Regal is that he doesn't have the "big match" setting to a lot of his matches. I think Regal has many great matches, but they aren't driven by powerful storylines or tons of t.v. time to get over the feud that is being pushed. I am not super high on his initial t.v. title run because I think he was pretty bad about telegraphing that his matches were going to draws (in contrast to Arn for example who was better at making you believe things hung on a thread at any moment), but the work was solid and he was still green in the States. He has some periods when he got fat where he wasn't sharp. But there is more meat to Regal than he gets credit for. I think the Hash match is great, the Finlay matches, the Larry Z SN match, the Arn match in question, the best Benoit matches, the Ambrose match, the Christian matches and other things. But again they don't have a transcendent feel because the promotion wasn't pushing him hard. That lack of big time feel can be hard for some people to overcome. It's a reason I 've seen some people sell Buddy short in the past.

[goodhelmet]

For Regal, I thought the entire Regal vs. LArry feud was legit great as well as the "Boring" Arn vs. Regal PPV match. I would also call half the Finlay matches macro great. Regal is the next guy I dive into revisiting my comp to discover more gems.

I love the SN match between Regal and Larry. That might be a match I would consider on that level. It is easily my favorite Regal match ever. Their other matches are very good to great but not incredibly great. I like the Arn match and think it gets an unfair label but I wouldn't call it off the charts. That Regal-Finlay feud was something I actually didn't like as much as others on first watch. I thought they were good and maybe very good but not great. I like Regal a lot mind you and he's someone who'd definitely finish high on a top 100 list when I do one again. Plus, if I ever get an income maybe I'll purchase your Regal comp and possibly find gems that constitute what I call a really great and tremendous match. He has too many good/very good/ and a fair number of great matches. With the exception of the Larry SN match which is something I would consider, I don't think he has anything really great or tremendous.

 

What hurts Regal is that he doesn't have the "big match" setting to a lot of his matches. I think Regal has many great matches, but they aren't driven by powerful storylines or tons of t.v. time to get over the feud that is being pushed. I am not super high on his initial t.v. title run because I think he was pretty bad about telegraphing that his matches were going to draws (in contrast to Arn for example who was better at making you believe things hung on a thread at any moment), but the work was solid and he was still green in the States. He has some periods when he got fat where he wasn't sharp. But there is more meat to Regal than he gets credit for. I think the Hash match is great, the Finlay matches, the Larry Z SN match, the Arn match in question, the best Benoit matches, the Ambrose match, the Christian matches and other things. But again they don't have a transcendent feel because the promotion wasn't pushing him hard. That lack of big time feel can be hard for some people to overcome. It's a reason I 've seen some people sell Buddy short in the past.

 

Fuck this, I am starting a Regal thread and am going to review Regal matches from my comp.

 

Also, a friend of mine was talking to Regal the other day and Regal said if you enjoyed the 1995 match that the 1996 match would blow you away. I did not realize I had the 1996 match until I looked for it so that may pop up on a future Schneider comp. Anyway, Regal talk going into the Regal thread.

[Dylan Waco]

I back this a hundred percent. For the record Regal would place very well on my overall depth chart. I don't have a problem getting over the fact that he wasn't as pushed as other guys. But I do think it's one of the reasons he doesn't get talked about as an upper tier guy as much as others.

[Phil Schneider]

Regal is one of my Segunda Caida Complete and Accurate guys. I will repost some of my Epic reviews

 

Steven Regal v. Tiger Dalibar Singh South Africa 1987-EPIC

 

What a great discovery, a hell of a match and a window into a wrestling scene I had never seen before. Despite the pleas of U2 Regal decided to play Sun City. Singh is an old World Of Sport guy and the promoter of the fed. The crowd seems to be almost entirely South Asian, which isn't what I expected from a 80's South African wrestling show. So obviously Regal is working heel against a ethnic babyface and is great at it. We start with some very WOS style mat work with Regal hanging on hard to a wrist lock while Singh flips and spins him around. Singh is a solid grappler and built like a tank. Once he gets rolling, he bumps Regal all around the ring. This is the most athletic and theatric I have ever seen Regal bump, he is really at a Curt Hennig or Ric Rude level during parts of this match. Match breaks down into some pretty nasty brawling, especially after Regal grabs a fall on a missed body press. Regal goes after Sighs stomach, and the crowd got very animated, we might have gotten another Soweto Uprising if Regal had been able to pull out the win.

 

Lord Steven Regal v. Shinya Hashimoto NJ 4/16/95-EPIC

 

Holy hell what a war! Regal takes it to Hashimoto and beats the shit out of him worse then anyone this side of Tenryu. Especially early he just overwhelms Hash, breaking his nose with a palm thrust and painfully wrenching his limbs. Hash fires back a little bit, but Regal has a bunch of nifty cut offs, stepping on the inside of his knee or catching him with a knuckle to his eye. There is a great moment where Hashimoto goes for a kimura and Regal breaks it by driving his forearm into Hash's broken nose, then on the way up he gives Hashimoto a short little kick to the eye. When Hash finally gets the advantage he lands huge, with a huge jumping kick and some shoulder separating chops. They go back and forth with Regal pounding at the smashed nose, and Hash unloading with kicks. Regal is a really underrated in ring bumper, he just gets spiked by Hash's DDT (after previously reversing twice), before going down to a cross armbar. Crossing the line potato shot Regal is probably my favorite iteration of Regal, and this was as violent as the nastiest moments of the Finlay feud. Just a treat.

[Phil Schneider]

Lord Steven Regal v. Arn Anderson WCW 10/9/93-EPIC

 

This is the battle of the two greatest Television champions in a classic 15 minute TV Title main event. Arn works the arm Anderson style, cranking a nasty hammerlock, while Regal breaks out some slick WOS reversals. Including the Saint full nelson counter which is one of my all time favorite British wrestling moves. Regal takes over when he chucks Arn to the floor and Sir William pops him in the ribs with the umbrella. Regal then goes after the midsection including a sweet flipping senton, and a neck crank with a knee on the stomach which looked really nasty. This builds to a classic TV title time limit run, with Arn going full bore to get the pin and Regal trying to run out the time. That is a finish which can be hard to pull off, I have seen plenty of bad versions where the guys are stalling or timing their moves and pins badly. Here we have the two masters of the TV Title match, so the final desperate face run is timed great, and we get the spinebuster at the perfect moment, with the clock running down right as the ref counts two. Excellent match, great use of the gimmick and it really got me amped to check out more of the Regal TV title stuff.

