Steven Regal

[JerryvonKramer]

Holy shit, Regal might make a late surge for top 5.

 

I'm watching his match against Mutoh from 95, a match I've not seen pimped and never heard anyone talk about. Dude was fucking amazing.

[Matt D]

Watch the Christian series from 09 too and the FCW/NXT stuff.

[KB8]

It's Regal's WWE run that really fires him up my ballot. I actually watched all of the WCW footage on Will's Regal set a few years ago and thought that, while it was generally a great run, there were times where he maybe smothered guys too often. I mean, this is Regal and if you want someone taking the majority of a match then it might as well be him, but I still came out of it feeling a tiny bit cold on it. The WWE run is really stellar, though, right up to the NXT Cesaro match from 2013. I'm not sure how high he goes yet, but he'll do well.

[Grimmas]

Watch the Christian series from 09 too and the FCW/NXT stuff.

Seconded. His Ambrose, Hero, Christian and Goludst matches all were awesome.

[JerryvonKramer]

I've basically spent most of today marking the fuck out at Regal in 95-6, holy shit!

[Matt D]

Which makes you perfectly prepared to mark out for late career Regal.

[InYourCase]

His best stuff, to me at least, is the Benoit stuff from Velocity and No Mercy and the Hero match from NXT. Parv, I think you'll dig those a lot.

[Grimmas]

Which makes you perfectly prepared to mark out for late career Regal.

Part of me enjoys old man Regal more than prime Regal.

[JerryvonKramer]

Latest batch: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32779-regal-jvk-edn/&do=findComment&comment=5732074

 

Takeaway:

Regal is just on some next-level shit here in 95-6, just unlike any other worker around and clearly one of the best wrestlers in the world. The matches with Mutoh and Finlay (Uncensored) are just blow away good.

 

Before exploring late Regal, I need to go back and see him against Hash and some of the other NJ boys. That match with Mutoh came out of nowhere! And I need to see him in that environment some more.

[Venegas]

Regal's match vs Hash from 95 was a legit all time great match and an all time great performance by him.

[JerryvonKramer]

Matches vs. Hash, Hase / Sasaki: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32779-regal-jvk-edn/?p=5732253

 

Select matches circa 2001: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32779-regal-jvk-edn/?p=5732263

 

Take away:

 

Notable stepdown in the level of Regal's work during this stretch. I mean my real antipathy for the environment doesn't help but ... It's not like he's working scrubs here, and most of these matches aren't hitting any real highs.

 

There is no doubt that Regal is a top 30 worker in the world here, but -- like someone like a Ted DiBiase in, say, 1991 -- he's a world class worker working very much within the limits of the WWF style, which leads to regular phoning it in. Of these only the Austin match would count towards his V rating, and none towards his G rating.

[JerryvonKramer]

2006: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32779-regal-jvk-edn/?p=5732287

 

 

I have become disillusioned and actually feel pretty disinclined to continue. What started off today with some hot matches from the mid-90s has just become a depressing endless line of listless TV jobs for Regal. Watching this stuff is actively hurting his rating with each and every match, to the point where I'm thinking of cutting his peak at 2001.

[elliott]

I ranked Regal 40th in 2016 and I think that's just about perfect. 

[Tetsujin]

Recently I watched the Hashimoto match and it blew me away. What a fantastic match, and Regal was tremendous as the driving force of it.

[Clayton Jones]

They had at least one more match too that I've been looking for footage of forever, does anyone know if it exists?

[ohtani's jacket]

Are you talking about their 1996 G1 climax match? That exists on tape. They also had a tag match from the night before -- Hashimoto/Black Tiger vs. Regal/Bagwell. There's a Regal/Taylor tag from the same tour, but that has to be clipped. 

[strobogo]

Regal was always a delight his entire WCW run. Didn't matter if it was 10-15 minute TV draws, 20 minute PPV matches, or 2-3 minute matches on Nitro. Even his not so healthy period in WCW is still a treat to watch him in nothing matches against nothing talents. I wish there was more of a premium on good TV matches in WWE during his time, as there was a good 5 year chunk where he was featured constantly but rarely got more than 5 minutes in the ring when the roster was so incredibly stacked and it's a real bummer. So many classics he could have had. It's really not until he gets moved to Smackdown in 2005/2006 that he's able to start really having some quality matches again, most of them all also involving Benoit or Finlay. 

 

I'm also still baffled at a Bluebloods reunion on Smackdown in 2006/2007.

[Clayton Jones]

17 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Are you talking about their 1996 G1 climax match? That exists on tape. They also had a tag match from the night before -- Hashimoto/Black Tiger vs. Regal/Bagwell. There's a Regal/Taylor tag from the same tour, but that has to be clipped. 

I'd love to see both of those! I'm assuming that's the match he mentions here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/realkingregal/status/580865770189504512?lang=en

[KB8]

I had Regal at number 48 in 2016, right next to Finlay which I guess maybe felt fitting for whatever reason. When I rejigged my ballot a couple years ago I had him down the list a bit, but I've watched some later career Regal since then and he's back to being a top half guy. I'm probably a bit of a low voter on him, but it's Regal, he fucked ruled and there's no way I couldn't have him somewhere. Over the years I maybe lost sight of how much good-to-great stuff he has. I don't know if the pre-WCW run is something that'll really bolster his case, but '93-'96 is a brilliant run. I'll say that there were matches where I thought he maybe took a wee bit too much of the match, but it's a small quibble and it's not like he wasn't great working from above anyway. He has a sort of extended down period after that - albeit with some badass stuff sprinkled in, like the Austin strap match in 2001, any of the Benoit matches, at least one tag match when he was pairing with Eugene - but then in 2006 he finds his footing again and pretty much rules it consistently for as long as he made tape. Like Finlay, Regal is another amazing input candidate, where I can watch pretty much any match he's in, against pretty much any opponent, whether it's thirty seconds or thirty minutes, and find something to enjoy about the performance. 

 

WILLIAM REGAL YOU SHOULD WATCH:

v Larry Zbyszko (WCW Saturday Night, 5/28/94)

v Shinya Hashimoto (New Japan, 4/16/95)

v Fit Finlay (WCW Uncensored, 3/24/96)

v Chris Benoit (WWE No Mercy, 10/8/06)

v Antonio Cesaro (NXT, 12/25/13)

[Matt D]

Again, a Regal podcast thing. He said he never went out trying to be one of the "Best bouts" guys but wanted to be the best wrestler when it came to detail work and everything making sense and nothing having any holes in it. It means he'd score rather poorly in a GME poll but under certain criteria might score extremely highly on a GWE one.

[brockobama]

Reviewed a bunch of his matches a few years ago and came away thinking that he was awesome but was going to miss my list, largely due to some significant down periods in a lengthy career. That complaint still stands but everything I've done since then makes the idea of him not making my top 100 sillier and sillier. Has the scientifically proven best match of the 2010s and every time I've seen him pop up when I've been working on someone else's case I've thought "goddamn is Regal great". This BCC run ten years after his retirement just further emphasizes how much of a presence he has in whatever he's involved in. Lock for the massive, amorphous middle of my list.