MojoJsyn Posted February 10, 2013 Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 One of my wife's favorites. Whenever he pops up on screen and she happens to be watching a docu or Raw/Smackdown, she'll ask why don't they do more with him. She'd have him as world champ. She feels he is always entertaining no matter what they give him. Loves his facial expressions and can stand his matches and matches aren't something she holds very high to if she loves a wrestler. This is from someone who rarely watches wrestling since Eddie died and only watched it sparingly then. He has been one of my favorites for awhile now. Loved him in WCW. Though it's been awhile since I watched his tv title run, I remember loving it at the time. His time in WWE has been great. Will always wonder what kind of push he would have gotten back in 2008 when it seemed he was on the verge of a main event push till the wellness violation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Steve Regal vs. Terry Rudge (Hamburg 10/7/88) I've been waiting to see this for a long time and it didn't disappoint. Rudge was awesome during this period where he grew a moustache and worked the German tournaments. Regal worked from underneath but you'd expect that given that Rudge was one of the premier asskickers of the era and Regal was relatively inexperienced. I've been super impressed with how Regal looks in these late 80s handhelds compared to the bollocks TV matches he had with All-Star, but this was more of a Rudge showcase. That hammerlock spot was out of this world good. Steve Regal vs. Tony St. Clair (Reslo 1988) Tony St. Clair is a guy who've always said was a good foil for the top heels of the day, but this was the first time for me to really see him as a veteran. St. Clair controlled most of the match and it was pretty decent considering he was never much of a worker, but apart from a couple of flash holds it wasn't the most exciting match in world. Worth watching if you want to see early Regal but not outstanding. Steve Regal vs. Robbie Brookside (handheld) I think this is from early '88, possibly 1/8/88 at Gillingham. This was a fascinating look at what a long, non-televised houseshow match looked like compared to a TV match. Again, there was a stark difference between what the young workers were allowed to show on a houseshow and what they were meant to do at a taping. Regal looked amazing here. There was pretty much no difference between his work here and his work in WCW five years later. Match has a bit of down time since they're going long, but it's a well worked bout and a great look at how good Regal was even in '88. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoJsyn Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Any of those readily available on youtube or dailymotion? The Brookside match sounds fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 They're all from the same YT channel. I think they're from a Regal comp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoJsyn Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 Found it https://www.youtube.com/user/LardStevenRegal/videos?view=0 Will be watching these tonight or tomorrow. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Steven Regal vs. Ultimo Dragon (Slamboree 1997) - Regal no longer wants to go by “Lord” and Dusty proceeds to call him Lord Regal. Weird dynamic since both guys are heels but if Sonny Ono wasn’t at ringside, you know the fans would cheer Dragon easily. I love watching Regal on the mat. He was doing a test of strength spot and casually pushes down on Dragon’s calf to get the advantage. When Dragon was in a pinning position, Regal puts his knee in Dragon’s face to try and get the pin. Beautiful. Dragon controls with a headlock and they keep it moving including Regal locking his hands together in order to put Dragon in a pinning position. Usually guys just grab the tights or roll over. When Dragon goes on offense, it was pretty nasty and Regal eats it better than anyone. Regal continues to go for the Regal Stretch and the announcers do a good job of playing it up. Another example of Regal doing the little things right…. He elbows Dragon in the knee!!! Hot finish with a nice Regal chant going, some nice nearfalls from Dragon, Regal going back for the Regal Stretch and even some fighting outside. Dragon hits the Asai moonsault and it feels like a huge victory for Dragon to finally hit that move. Interference from Ono backfires and he hits Dragon in the back of the head. As Dragon faces Ono, Regal kicks him in the head, throws him in the ring, hits a reverse suplex and finally locks in the Regal Stretch. Really great stuff here. Not the best Regal match out there but I am glad I watched it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Steven Regal vs. Bill Goldberg (Nitro 2/9/98) - IN an attempt to let Goldberg squash his opponents in 30 seconds, this failed and I can see why Bischoff was pissed. As a wrestling contest, this was pretty awesome. Cravate takeovers, shooty headlock takedowns countered by a Goldberg head scissors. Fighting over armbars… good shit. I get the feeling if they would have let Goldberg with Regal in ten minute house show matches around the horn, Goldberg would have developed into a really good wrestler. Towards the end, it gets a little sloppy with Goldberg’s normally cool neckbreaker looking awkward and it looked like Goldberg was going for a spear but Regal turned his body so Goldberg had to settle for a shoulder block. Regal doesn’t sell much for the big guy and even hits Goldberg with a nasty headbutt before Goldberg ends it with a spear and Jackhammer. Regal still showed plenty of goods to show he still had it. Steven Regal vs. Bradshaw (Heat 11/1/98) - Regal’s a real man’s man here and Bradshaw just eats him up early on. Regal fights back with some European uppercuts and kicks but no real transition to Regal on offense. Bradshaw misses a big boot setting up the Regal plex for the pin. Nothing to see here from Regal. Not his best outing. Steven Regal vs. Dick Togo (SSN 11/28/98) - Early on, they feel each other out until Regal gives Togo what loks like a headbutt to the leg to take Togo down and then Regal just attacks