 

 

Lord Steven Regal v. Arn Anderson 2/20/94-EPIC

 

Tremendous match, pretty much a textbook TV title style match. Both guys target a body part, Arn with the arm, and Regal with the neck, and they go after them. Lesser wrestlers working this style will just go back to the same holds (even Flair pretty much just works the leg in the context of the figure four), but both Arn and Regal put on a ton of different locks and they all look great. It makes inherent sense, if you can't get a submission with a cravate try a crossface, hammerlock doesn't work use and arm stretch. Arn works a great hammerlock, bodyslamming Regal, turing him into a pin while holding it. Regal meanwhile wrenched the hell out of Arn's neck, cranking cravates, cracking him in the mouth with crossfaces. The brawling in this match was great too, Arn has a really pretty right hand and Regal was just vicious with uppercuts and headbutts. Finish run was very exciting as they worked the countdown with Arn desperately trying for the belt and Regal stalling. The crowd was super into the match at this point, chanting USA and popping huge for Arn's spinebuster. Finish was pretty surprising, as Regal gets the pin by holding onto Dundee's umbrella with 15 seconds left. It was a twist in a good way as everyone was expecting either an Arn win or a time limit draw. 1994 maybe the best in ring year in wrestling history, and this felt on the level of the other great matches of that year. If this looks like something on paper you would like, go watch it, it truly exceeds expectations.

[Phil Schneider]

Lord Steven Regal v. Fit Finlay WCW 4/29/96-EPIC

 

Well this is as great as you remembered it being. It really had the ragged, out of control feeling of a violent fight. All of the big highspots felt totally organic, nothing was set up. When Finlay put his foot through the window, it felt like a crazy fuck, wild with rage, throwing a kick too close to a window. The smashing each other with bumpers and slamming each other into doors wasn't even the most violent stuff in the match. For example Finlay is choking Regal with a seat belt, and just smacks him right in the mouth. Regal's elbow drops on the hood were also really beautiful. Regal's piledriver on the roof of a car felt like a finish, and it also felt like he was just trying to get the fuck out of there. I remember being incredibly annoyed at the time at Bischoff yelling at the cameramen to pull into a wide shot. The camera men don't pull back very far, and I think it actually adds to the sense of insanity, makes this feel like an out of control fight, as opposed to Heenan telling hack jokes.

 

William Regal v. Tommy Dreamer WWE 11/8/09-EPIC

 

I was on the fence, this is a 8 minute match against Tommy Dreamer, can this really be an epic. Fuck it, this was just too great and Regal was just too awesome for me not to give the full E. Dreamer took a crutch shot in a street fight the week before and the bolt penetrated his triceps, so he is coming into this match with a big white wrap on his arm. Regal is on that arm like a fat kid on the last piece of pinata candy. Really the best example of Regal as vicious WWII prison guard. He just tears and pounds on the wound, he is someone with so many ways to hurt you. Meanwhile Dreamer does a great job of selling the injury (which I am sure hurt like a broken heart) while throwing in some really exciting comebacks. I loved how he went for a DDT, only to Regal hurl him down using the arm, still Dreamer was able to catch him in a one armed spinebuster. Finish was awesome. Dreamer is rolling, finally getting the advantage, but Regal rolls to the floor, grabs the arm rings it over the cable, while Dreamer is recoiling, Regal flies into the ring and hits the running knee right on the arm. Best Tommy Dreamer match ever, and a hell of performance by Regal

 

 

William Regal v. Steve Austin WWF 11/29/01-EPIC

 

PAS: This is a strap match from Smackdown and just a hellacious brawl. Regal has the strap to start and he taunts Austin Bugs Bunny style by pulling it away from him when Austin tries to grab it, after the third time, Austin flips out and just attacks, and it goes at that pace. They brawl into the crowd with Austin viciously strapping Regal up and down the stairs. Regal takes control after backdropping Austin off the announce table, which is a nutty bump for a guy with a broken neck to be taking on TV. Vicious brawling Regal is one of my favorite of his approaches, and he just lays into Austin with forearms and strap shots when he get an opening. Austin was amazing in this too, I hadn't watched a Stone Cold match in so long, you forget what a charismatic motherfucker he really was. He stops mid brawl to toast Earl Hebner with a beer, and then smashes it on Regals head. I even liked all of the four corner spots, which is usually the problem with strap matches. Austin was awesome at the end countering all of Regal's attempts to stop the turnbuckle slapping, before the third buckle he nuts Regal, and pulls him into a stunner before the fourth. I didn't remember this match at all, and it was totally awesome.

 

ER: Austin was my favorite wrestler in the world in 2001, and I had never ever seen this match before. This must have been right after he turned face after the year long heel turn (which I loved but you know how much it fucked everything up). The Regal C&A is going to be real fun because up until Finlay joined WWE, Regal was a guy who I don't remember having a lot of great WWE non-Benoit matches. I remember the RVD Wrestlemania match being way better than I expected, and there was a 90 second Lance Storm match where Storm botched a dropkick and Regal kicked the shit out of him...a Dick Togo match....There has to be other stuff. He's a guy who's been in WWE at total of 12 years, but I just can't think of much. You start thinking there must be all of these hidden gems, and then you "discover" a "hidden" gem of a match between him and fucking Steve Austin, the most popular wrestler in the world. It's not exactly crate digging, but it's like finding a live Television album that you didn't know existed, but had been out for apparently 10 years. This was a GREAT match, worked at a nice brisk pace, and both guys looked killer. Austin was taking some of the most insane weekly bumps on TV during this time period. While Christian and Rey Buccanero were having weekly contests to see who could bump over the top to the floor the most times during one match, Austin had a busted neck and was taking Germans and doing superplexes and taking high backdrops on all surfaces. Fucking insane. Their crowd brawling is spectacular as it never sinks to Shane Douglas "loosely grabbing a guys head and walking around" levels. Austin punches Regal through the crowd, then whips his fucking face with a belt through the crowd! Everything about this rules. Regal's chest welts up, Regal's forearms look nasty, Regal gets dumped on his head when Austin tugs the strap between his legs, neither guy does a slo-mo crawl to touch all four corners, Regal whips back HARD and makes the Stunner look amazing, crowd loudly hates Regal, all the leverage spots look legit, just awesome. It's odd to find a hidden gem featuring the most popular wrestler in the world, from free TV, from the most popular promotion in the world...but this was it and it was so damn awesome.

