Fans have been speculating regarding William Regal’s AEW status and a potential return to WWE. Reports recently emerged regarding his future. There has been some speculation that Regal could still stay with AEW, but all signs indicate that he has left AEW and returning to WWE. Fightful Select reported that Regal was “effectively done” with the company after he had been apparently written off TV on the November 30 episode of AEW Dynamite. PWInsider then reported that Regal was finalizing a new deal with WWE. Now, AEW President Tony Khan opened up on the matter.
Tony Khan breaks silence on William Regal
Speaking on the ROH Final Battle media conference call, Khan discussed Regal’s status with AEW. He noted that throughout September and October, he was dealing with a very challenging personal situation as his mother suffered two strokes. During this time, Khan learned that Regal asked the company not to renew his option at the end of the year so he could return to WWE and work with his son:
“I got a phone call and it was saying that William Regal had approached Megha (Parekh)and said that, and it was all very legitimate valid stuff, basically, he’s got a son who works in another wrestling promotion,” Khan said. “He really wanted us at the end of the year, when we had the option to renew his contract, he was asking that we would not.
“Nothing bad, we’re having a great time working together, but this is an opportunity for him to go back and work in these really golden years of his career with his son and do things he likes to do, coaching, and he’s got friends that he’d like to go back and work with. It’s a very complex situation for AEW because he’s a huge part of what we’re doing on-screen and we really value him, and there’s multiple storylines that he’s involved in at this point.”
After he learned about Regal’s request, Khan stated that the veteran called him, and they talked. Khan stated that he was sitting outside of the hospital after his mom had heart surgery, and in that situation, he could understand why Regal would want to be with his son.
“I got a message from Regal, and it was asking if we could talk. I made time to talk to him and I went outside the hospital,” Regal said. “So I’m sitting out on a park bench in front of the Mayo Clinic on Sunday night, and we had this really long, good talk. It was very positive, and he really had, I think good intentions, I’d like to say, for why he wanted to go back, and it made a lot of sense to me that he would want to work with his son and he with his son. He said to me, honestly, and it made sense, given where you’re sitting right now, does it make sense to you that I would want to go back and be with my son? At that point, where I was sitting, yeah it really did make a lot of sense to me.
“Frankly the last thing I wanted to do at that moment was prevent any parent and any child from being together as I was sitting on a park bench at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville when my mom was sleeping inside and recovering from a major operation. So I told him, I don’t know we’re gonna do it yet, I’m gonna have to do a lot of thinking. It’s gonna require more changes. I referenced earlier, there’s been a lot of that this year that we’ve tried to make the best of everything, and I really do believe we’ve been able to have great events through it all.”