the leg the entire match trying to set him up for the Regal Stretch. In between, Regal does some nasty stuff like a half crab while putting his knee in Togo’s back. Togo’s comeback doesn’t last long before Regal takes the leg out again and hooks it in for the Regal Suplex pin. Regal still has it even at the lowest point in his career. Steven Regal vs. Kidman (Nitro 7/12/99) - Kidman controls early but Regal bumps and sells for his offense so good enough. Kidman takes a huge bump to the floor where Finlay and Taylor just beat the shit out of him. Once inside, the next few minutes are an exercise in Regal torturing Kidman, twisting him up, applying surfboards, kneeing him in the face. Classic Regal. Sure enough, Kidman turns the tide on a powerbomb counter. The match looks like it was supposed to end with a shooting star press but Kidman botches the move and lasts nasty on his neck/head. Before the bad finish, this was really shaping up to be a great match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 Steven Regal vs. Prince Iaukea (Spring Stampede 4/6/97) - Some Larry Z level stalling by Regal to start. They work in and out of a Lrince headlock and Regal keeps it interesting going in and out of pins, turning the headlocks into wrist locks, and allowing Prince to get the better of heel Regal. Hell, after they engage into a test of strength and hooked into a knucklelock, Regal does some great shit before breaking the lock with a poke to the eye which Regal argues was a clean palm slap. Regal abuses him with signature uppercuts and even a full nelson but the Prince’s comeback spots aren’t very spectacular. Iaukea’s offense sucks but Regal bumps and sells for it anyway. Regal gets caught in a flash pin and loses the match but he still performed the Regal show well enough. He could have been in there with a broomstick because anything cool happening in this match was almost entirely due to Regal. A fun Regal performance but not a great match since his opponent doesn’t bring much to the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno, NXT 3/21/13 This was a masterful selling performance from Regal and a pretty brutal match. I was actually a little uncomfortable with how violent it was, largely because so much of Ohno's offence was based on running kicks to Regal's head and somehow Regal made his face turn unnaturally purple, but for a studio TV match in a developmental territory you couldn't ask for much more from this. Regal fans will eat it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 Cosign, it was definitely uncomfortable at times but they got around that with some phenomenal storytelling and selling. Loved the work on the fingers and hand there. Like a modern day WMC studio match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrews Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 Match with Benoit at Pillman tribute show is in my top 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Steve Regal vs. Indio Guajaro (10/15/89) A few minutes worth of clips, mostly of both guys delivering body shots, but fun while it lasted. Steve Regal vs. Rene Lasartesse (10/18/89) This was over way too quickly, either by editing or by design, but I don't think it's much of a surprise that this was the first Rene Lasartesse match I've enjoyed in a while. Regal was already a talent here and his big uppercut based comeback against Lasartesse was the birth of cool. Wish we had this in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 8, 2013 Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 I just read something about Regal that intrigued me. That when he won King of the Ring, he was still RAW GM and according to Wiki started having delusions "like King Lear". Is that true? And if so, is it as awesome as it sounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted November 8, 2013 Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 I just read something about Regal that intrigued me. That when he won King of the Ring, he was still RAW GM and according to Wiki started having delusions "like King Lear". Is that true? And if so, is it as awesome as it sounds? Totally. He had a big throne, Layla by his side and cut off a Raw broadcast in the middle of a Cena/HHH main event. It didn't last though since he failed wellness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted December 27, 2013 Report Share Posted December 27, 2013 Antonio Cesaro vs. William Regal, NXT 11/21/13 This was another excellent performance from Regal. I still find the intensity of his selling a bit unnerving at times, but at least he didn't turn purple this time. The early matwork was good by modern standards, in a year where I felt a lot of the great older mat workers started to slow down a bit. Cesaro had some nice offence, but I thought some of his legwork was a bit too "look at my psychology." The first half of the match was stronger than the second, which dragged this down a bit, and I wasn't into Cesaro selling both of his arms or the dramatic facial expressions he was making in the over wrought finish, but definitely a strong television bout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Steven Regal vs. Spanky (MCW 9/9/00) - Early on, Spanky tries to lock up with Regal and Regal throws him to the ground like Andre throwing Hoshino to the ground. Spanky does some flippy shit so Regal just knokcs him on the ass with a nasty forearm. At one point, Spanky hits a hurrancanrana and it feels like a victory for him. More abuse from Regal but he does manage to escape a butterfly suplex with a flippy arm drag thing that looked neat. Regal is torturing this poor kid but it works because Spanky is pretty good at playing underdog getting his ass kicked. Regal puts Spanky on the top rope but Spanky gets a tornado DDT for a near fall. Spanky starts his offense and the announcers and Spanky don't believe he is in control. He goes for a frog splash and misses so Regal locks in the Stretch to end it. Really fun 5 minutes and Regal is still gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 A couple new discs for Goodhelmets Regal comp, covering his stuff since the end of WWECW would surely help me better decide how I feel about him..