[Phil Schneider]

William Regal vs. Dean Ambrose, FCW 10/13/11 - EPIC

 

PAS: Man alive this was a corker of a match. It is worked very similarly to the other big 2011 King Bookers courtesan v. Switchblade Conspirator match. Regal cuts a great promo about how his inner villain has been reawakened and he is at his vicious best. This is probably the most violent Regal we have seen since the Benoit series. He and Ambrose just lay into each other with nasty uppercuts and forearms, and Ambrose threw some nice clotheslines. Eventually Regal takes over, trapping Ambrose's arm into a turnbuckle and smashing it up which is something I have never seen before. It is pretty great that 20+ years into his career Regal is still breaking out new tricks. Regal then delivers some nasty armwork including finger manipulation and trapping him arm in the ring steps. Ambrose does a great job of selling, basically working the comeback entirely with his other arm. He comes off as a really tough motherfucker screaming at Regal while getting beaten on, and surviving some big exploders and escaping the Regal stretch. Just great stuff, it felt like a hugely important match to both guys, and after the match Regal felt like a killer and Ambrose felt like a future star standing up to a legend. I saw Finlay v. Callihan live which really helped my appreciation of it, but on first view this was right up there with that, and anything else in the world in 2011.

 

ER: Yeah this was great. It was a double surprise for me as I followed the link Phil sent me and thought it was going to be a fun 7 minute match...and then realized there were 7 MORE minutes waiting in the next part. This really feels like the best Regal performance of the last 2-4 years. He's had other great stuff in that time to be sure, but this was twice as long as most of those matches and really felt like he could stretch his wings (and clearly showed that he has no problem filling time in matches). It's matches like these that make me want to dive full in to FCW, but nothing else there could possibly compete with something like this. Regal was just a beast in this, playing a role I don't remember him playing in a long time. And clearly Regal is great at playing the ruthless killer. Finlay must be kicking himself for thinking of the awesome ring skirt spot, but not thinking about hooking a guy's arm through a turnbuckle. Shoot, I even bought the struggle to get Ambrose' arm out of the turnbuckle, just kicking around like a trapped animal while the ref struggled to pull his arm through. I loved how Regal sold the clothesline/hammer fist to the face. It looked like his orbital bone exploded. There wasn't really anything that DIDN'T work about this, from Regal's awesome mule kicks, all the arm work, the forearms, everything. This was really a great, great war. I would've have loved to see another Ambrose comeback spot, but still this was so awesome.

[Phil Schneider]

William Regal v. CM Punk MSG 12/28/08

 

Truly tremendous match. The best babyface Punk match I have ever seen and one of Regal's best WWE matches as well. We start with some very nice chain wrestling, Punk went to one of the Blue Blood training camps and you could tell he was jazzed to work holds against Regal. Punk sidestepped Regal and threw him to the floor, where he followed with a big tope, which is not something you normally see at house shows, even at MSG. The momentum shifts again when Regal counters an Irish whip and just launches Punk with a half nelson suplex, Punk takes a full Misawa bump on the move, hurling him out of the ring. Regal takes over and just beats on Punk. Lots of nifty violent moments by Regal in this section, he does a go behind and blasts Punk with forearms to the back of the head, and counters the first GTS attempt with a fast and violent flurry of elbows. Regal is letting it loose a little here, stiffing Punk, throwing him with suplexes. Punk is always willing to work this style and Regal really shows his versatility by being the best possible Samoa Joe here. Finish is a great too, with Regal reversing a GTS by trying to rip Punk's nose off, and then obliterating him with the knee trembler. Awesome discovery, go watch this match.

[Exposer]

So I found an old list of Regal match reviews and I really played him up. It seems I enjoyed a good bit of his matches more than I realized but then again I didn't remember all of them. There's several in there that I said were excellent, great, or really good. There was only one that I really went nuts over and that's the Larry Z SN match. I'll post these reviews here.

 

Steven Regal/2 Cold Scorpio/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Scotty Flamingo/Shanghai Pierce/Tex Slazenger – WCWSN 2/20/93

This was a fun little match. Regal wasn’t involved very much at all as he was billed as a novice in the American wrestling style. The opening minutes are decent with pretty basic chain wrestling. Flamingo is rarely in the match so he doesn’t hurt it. The middle of the match was a bit forgettable due to Canterbury being awful. His movements and timing was pretty pathetic. The worst example was his second fuck up of a Scorpio dropkick where he clings to the ropes and pauses, then falls to the mat and rolls to the floor to set up a beautiful dive from Scorpio. Bagwell takes a wild bump to the floor to start a short FIP segment that was solid for what it was. Scorpio gets the hot tag and the match gets pretty fun here. All six guys jump in and brawl all over the ring. Regal is leveling Knight with some incredible looking left hands which Knight sells beautifully. Scorpio gets the win with the Scorpio Slash on Flamingo. This was a fun little opener to get pumped up for intense Regal viewing.

 

Steven Regal vs. The Barbarian – WCW Main Event 3/7/93

I didn’t find this to be very good at all. I liked the fact that the match was built around Regal having to outsmart Barbarian with wrestling but it wasn’t executed very well. All the moves were done fairly crisply and I generally like Barbarian’s offense. None of that really looked bad. I just didn’t like the flow of the match at all and it the organization seemed off. The finish was executed better than anything with Regal outsmarting Barbarian with a roll up to advance in the TV Championship tournament. I get why this was on the set though, because it gives the viewer a small glimpse of Regal’s early work in WCW and as an important part in his career pertaining to the TV title tourney.

 

Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd – WCW Main Event 3/21/93

I thought this was pretty good. I enjoyed the ground based wrestling Regal used in this and the arm work at the beginning. The neat counters and roll ups were pretty cool too. There seemed to be some miscommunication a couple of times throughout which hurt it. I didn’t mind the finish being a counter flash pin as the match was one based on counters and mat work.

 

Steven Regal vs. Barry Windham – WCW World Wide 4/17/93

This was very good. The opening mat work was excellent I thought even if it reached boredom at points. The middle portion of this was weak although there was some good including a few nice comeback spots from Regal. Barry’s offense is really good here too and he uses a variety of moves to try to take Regal down such as the vertical suplex, gut wrench suplex, etc. As they were transitioning to the finish I think they got lost in how to do it and it seemed very basic with just strikes. I love strike but I felt they didn’t know how to transition in this very well. The finishing sequence was terrific with Regal getting near falls on roll ups and cradles. I like the cross body that took both guys over the ropes and Regal getting caught in them. Barry gave Regal the leaping DDT for the win. I thought this could have been much better if done more properly structurally. I enjoyed the finish and thought this was Regal’s best performance so far.

