Darrin Matthews

Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), having served as a manager in the latter promotion.

Trained by Marty Jones, Matthews started his career at the age of 15 in 1983. His first matches took place at one of the rare final wrestling carnival booths at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. He went on to wrestle for national promotions on the British wrestling circuit and wrestled on television for ITV. He then progressed to touring around the world until 1993 when he was signed to WCW, where he took the ring name Steven Regal and became a four-time WCW World Television Champion.

In 1998, Matthews joined the WWF (later WWE), where he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Hardcore Champion, a four-time European Champion, a four-time World Tag Team Champion, and the 2008 winner of the King of the Ring tournament. He also had stints as on-screen authority figures such as commissioner, General Manager of Raw, and match co-ordinator for the 2011 season of the original ''NXT''. As NXT became WWE's developmental brand in 2012, he appeared as the on-screen General Manager; behind the scenes, he began serving as WWE's Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting from 2018 until he was released in 2022. He then signed with AEW and debuted as the founder and manager of the Blackpool Combat Club, leaving the company nine months later to return to WWE as the vice-president of Global Talent Development.

Early life

Darren Kenneth Matthews was born in Codsall on 10 May 1968."Walking a Golden Mile", p.1 He grew up admiring wrestlers Terry Rudge and Jon Cortez, whom he later called "wrestlers' wrestlers".

Professional wrestling career

Early years (1983–1992)

After training under Marty Jones, Matthews made his debut wrestling for promoter Bobby Barron at his wrestling challenge booth at the Horseshoe Showbar at Blackpool Pleasure Beach at the age of 15. In time, he graduated to be a shooter at the booth, using brutal submission holds to defend prize money against challenges from members of the public. By this time, he wrestled professionally all over Britain for All Star Wrestling where he regularly teamed with Robbie Brookside as The Golden Boys tag team. Both Regal and Brookside appeared in several televised matches during the final years (1987–1988) of ITV's coverage of British wrestling.

Matthews went on to tour worldwide, including Germany and South Africa. In 1991, he received a tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation. Matthews relayed that through Lord Alfred Hayes, WWF had become interested in seeing the young wrestler and offered him an opportunity at the WWF UK Rampage Show on 24 April 1991. Wrestling in a dark match, he appeared as Steve Regal and teamed with Dave Taylor and Tony St. Clair to defeat Drew McDonald, Chic Cullen, & Johnny South. Later that year, he received a second booking and wrestled Brian Maxine at the Battle Royal at Albert Hall in London, England on 3 October 1991. Two months later, Matthews was again wrestling on the UK swing of a major American promotion, although this time it was World Championship Wrestling. Appearing as Steve Regal, he wrestled six matches on WCW's tour of the United Kingdom and faced Terrance Taylor, Jimmy Garvin, Giant Haystacks, and Oz (Kevin Nash).

During this early period, he was billed as Steve Regal, a name he saw in an American wrestling magazine (in use by "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal). There were two exceptions to this. One was when he wrestled in Wales during this period, including appearances on S4C's Welsh language wrestling TV show ''Reslo'' under the name Steve Jones and was billed from Cardiff, Wales, teaming with Orig Williams and faced Fit Finlay among others. The other was a brief stint for Joint Promotions in 1986 where he wrestled his first two televised matches under the name Roy Regal. Otherwise, he stuck with the name Steve Regal up until shortly after his arrival in World Championship Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling (1992–1998)

World Television Champion (1993–1994)

In the fall of 1992, Matthews reached out to Bill Watts on a position in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Watts responded favourably to Regal's letter and offered him a contract. He began as a fan favourite character, still as Steve Regal. Regal made his televised debut on 30 January 1993 episode of ''Saturday Night'' and defeated enhancement talent Bob Cook in his in-ring debut on the following week's ''Saturday Night''. Shortly after his debut, Regal entered a tournament for the vacant WCW World Television Championship in which he defeated The Barbarian in the first round before losing to Johnny B. Badd in the quarterfinals.

He became the villain "Lord Steven Regal" on 12 June episode of ''Saturday Night'', claiming descent from William the Conqueror and Sir William began serving as his manager. At times arrogantly charming in this persona, one of his memorable statements to a post-match interviewer was: "Do you know what my New Year's resolution is going to be? To wake up a half an hour earlier so I can hate you more". His first major win after the character change was against Marcus Alexander Bagwell on 16 June ''Clash of the Champions XXIII''. Regal was scheduled to face Bagwell's partner 2 Cold Scorpio on 18 August ''Clash of the Champions XXIV'', but he was replaced by Bobby Eaton. Regal himself substituted for the injured Brian Pillman to team with Steve Austin in a WCW World Tag Team Championship defence against Arn Anderson and Paul Roma; Regal and Austin lost that match.