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Thought about it but he keeps coming out with badass matches in NXT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Regal fans should check out Regal/Eugene vs Christian/Tomko from New Years Revolution 2005. The heels work over Regal's bloody nose and he plays FIP in front of a very excited Puerto Rican crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Lets see what all hubbub is about William Regal vs Kassius Ohno - WWE NXT 4/10/13 There are wrestlers who when they are in a match it just becomes their match and it forces their opponent out of their comfort zone. When you watch a Regal match, you can't help but gravitate towards his performance. When I watch a Flair match, it is actually a pretty difficult for me to evaluate the opponent's performances sometime because Flair just does so much stuff. It is even harder for me in a Regal match because of how commanding he is in the ring. You will wrestle a Regal match. The only Chris Hero (he is Kassius Ohno for those of us who have trouble keeping up with the name changes as I know I do) matches I have are the live ones from ROH. To fully appreciate this match, I think I would need to have a better feel for Ohno/Hero. He did what he need to have a very great match. He zeroed in on his body part and he sold his body part well and uniquely. However, a similar complaint that I have with Cesaro at times (Cesaro isn't as bad and has more crowd-pleasing spots), he wrestles like no one is watching. There is just no interaction. Besides making some awful "mean", "intense" faces, there was just nothing. The manufactured intensity just feels so late 90s Nu Metal. It is lame. What makes it worse for Ohno is you have Regal giving a friggin' Emmy winning performance selling dazed and confused when he is on defense and I am going to fucking rip your fingers off when he is on offense. I wanted to get that out of the way because it is something that has been bothering me at times watching the WWE and watching the praise it gets. It still can feel too manufactured and sanitized. It is too damn self-aware is the real problem. Not to go off too much on a tangent, but I just watched the Wyatts/Shield from this past RAW in Chicago and for the first time since I can remember wrestling just seemed like wrestling. It did not feel self-aware, everything happened because two teams of three were trying to win a match. I am not saying every match has to be a chaotic, thrilling brawl where Rollins flies all over the fuckin place, Ambrose is an awesome lunatic and Reigns is Superman Punching bitches out of the sky, I am saying that WWE seems to be getting back to wrestling with interesting characters that motivated to win not have great matches. In this match, I think Regal proved you can have a very sound, "low-fi" match that can be a great match, but he just did not have the right partner to take this to all-time classic level. We should all thank our lucky stars that they did not make Brad Maddox a color commentator. Apparently, this is not just a teacher versus student feud, this is a blood feud, but they don't really explain the personal element. Regal's shine was really well-done. He worked the mat convincingly. He threw in a fun spot I love where he is jawing with the ref while mule kicking his opponent in the corner. Just tremendous. Ohno gets a knee lift to turn the tide and a baseball slide to the head to cement his advantage. Thus begins the first part of the psychology, Ohno is going after Regal's equilibrium and follows up repeatedly with kicks to the temple. Regal breaks out of his full nelson like anybody who has been kicked in the temple, he is pretty pissed and proceeds to try to rip Ohno fingers from their sockets. Additional psychology points because Ohno's finisher is a cravat thus finger strength is essential to the move. This is one segment, I thought Ohno really excelled was selling here. You have to verbal sell during finger psychology and he did. Finger are like eyes people just don't want those things fucked with. I am guessing Ohno is double jointed in his fingers, but that did not make it any less gruesome when he popped them in out of place. Double jointed people still give me the heeby jeebies. Ohno is able to create space by attacking Regal's head a lot. I did appreciate the laser focus on Regal's head especially the kick against the post and stomp on his head. Ohno sold the inability to apply the cravat well. Regal was giving a master class in selling in there. I don't think I have ever seen someone sell "the lights are on, but no one is home" as well as that. Discombobulated Regal still manages to throw Hero, but elbows to the head rock him on the Regal stretch attempt. Regal, on instincts, kicks out of a back drop driver and a big boot to head (great false finish). Hero goes for the Roaring Elbow, but Regal catches him first and hits a knee lift to head to win, which is a great payback spot.This is a great fundamentals match that features one of the all-time great Regal performances in terms of offense, selling and ring generalship. I am a sucker for body part psychology and thought each guy sold his body part well and uniquely. Ohno's performance lacked inspiration is my one quibble in a fantastic match. ****1/2 Am I the only one that liked Cesaro/Zayn III more than this match? It is nip and tuck, but I'd put Cesaro/Zayn over this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGinnetty Posted March 30, 2014 Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 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? All this. 100% agree. Regal channels "Fighting Spirit" as Hash nails him with repeated snap kicks to the chest. Regal fights his way back to his feet multiple times, and the crowd goes bananas for it! Regal "gets it", and had the Japanese crowd eating out of his hand while he puts over Hashimoto. Dan Ginnetty co-host, Toukon Retsuden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 There needs to be more talk of his facials. He may have the best face in wrestling history. Jokes aside, you're spot on, he is brilliant and conveying emotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.