 

Steven Regal vs. Chris Benoit – WCW Handheld 5/8/93

This was an excellent 8:30 minute match. It starts off with some great mat work and reversals. Benoit takes a lunatic bump to the floor after Regal catches his feet and throws him. In a funny spot, Benoit misses a top rope sunset flip and just crashes to the mat. It really starts to get hot when Benoit is on offense as he throws in a nasty short arm clothesline and locks in the sharpshooter before Regal barely reaches the ropes. After Benoit misses the flying head butt Regal gets in some offense and a near fall with a double under hook suplex. The finish is great as Benoit counters a roll up and pushes Regal head first into the second turnbuckle and capitalizes with a tiger suplex for the win. This is an awesome hidden gem and is only hurt by the fact that baby killer is in it. It is really worthwhile if you can stomach this for obvious reasons.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Marcus Bagwell – WCW Clash of the Champions 23 6/16/93

This is the first match with Regal as heel here and he’s already coming out looking much better. This is a very good sprint and Bagwell was quite the good baby face during this time. Like any Regal match it starts with chain wrestling and exchanges with Regal taking some massive bumps in between including a big hip toss. Regal targets Bagwell’s leg and snapmares him into the ropes to damage the leg some more. That was innovative as hell. There’s a really great hope spot here where Bagwell enziguri’s Regal only to get his leg targeted again by Regal. Bagwell recovers and has a nice comeback. They go into the roll up near fall exchanges and the finish is botched on a Regal surfboard for the win. This was a lot of fun and is only hurt by the botched finish. Regal is a million times better as a heel.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat – WCW Main Event No DQ 8/8/93

I watched this with complete bewilderment. Why the hell would you schedule a No DQ match if the wrestlers don’t even bother brawling or do something that would normally constitute a disqualification? Don’t get me wrong. This was very good for what they gave us, but why couldn’t it just have been a standard wrestling match? The holds, mat work, exchanges, and nifty reversals were awesome. The back work by Regal was good but why do that if it’s a NO DQ match? Everything turned totally ass backwards when Orndorff showed up and attacked Steamboat. Randy Anderson called the match immediately to a no contest. What the fuck? The booking here was just awful and made no sense whatsoever. I can’t even call it that good because of the ridiculousness I just witnessed.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal/Paul Orndorff/Maxx Payne vs. Ricky Steamboat/Marcus Bagwell/2 Cold Scorpio – WCWSN 8/14/93

This was a very good and exciting fun little six man tag. I enjoyed Steamboat just going to blows with Orndorff and Regal to start the match. Regal was a hell of bumper in his youth and his signature bump is a giant hip toss that he always takes beautifully as he does here. The look on his face is classic as he is getting mocked by Bagwell on the apron. Scorpio comes in and cleans house with some awesome offense then plays FIP for a bit. He does a pretty good job at it and gets the hot tag to Steamboat who goes nuts. Everybody gets involved and as Regal is fighting with Bagwell in the ring Steamboat catches him with a cross body for the pin. This was pretty good stuff and a really good example of a riled up six man in early 90s WCW.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Arn Anderson/Paul Roma WCW Clash of the Champions 8/18/93

This was okay. Paul Roma as FIP is just not very appealing at all. There were some nice cut off spots in the match and the crowd was hot for it but it’s fucking Paul Roma. I did like Regal’s somersault and his bumping. The finish was whatever as well and I could care less about the storyline. If fucking Roma wasn’t in it and somebody else got the chance to be in this it could have been a little bit better. It was fine for what it was though.

 

Steven Regal vs. Brad Armstrong WCWSN 8/28/93

You can’t have a comp of a wrestler who spent significant time in WCW without a Brad Armstrong match. I’ll always believe that. This particular Brad Armstrong match was pretty good. It was mostly chain and scientific wrestling but I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s just awesome watching Regal work the mat and holds and come up with nifty counters, reversals, and such. Armstrong is pretty good himself for a scientific mat based worker. The match is built well and the closing sequence is fine too. I’m just happy I got to see a Regal-Brad Armstrong match.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCW Fall Brawl 9/19/93

This match could have been really great if only a few things were fixed. The crowd was unquestionably dormant throughout this match and it seemed like they weren’t interested in Regal at all. That surprised me considering Steamboat is such a huge baby face. Steamboat showed some nice fire in the beginning with some fighting offense. I loved him selling his ribs throughout the match. It was really a great performance from Steamboat. His arm work on Regal in the early going was awesome too and I love when he played possum to go back to it. Regal doing the fucking somersault in his control segment on Steamboat’s ribs ruled. I thought the other factor in the match that hurt was the poorly executed tombstone by Steamboat. I don’t think that it looked convincing at all. The finishing run was quite good and could have been much better if the crowd were invested in it. Regal’s german into a pin combo looked great for the win. This was very, very good and could have been called excellent if a few factors had come out a little differently.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCWSN 9/25/93

I like the opening minutes with Steamboat’s sneak attack and rage. The transition into Regal’s control segment was cool too with Steamboat getting caught and slammed face first into the mat. Regal has such unique control segments and knows so many different ways to target a body part. In this match it was Steamboat’s face and Regal throws some nasty forearms to it. He grinds his foot into Steamboat’s face for a while too, which I liked. The finish was respectable as it was a way for Steamboat to get back at Regal for the umbrella attack and losing the TV title. I liked this for a revenge TV match. Not as good as Fall Brawl, but still entertaining and solid work from both guys.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Arn Anderson WCWSN 10/9/93

This was a decent 15 minutes time limit draw on WCW TV. Well, probably good rather than decent. I like Sir William using the umbrella on Arn’s ribs throughout the match to jumpstart Regals’s offense and control segment. The beginning was cool with Arn out wrestling Regal for a few minutes and Regal being disgusted with the situation. The finishing stretch was fine but I wish Arn would have covered Regal a hair earlier to make the draw a little more dramatic. I feel like these two can have a better match and we’ll see if that’s the case when they have a match or two more later on.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Main Event 10/10/93

This was good. I never understood the extreme criticisms against Mero. I know he can sometimes go through spots very carelessly and sloppily. On the surface that sounds bad but it’s nowhere near as egregious as some people think. In this match besides a very minor mistake on a backdrop he was perfectly fine. He played a very good FIP under Regal’s control segment. Speaking of Regal control segments, they fucking rule! I loved Regal’s neck vice he used throughout the match and Zbyszko was a big help on commentary really pimping the hold. Badd’s hope spots were pretty well put together my favorite being his attempt at a comeback getting shut down by a nasty Regal elbow. This was a 10 minute draw and it seems they are touting Regal as a there wrestling guy, which is awesome. The finishing stretch is pretty good here with Badd getting near falls and finally getting the tilt-a-whirrel hurancanrana but it’s too late as time ran out. The post-match is a beat down by Regal and Sir William so I’m assuming this is a precursor to their feud coming up.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Davey Boy Smith WCW Halloween Havoc 10/24/93

