Captain McKay
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member But all out of badges so this is not one
Joined on: Jul 13, 2002 14:19:45 GMT -5
Posts: 4,993
|
Post by Captain McKay on Dec 9, 2013 22:31:33 GMT -5
So imagine becoming a wrestling fan in 1998 and watching only WWF. I had no idea who Regal was prior to becoming a fan earlier that year. And my first exposure was this.
Followed by the unforgettable theme song...
At the time, I figured "well, here's some guy no one's ever heard of" and assumed he'd be on TV for a short time. Of course, as I mentioned above, I'd never known Regal prior to this. Knowing now what a respected and accomplished worker Regal is, how in the hell did this ever get past the scrap of paper it was written on in the bar where drunk wrestling writers tried coming up with the worst ideas they could? I could see this flying in 1996, where gimmicks were the norm, but this was in the first strong year of the Attitude era, where things were "real" and not just a bunch of hokey caricatures.
Has anyone ever managed to figure this out?
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2013 23:39:31 GMT -5
This was my first taste of Regal as well.
He debuted with this gimmick at Survivor Series 1998 and was pretty much gone immediately after. When he returned a couple years later it was a whole different story.
I have no idea what they were thinking either. None.
|
|
|
Post by MrPerfect25 on Dec 10, 2013 0:29:29 GMT -5
I'm on the same page as you guys exactly. I knew his name just from being a hardcore wrestling fan. But it ended there. Then this pasty doofus comes out in a hardhat and that was all she wrote. I'll blame Vince Russo.
|
|
hammer
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jun 12, 2009 2:30:31 GMT -5
Posts: 2,619
|
Post by hammer on Dec 10, 2013 0:40:07 GMT -5
no denying, however, that his theme song was on par with the rougeaus and jive soul bro as the greatest of all time.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 0:57:17 GMT -5
I think he was in line for a decent push as they played those promo packages all the time. Not to mention that "Real Mans Man" theme song was released in a WWF: The Music CD. Also, he was protected in his Survivor Series match with X-Pac as it was a draw and Pac was real over at the time.
I think he was drugged up and Vince released him right after Survivor Series. I can't remember if he went back to WCW or just took time off before coming back to WWF as William Regal a couple years later.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 10:25:54 GMT -5
That entrance theme reeks of awesomeness. I remember it being played a couple of years on a superstars episode in England when he faced Daniel Bryan.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 12:18:14 GMT -5
yeah I was wondering just what the hell was going on too.......I was of course very familiar with Lord Steven Regal etc etc from WCW and this took me by surprise!!
|
|
|
Post by Flair Forever on Dec 10, 2013 15:17:13 GMT -5
Complete wrestlecrap; sometimes WWE is really way out there and this was one of those times.
|
|
|
Post by mikey1974 on Dec 10, 2013 19:40:28 GMT -5
I think he was in line for a decent push as they played those promo packages all the time. Not to mention that "Real Mans Man" theme song was released in a WWF: The Music CD. Also, he was protected in his Survivor Series match with X-Pac as it was a draw and Pac was real over at the time. I think he was drugged up and Vince released him right after Survivor Series. I can't remember if he went back to WCW or just took time off before coming back to WWF as William Regal a couple years later. yeah,he went back to WCW for 7 months or so,starting in mid-summer 1999 til Feb. 2000.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 19:54:38 GMT -5
Greatest damn theme in the history of WWE. All I got to say.
|
|
|
Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Dec 10, 2013 20:05:42 GMT -5
Regal actually made his debut for the WWF five or six months earlier on Raw (announced by Sable as Vince's big new signing, no less), and he was still in his traditional fancy robe. He had one match with Droz, but Regal really sucked and looked like crap.
He was heavily into drugs at the time and just coming off an injury/illness, so he got sent to training camp to get in shape. During the training camp, he broke his ankle and his leg. This caused him getting deeper into drugs. He just stayed in his room drinking Renutrient for a few months until they called him with the new gimmick idea.
In his own words in his book:
I was at Regal's first spoken word show last year, and he talked about the gimmick then. He said that the idea was the Man's Man was going to turn out to be gay (it was a Russo thing), but he got sent to rehab before it ever went anywhere.
|
|
|
Post by Self-Savior on Dec 10, 2013 20:45:02 GMT -5
Yeah that whole thing was pure WrestleCrap. Vince Russo is such a ing idiot for that idea. Before seeing him as the "Real Man's Man," I remembered him from WCW with Triple H and Dave Taylor.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 22:26:28 GMT -5
Wow I had no memory of him debuting before the mans man stuff.
|
|
WMDman
Main Eventer
Bad times don't last, but bad guys do.
Joined on: Jan 6, 2013 10:18:05 GMT -5
Posts: 4,469
|
Post by WMDman on Dec 10, 2013 22:30:27 GMT -5
I knew him from WCW and was kinda............disgusted
|
|
|
Post by Duck Holliday on Dec 11, 2013 3:13:01 GMT -5
I knew him originally for his WCW work... and to be honest I never really appreciated him 'till years later.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 3:19:06 GMT -5
I knew him from his action figure that he used to be in WCW and it was some kind of British guy but that is all I knew. Never watched WCW and I LIVED in Georgia.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 3:46:19 GMT -5
ing Vince Russo. That is all.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 6, 2024 5:00:41 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 10:27:03 GMT -5
Regal playing a Gay man on Attitude Era WWF tv......Im glad this didn't happen.it could have ruined him for good.as it was when he returned he had a pretty great run.....it may not have happened for him had he been saddled with this crap though
|
|
Captain McKay
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member But all out of badges so this is not one
Joined on: Jul 13, 2002 14:19:45 GMT -5
Posts: 4,993
|
Post by Captain McKay on Dec 11, 2013 13:57:03 GMT -5
I remember when he returned and started doing the whole "good manners and acting civilized" thing. I believe in his first segment back he was "Steven William Regal," before they dropped the "Steven" altogether. Pretty sure this was the segment with Jericho pulling the tablecloth off the table in the ring. Anyway, at that point, I'd seen him pop up a little on WCW TV, and when he came back I thought it was more an extension of that character, as opposed to the Man's Man we saw years ago. But it wasn't much time in between, so my friends and I still knew him as the Real Man's Man at first.
|
|
|
Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Dec 11, 2013 17:50:51 GMT -5
I remember when he returned and started doing the whole "good manners and acting civilized" thing. I believe in his first segment back he was "Steven William Regal," before they dropped the "Steven" altogether. Pretty sure this was the segment with Jericho pulling the tablecloth off the table in the ring. Yeah, they still used the Steven William thing for a little bit -- very briefly, though. That thing with Austin was the week after his return thing with Jericho and the tablecloth, and even though it's got the Steven William in the script, I think they just called him William Regal on the show.
|
|