Regal won the World Television Championship by defeating Ricky Steamboat at the inaugural Fall Brawl pay-per-view on 18 September with the help of Sir William. Regal unknowingly broke his neck during this match. Regal enjoyed a lengthy title reign as he retained the title against a flurry of challengers, beginning with his first televised title defence against Arn Anderson on 9 October episode of ''Saturday Night'' which ended in a fifteen-minute time limit draw. He then defended the title against fellow Brit Davey Boy Smith, whom he faced to a fifteen-minute time limit draw at Halloween Havoc. Regal then successfully retained the title against Johnny B. Badd on 10 November '' Clash of the Champions XXV'' and retained the title against Steamboat at Starrcade and Dustin Rhodes on 27 January 1994 '' Clash of the Champions XXVI'', with both matches ending in time limit draws. Regal continued his successful title defences in 1994 by beating Arn Anderson at SuperBrawl IV and fighting a time limit draw against Brian Pillman at Spring Stampede. In the spring of 1994 on '' WorldWide'', Regal challenged Ric Flair to a best-of-five series under Marquess of Queensberry Rules in which Regal lost to Flair with 1 win, 2 losses and 2 draws.

The following month, Regal lost a non-title match to Larry Zbyszko at Slamboree, leading to a title match on the 28 May episode of ''Saturday Night'', in which he dropped the title to Zbyszko. Regal regained the title from Zbyszko on 23 June '' Clash of the Champions XXVII''. Regal began a feud with Sting and was booked to defend the title against Sting at Bash at the Beach. However, Sting was injured prior to the event and was replaced by Johnny B. Badd, whom Regal defeated to retain the title at Bash at the Beach. Regal lost to the wrestling legend Antonio Inoki on 28 August '' Clash of the Champions XXVIII''. In September, Regal lost the title to Badd at Fall Brawl.

The Blue Bloods (1994–1998)

Shortly after losing the television title to Badd, Regal dropped Sir William as his manager (Dundee was fired from WCW due to a contract dispute). Beginning with 26 November episode of ''Saturday Night'', Regal began scouting fellow aristocrat Jean-Paul Levesque during his matches, which lead to the duo forming a tag team on 21 January 1995 episode of ''Pro'', when they defeated Brad and Scott Armstrong. Shortly after, Levesque left WCW and he was replaced by Alabama-born Bobby Eaton when Regal and Eaton faced each other in a match on 18 March episode of ''Saturday Night''. Regal stopped the match and proposed that he and Eaton form a team, which Eaton accepted. Regal formed the team The Blue Bloods with Eaton and was involved in humorous vignettes where he tried to teach Eaton the finer points of dining and the proper usage of the Queen's English. The duo first began teaming on 8 April episode of ''WCW Saturday Night''. Regal also toured WCW's working partner New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on 16 April, where he unsuccessfully challenged Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Blue Bloods quickly entered the title picture as they initially feuded with The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), their complete opposites in terms of "sophistication" and presentation. Blue Bloods unsuccessfully challenged Nasty Boys for the WCW World Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash. On 24 June episode of ''WorldWide'', Blue Bloods retaliated by costing Nasty Boys, the tag team titles against Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray). Blue Bloods faced Harlem Heat and Nasty Boys for the title in a triangle match at Bash at the Beach, where they failed again. Blue Bloods soon dropped off the title picture and continued to compete as a mid-card tag team. They added "Squire" David Taylor to the team and Jeeves as their lackey by the end of the year. Eaton and Regal received a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Championship against Sting and Lex Luger on 23 January ''Clash of the Champions XXXII'', where they failed to win the championship.

On 27 January episode of ''Saturday Night'', Regal was attacked by the debuting Belfast Bruiser during a match, sparking a feud between the duo as the Belfast Bruiser was a Northern Irishman, who developed an on-screen hatred with Regal due to him being English. In March, Regal faced the Bruiser in a match at Uncensored, but Regal lost the match by disqualification after Eaton and Taylor attacked the Bruiser. On 29 April episode of ''Monday Nitro'', Regal defeated the Bruiser in a Parking Lot Brawl. The duo were scheduled to team in the Lethal Lottery at Slamboree, but the Bruiser suffered an injury and was replaced by Dave Taylor. Regal and Taylor lost to Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet. Regal challenged Sting to a match to gain some attention in the company, leading to a match between the two at The Great American Bash, which Regal lost.

On the 31 August episode of ''Saturday Night'', Regal captured the World Television Championship for the third time by getting an upset victory over Lex Luger after Luger was attacked by The Outsiders. After winning the title, Regal solely began focusing on his title reign and the Blue Bloods became inactive. He held the title for five months and defended the title against the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Dean Malenko, former partner Bobby Eaton and Psychosis. Regal was scheduled to defend the title against Rey Misterio Jr. at SuperBrawl VII

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