Here’s another very good match from Regal in 1993. The start is hilarious with Regal being disgusted with Davey Boy’s oil following a collar and elbow tie up. Davey Boy showcases his athleticism with a few nip ups and Regal’s reaction is hysterical. Regal does a cartwheel and mocks the crowd then turns around into a shot from Davy Boy. The next couple of minutes are what hurt the match as Davey Boy is on offense and can’t seem to grasp what he wants to do next. Regal botches a monkey flip but I’m not so sure that was his entire fault. Once Regal targets the ribs and gets into his control segment, the match improves. Regal’s various holds and shots to Davey Boy’s ribs are masterful and it’s just fucking awesome watching this guy on offense. Regal does a very good job of reacting and timing on hope spots against his opponents. My favorite was Davey Boy had him up on his shoulders and Regal landed on the entrance ramp over the apron and nailed Davey Boy in the ribs. Really creative hope stops are what Regal has mastered lately. Davey Boy comes by with a power slam for a near fall then pile drives Regal but the time ran out. It was a 15 minute time limit draw and I love the story of Regal’s matches where his opponents have to escape his scientific wrestling and muster up enough energy to try to win a match in one minute.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Clash of the Champions 25 11/10/93

Regal and Badd work very well together and these series of matches I think have been overlooked. They’re nothing to really praise as some phenomenal series but these matches are a nice mesh of styles. Badd gets some near falls in the opening seconds and really starts off aggressive, which I liked. He makes a mistake being over aggressive and takes a great bump off a missed cross body into the ropes. Regal’s control segment is great at usual and he gets in his butterfly suplex, which I was happy about. The finish is actually pretty good with Badd knocking Regal out with a left. The ref starts the count but Sir William gets involved and stops it so Badd goes for the cover. Sir William puts Regal’s foot on the rope before the last second and Regal sneaks a win with a roll up and a hand full of tights. This was a nice little sprint and another impressive showing between these two in there series.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCW Starrcade 12/27/93

I like this match a good bit. Steamboat’s aggressiveness was cool here as he tried to get an early win. Regal’s control segment was great as usual with some pretty cool looking holds and mat work. Steamboat got back on offense about two thirds in and started to slow the pace of the match down. He did some neat arm work but realized he only had a few minutes left to win. Sir William got involved and Steamboat chased him around the ring only to take an awesome bump from a Regal dropkick on the floor. They fought in and out of the ring for a minute or so and Sir William got involved again only to get pushed into the guard rail. Steamboat missed a cross body but got a german pin combo but time ran out. It was another very good 15 minute draw for the TV by Regal here. I’m really enjoying the stories of these matches as the baby face has to focus on the time constraints and try to out wrestle Regal at the same time.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Terry Taylor WCWSN 1/1/94

This was a hell of a match and an awesome gem that was found by whoever discovered it and put it up. The first several minutes of the match focused on Taylor applying a body scissors and occasionally trying to get a pin. Regal found himself in this position win he went for a pin attempt but got caught in the scissors instead. Regal escapes the scissors for a moment and tries to get after Taylor but he can’t avoid Taylor’s trap for another body scissors. That was a fun spot. Regal eventually escapes for good and does some spectacular arm work and holds to wear down Taylor. Taylor reverses some stuff into his own arm work and holds. The finishing stretch is really good with some near falls from both guys. Regal steals the win from Taylor with a hand full of tights in about thirteen minutes. This was well worth it and seems to be a definite precursor to a ridiculously awesome 1994 for Regal.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW World Wide 1/8/94

Badd was excellent in this match selling the arm. Regal was great as usual doing phenomenal arm work to incapacitate Badd and try to prevent his knockout punch. Badd comes back with a nice flurry of offense including his hurancanrana. Regal stops the comeback briefly by attacking the arm again. Badd gets Regal over for a sunset flip but Sir William punches Badd in the face and knocks him down. The Refs calls the match a DQ and Regal and Sir William beat down Badd some more to end the show. This is just another example of how these two work really well together and probably the best performance from Badd so far in these matches.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Dustin Rhodes WCW Clash of the Champions 1/27/94

I actually thought this was a little disappointing but I think I was expecting too much out of it. It was pretty good but Dustin and Regal had absurd years in 1994 so this was a disappointment in regards to their resume. Dustin had some nice flurries of offense like he usually does and Regal grounded him for most of the match with holds and mat work. The story of this match was unique in that Regal kept going to the floor to kill time to keep his championship. This was different to what he had been doing, which was ground his opponents till time expired. Dustin was getting frustrated and continued to have to chase Regal and get something going to try and win. The match went to a draw as Dustin just executed his running bulldog. It could have been much better but I’m content with it and I thought the story was a more unique and heel version of Regal running away with the TV title after a time limit draw.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Sting WCWSN 2/5/94

I thought this was average for the first half of the match. It really kicked in when Regal did a snap mare straight into a nice vice. That looked fucking awesome. Regal keeping Sting on the mat was really cool and it came across as a legitimate challenge to Sting. Once Sting got his comeback, shit really got good for a minute or so. Regal avoided a move from Sting but turned around and Sting snap mares him out of the corner into a dropkick. That was an awesome sequence. They do a double dropkick then Sting wins with a backslide very quickly in a rushed finish due to time constraints. This had some cool moments and it was interesting to see Regal and Sting work together so well.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCWSN 2/12/94

The finishing run in this match was excellent. The fans were already behind Wilkes before the match started. There were heavy “USA!” chants throughout the match. Wilkes is underrated and I’ve always thought he has been ever since I discovered some of his work. Regal’s control segment equaled great as always but things got very interesting when Wilkes made his comeback. He attempted the win on almost every roll up and cradle in the book. The crowd was going fucking berzerk here for the near falls and Regal was great acting disoriented and such. The finish was a bit awkward as Wilkes gives Regal a back suplex too early and has to wait a few seconds before the pin attempt. Overall this was pretty good with an excellent closing stretch run.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Brian Armstrong WCW Main Event 2/13/94

For a five minute sprint this wasn’t bad. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Brian Armstrong match until now.

Anyways, the match starts off with the typical European style mat wrestling with Regal taking control for the most part. Armstrong gets in a few holds of his own before Regal grounds him again. The regular Regal TV match down stretch happens with Armstrong getting some near falls on roll ups and cradles. Regal catches Armstrong on a mistake and gives him a butterfly suplex. He cradles him for the win afterwards. The post-match interview with Larry Z was entertaining and pretty funny as well.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Arn Anderson Superbrawl IV 2/20/94

What a great match. Regal and Arn work brilliantly together in this. The chain wrestling is just fantastic to watch. Regal’s stalling in the opening minutes were a nice touch as it comes across that Regal knows Anderson is no slouch and can beat him at any second. Arn focuses on the arm for a large of portion of the match and Regal does a great job of selling it and seeming exhausted as he has yet to defend his title in a match with a time limit of thirty minutes. Regal’s various attempts to take out Arn are great as he does some nasty forearms and European uppercuts as well as just meshing Arn’s face during pin covers and holds. Sir William gets involved some here by attacking Arn with the umbrella and the crowd gets pretty pissed for it. The final ten minutes are excellent as Arn finally targets Regal’s bandaged leg. The figure four teaser is awesome as the crowd pops big for it. Regal tries to fight back and ground Arn but he can’t do it and Arn starts to get some near falls. Arn nails the spinebuster with thirty seconds left but doesn’t cover because of fatigue. He then goes for a sunset flip but Sir William helps Regal stay up and Regal lands on Arn for the win with about seven seconds left. This was a brilliantly booked match and a very impressive performance from Regal. Arn was great working the body parts and the crowd was really into it in the last five minutes or so. I would say this is the best match I’ve seen so far of Regal since his debut in 1993.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCWSN 2/26/94

This match really stood out to me as a tremendous Regal performance. I love that the match starts much differently than any Regal match prior to this one. He attacks The Patriot from the opening bell and fucking whacks and beats on him with some nasty European uppercuts and forearms. Wilkes immediately targets the leg when he gets his first chance and Regal sells the leg the entire match. Regal trying to get positioning to ground Wilkes but can’t be cause of the relentless attack on his leg is tremendous. Regal is pissed off in this match and it is fucking awesome. He just meshes his forearm in Wilkes face and head. The finish is very good too with Regal going for a sunset flip pin only for Wilkes to roll through it and grab a hold of his hurt leg for a pinning cradle and win. This was an awesome match and extremely unique to the previous stuff I’ve been watching. Regal’s performance was superb especially his selling.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat/Arn Anderson WCWSN 3/5/94

This was an excellent TV match. Steamboat was tremendously great as FIP here and Regal and Austin’s offense along with Sir William’s cunning exploits fit nicely here. Austin gives Steamboat a nasty Alabama slam during one cut off spot that made Schiavone and Heenan go crazy. Steamboats attempts to fight out of the corner but only to get overwhelmed were cool. I love how Arn just got fed up and came in and cleaned house. The finish was great too as Steamboat gets the win on Austin with a cross body. It was even better that the storyline was that there was an argument between Austin and Steamboat as to who should face Flair at Spring Stampede. This whole match was great even the opening exchanges with Regal and Austin bumping wildly to Steamboat and Arn’s offense. I’m happy I got to see this gem since it was just uploaded on YouTube yesterday.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Scott Armstrong WCW Main Event 3/6/94

For a five six minute sprint this was a hell of a match. Scott’s arm work on Regal was good and Regal bumped well to his offense. I loved the unique escape from the arm lock by Regal in an ankle pick. His use of the knee to drive into Scott’s face was awesome. Scott gets a nice flurry of offense and Regal sells and bumps to all of them magnificently. The finish is a little suspect to me as it looked like Scott just fell on the missed monkey flip and Regal calmly covered him. Overall, this was a fun sprint and from the three Armstrong matches so far this might be the best one. The post-match interview was great as well with Regal fucking with Larry Z and shitting on the U.S. and its education and debt problems.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCW Main Event 3/20/94

This match would have been better if it wasn’t for the annoying commentary from Bischoff and Ventura that actually hurt the match. They bet lunch on who ever threw the first closed fist punch so that became the whole story of the match because of those fucks. Anyways, Regal’s arm work was excellent here and his use of the ropes as an advantage to work on Wilkes arm was pretty cool. I loved him forearming Wilkes arm as it was tied into the ropes. The finishing run was good as Regal bumped well. Wilkes got on the Boston Crab but Sir William came in and whacked Wilkes with the umbrella. Pretty good stuff damaged by the annoying ass commentary.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austing/Mongolian Mauler vs. Sting/Dustin Rhodes/Brian Pillman WCW Main Event 4/17/94

The atmosphere in this was really awkward. The crowd was molten but it felt like for other reasons or maybe the audio was just enhanced or something. As the far as the match is concerned it was a bit awkward too. The opening minutes were bizarre with stalling that makes since in theory but didn’t come across well at all on tape. Once Dustin got in the match improved by leaps and bounds. He took his insane clothesline bump and it might have been the best one he’s ever taken aside from the Vader match at COTC. The whole FIP segment with him was done very well and Austin was good maneuvering for the various cut off spots. The hot tag didn’t feel as great because of the weird ass crowd or audio. The final run was whatever with Pillman getting Sting body pressed onto the Mauler for the win. I wish the crowd, audio, and commentary had been better for this. It could have possibly made this match a bit better. This was decent overall with a great FIP segment from Dustin, everything else just occurred.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Brian Pillman WCW Spring Stampede 4/17/94

This was an excellent match. I’m guessing from what I’ve seen this is Pillman’s best match of 1994. His selling was superb in this and a big part of this match. The first few minutes are great with Pillman getting some offense in but the tide turns when Regal gives Pillman a modified northern lights suplex. The rest of the match consist of Regal applying various holds such as crossfaces, modified versions of the crossbow, and the Regal stretch to wear down Pillman’s back and kill time. Every now and then Pillman would get a burst of energy and maybe get a nearfall or a big move in only to be knocked down again by Regal. The finish was great too with both guys going over the top rope to the floor and with fifteen seconds left. Pillman tried to get Regal back in for the pin off a suplex into the ring but to no avail. This was excellent with a lot of cool cut off spots and offense from Regal and great selling from Pillman.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ric Flair Marquis of Queensbury Cup 4/30/94 – 5/28/94

I’m going to write my analysis on this by rounds. It was five rounds in a European style wrestling match. This was pretty great as it really gave Regal a chance to throw in some of his crazy ass European escapes and holds. The first round was pretty good with both guys feeling each other out with mat work and reversals. Regal got in some high impact offense towards the end of the five minutes with some uppercuts and a suplex. Regal won round one in a split decision when two out of three judges voted him the winner. Round two was a little bit better, this time with Flair targeting Regal’s leg throughout the match. Regal did various escapes to avoid Flair’s onslaught. Regal managed to get some take downs in here and the round was declared a draw. The third round almost revolved around solely on Flair attacking the hamstring of Regal. The round ended with Regal in the figure four for about thirty seconds. Flair was giving the win from the judges. Round four was very good and had some back and forth stuff. It ended in a draw and so a fifth round was announced. The fifth round was awesome with both guys really lighting it up now and fighting. They were throwing forearms and chops all over the place at one point. Flair took the awesome turnbuckle bump to the floor. Sir William hit him with the umbrella and that cost Regal the round. It ended up a draw and sudden death overtime was announced. Flair went nuts here and threw Regal around and put on several holds to Regal’s hurt hamstring. Flair even hit a move from the top rope and the crowd loved it. Regal got the upper hand again and Sir William kept getting involved using the umbrella. Flair mounted a comeback but Sir William tripped him by the ropes. Regal went back on offense but Flair caught him with a backslide for the win. This whole series/match was great altogether. The fourth and fifth rounds were excellent and really made this series. I thought this was a cool concept to put these guys in. Regal continues to have an awesome 1994.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCW Slamboree 5/22/94

I loved this. Regal deliberately stalls for the first three minutes and gets shit from the Philly crowd. Larry Z is great here toying with Regal and one upping him every time they get in a brief exchange. At one point Zybyszko gets Regal good and yells, “You aren’t good enough!” and gives him the screw you sign. Regal is livid and fucking unloads on Larry Z in the corner with some nasty ass forearms and European uppercuts. Regal is now in firm control for the most part and really gives Larry a good beating. Zbyszko tries are backslide after blocking an uppercut but Regal prevents it. Sir William gets involved and nails Larry with the umbrella and Regal attempts a butterfly suplex. Zbyszko reverses it and flips over into a pin for the win. This was an awesome match with some really great exchanges. The Philly crowd popped big for Larry Z’s win and Regal was great as the pompous champ. Larry Z was great as the prick old man too. I can’t wait to see the title match from now.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCWSN 5/28/94

This fucking RULED. I watched this three years ago for the WCW SC poll and loved it. Today, I watched it and it still fucking kicks ass. The first few minutes are really fucking great. Zbyszko outwrestles Regal and they fucking break out crazy ass European style holds and escapes in a wildly fast pace. Larry Z gets a near fall and Regal is frustrated. Seen enough, Regal gets in his offense and now shit gets serious. Regal had missed the Regal roll and his leg nailed Larry in the back of the head. It was a minor botch that helped the match a good bit. Next thing you know, Zbyszko goes tumbling to the floor from a vicious European uppercut. Regal UNLOADS on Larry Z with vile and violent European uppercuts and forearms. He adds in some aggressive looking modified crossfaces and crossbows to go along with everything else. Every cover he goes for is even nastier as he grinds his forearm into Larry’s face. Sir William slaps the shit out of Larry and he gets a sleeper hold for it. Regal continues his onslaught then Larry Z gets a few near falls off some pin reversals. Zbyszko gets back on offense for a few minutes and fucking pulls out some nutty ass shit. The two holds he applies are a standing reverse surfboard and a standing reverse figure four! What the fuck!? The finishing stretch is tremendous with both guys just throwing everything out there with headbutts, slaps, fists, chokes, forearms, knees, and whatever else. Regal gets in a sleeper hold and Sir William jumps on the apron. Larry kicks Sir William off and uses his momentum to fall back on Regal for the pin and the win. The crowd was fucking bat shit the whole match and went crazy at the finish. What a fucking match! This is easily Regal’s best match of his career so far. It ended up being a total balls to the walls fight full of European holds and brawling. Regal is fucking storming through 1994.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCW Clash of the Champions 27 6/23/94

This was the third of three great matches in a really great series that has been way overlooked. When the bell rings there’s no down time as Regal goes straight for Larry Z’s head. These two throw haymakers, fists, forearms, and uppercuts. Zbyszko gets the advantage and throws Regal to the ramp. He gets a near fall on a vertical suplex and piledriver. The crowd was nuts by this point. Things slow down for a minute and both guys get in an entertaining standoff as Regal challenges Larry Z to a fight. Zbyszko goads him into the corner but Regal gains the advantage and locks in a chin lock along with some nasty forearm shots. Regal gets caught in a leg vice for a few minutes until the closing stretch. The finish is Regal reversing a Zbyszko pin attempt into his own while holding on the ropes to get the win and the TV title back. This was a great third match and very different from the first two. This is an incredible series and needs to be seen by everyone.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Bash at the Beach 7/17/94

One of the things I noticed when watching this match was how well Regal takes Badd’s offense. It really becomes an important part of each of their matches. This was very, very good. Badd “outperforms” Regal for most of the match with some impressive wrestling and crowd pleasing arm work. Most of Regal’s offense is they typical nastiness and onslaught of strikes including forearms and brutal looking European uppercuts. The finishing run is phenomenal with Badd throwing out all his best offense and Regal bumping and selling masterfully for him. The spot of the match is Regal taking a breather from getting hit with the knockout punch only for Badd to give him and Sir William a cross body on the floor. The finish was set up well but executed poorly. Regal reverses a sunset flip into a cradle that took way too long. This was a very good show opener and another plus in a great year for Regal.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd/Ricky Steamboat WCW Main Event 8/14/94

This was a well-structured tag match that had the appropriate FIP segment and a finish with a twist. Badd played FIP for a solid few minutes and took a nice bump off an Austin back elbow. There was a very good cut off spot where Badd tried to muster up some offense but Austin caught him with a back body drop. After watching a ton of WCW tags from this period, Austin is excellent as the heel working cut off spots. His timing and ring positioning is terrific. Steamboat got the hot tag and cleaned house with his usual high impact, crowd loving offense. In the finish Regal is the legal man but is tripped by Badd and Steamboat pins Austin off a rollup even though Austin isn’t the legal man. Like I said before, this was a solid mid-90s WCW tag match with a fair number of good spots in it.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Antonio Inoki WCW Clash of the Champions 28 8/28/94

This was a novelty and not much else. It was interesting to watch Regal wrestling more of a shoot style kind of match. Not to mention he’s wrestling such a well-known like Inoki. Most of this match consisted of Regal laying in on Inoki with aggressive shoot style holds and adding in the occasional strike. Inoki kept on going for the sleeper throughout the match and I feel they teased that up pretty well. What hurt this the most was the annoying ass backstage footage of Hogan limping into the building and Bockwinkel walking down to the ring to join the commentary booth and discuss the matter. What a horrible way to respect Inoki and Regal during an importantly advertised bout. This was simply just a novelty because the match itself wasn’t much and the secondary shit just made it worse.

 

“Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Fall Brawl 1994 9/18/94

This was a legitimately great match. Badd was ridiculously over at this point and it definitely shows in this. This starts out as the usual Badd-Regal encounter with Badd getting the better of the champion with wrestling holds. Regal rolls to the floor to take his usual breather and Badd dives on him and Sir William. Once they get back in the ring Badd goes for a cross body but misses and takes a lunatic bump against the ropes. Regal takes advantage and works on Badd really well here with holds and stiff strikes. Badd occasionally will try a comeback but instead meets a knee or an elbow or a forearm. He gets several near falls on quick pin attempts but to no avail. Badd goes for a sunset flip but Sir William assists Regal and Regal falls on Badd but the ref kicks Sir William off. Sir William tries to help Regal again by holding Badd on the ropes but gets hit by Regal instead. Badd gets a tremendous near fall off a small package. Regal starts to get the upperhand again but gets caught in a back slide and a three count for the Badd title win. This was a brilliantly worked match by both guys and an exceptional gem that was found. This completes a superb year from Regal in 1994.

[Dylan Waco]

Loving all of these reviews. I really want to watch Regal v. Badd now as I have no memory of those.

[Timbo Slice]

One of my favorite wrestlers ever for always trying to do something different in a match that didn't take away from the regular things that made him great. Extremely versatile. Great punches. The Flair matches sold me on him and then the Zbysyko series made me a fan for life. It was all gravy after that. Still think he's the most underutilized wrestler in history: He did things better than most top-run heels and was able to get not just himself but his opponents and the match over as well. And he was most underutilized as a face, where his fiery antics were about as good as it got and we only saw it rarely. And keep the reviews coming. The more the merrier.

[ohtani's jacket]

This thread finally prompted me to watch that Regal/Singh match from South Africa. That was a really good performance from Regal considering how he looked on his World of Sport performances at the time. He certainly wasn't given the opportunity to wrestle like that on television, which made me wonder what his houseshow performances were like at the time and whether he was stuck playing the young lad on TV. There are a couple of Singh matches I like, but he always wrestled a really slow burning, grind 'em out style on television and never showed much personality. I've read before that he wasn't all that popular among the Asian fans at the time because of that lack of charisma, which is the polar opposite of what was going on in South Africa. I must have only watched his work from the early 80s, because I don't remember him getting so large and veteran looking. And I can't remember a time when he ever drew such heat. I don't know whether he was the promoter, though. The internet says Tiger Jeet Singh was involved but the internet could be wrong. Gil Singh seemed to work for the promoter regularly though, because he was on the undercard of the Hogan vs. Terry Funk match from '82.

[Phil Schneider]

Watched the Taylor match on Exposers rec

 

Lord Steven Regal v. Terry Taylor WCW 1/1/94-GREAT

 

Hell of a start to 1994 for Regal. This felt almost like a US version of a lucha maestros match. Taylor is pretty bland but can put on simple holds which Regal can find awesome ways of working counters around. First part of the match was Regal working a top wrist lock and then Taylor working a body scissors. Could be dull in other peoples hands, but Regal has a ton of nifty spots built around wrist locks and bodyscissors. There is always action in every hold. Finish got a little chippy with Regal slapping down Taylor's lock up attempts and throwing forearms. They finally finished with the fish flop counter sequence (which wasn't a cliche in 1994) which Taylor was a little awkward at. Very cool stuff though and probably a top 10 Terry Taylor match

[soup23]

Regal really deserved better in 1994. He was amazing when given opportunities as evidenced by the Zbysko feud, Arn match, and Flair Queensbury. I have no idea why he got shafted so much as the year progressed and was devalued. He did his best to overcome that by still having good matches with Badd but of honestly all the people hurt by Hogan and his buddies coming into WCW, I think Regal was at the top of the list as he greatly got lost in the shuffle.

[Dylan Waco]

Regal deserved better many times. He was always over and there were points where he was one of the more over guys on the roster in both WCW and the WWE. If he had even one solid main event push he would be considered an elite level wrestler by far more people.

[goodhelmet]

I am thinking it was the drugs and alcohol.

[shoe]

On the Regal/ Taylor match. I thought for years that they work it just like a Kevin Von Erich- Jimmy Garvin match from the WCCW set.

[El-P]

I am thinking it was the drugs and alcohol.

Yep.

 

If you listen to Regal's interviews, he also don't think of himslef as a guy who should be pushed as a main event act.

[tomk]

I am thinking it was the drugs and alcohol.

 

Didn't seem to hurt anyone else, feels more like he just wasn't drinking and drugging with the right group of peers.

[soup23]

I am thinking it was the drugs and alcohol.

Yep.

 

If you listen to Regal's interviews, he also don't think of himslef as a guy who should be pushed as a main event act.

 

This is nice that Regal is humble and recognizes the demons he was dealing with but Starrcade was headlined with fucking Brutus Beefcake. I think Regal would have been favorable to him.

[NintendoLogic]

My take on Regal is that he's absolutely outstanding at the little things that add spice to a match. But he's not nearly as good at the big picture type stuff, so the whole tends to be less than the sum of its parts. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single Regal match that was really strong from a storytelling standpoint. Also, someone needs to tell Phil that Durban, South Africa has a huge Indian population. In fact, it's the largest of any city outside of India.

[JerryvonKramer]

There needs to be more talk of his facials. He may have the best face in wrestling history.

[goodhelmet]

Steven Regal vs. Shinya Hashimoto 9/21/96

-This isn't as epic as the 1995 match but if that one was a war then this was the chess match. While I disagree with NL's assertion that Regal wasn't good at the big picture, he absolutely does the little things right in this match. You have to pay attention to every limb, to every joint, to every digit. At first, Hash is working a headlock but you are tuned into Regal's hands as he palm thrusts Hash in the stomach to break loose. Regal applies a wrist lock but you are paying attention to his knee scraping across Hash's face. At the end, when Hash starts breaking out the big moves, you feel he has earned the victory and guys like Phil and Eric should go out of your way to see this match. Those who aren't high on Regal to begin with, why bother?