William Regal’s first AEW promo from the Weds., Mar. 11 Dynamite has generated quite a bit of conversation about his emotion-packed delivery, and his timing issues.
In addition to those topics, a bit early on about the recovering addict’s outlook on his future raised quite a few eyebrows:
“And my time is flying by. I’m 53 now, and let’s face facts — I’ve lived more than a hard life. I’ve made it that way. Through battles in the ring, to battles with myself. And it won’t be that long, let’s face facts, probably in the next — I don’t know, til I’m 65 — 12 years til the wife’s pushing me to the sunny window so I can look out while the toast is dripping out of my mouth.
“Because I know that I’m not long for this world. Too many empty bottles, thousands of them. And a few broken hearts, sweetheart.”
The reaction turned to genuine concern for many when the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter included this item:
Regal mentioned about having limited time left…Apparently Regal’s health issues at this stage are far more serious than have ever come out and there is an interview that will be released next week that he did for Talk is Jericho that will detail them.
Regal would occasionally record his NXT General Manager segments “via satellite” during his time in WWE, and there were rumors of health issues. But we’d never been given the impression those were life threatening.
According to the man himself, it’s because they’re not. A day after expressing his dislike for gossip and disinterest in social media, Regal found himself back on Twitter to dispute Dave Meltzer’s report:
Already…. That’s why I stay out the runour mill and gossip!!! I’ve just found out that there’s things being printed about my health. I am healthier than I’ve been in many years. I talked this week to someone about things that had happened to me in 2018.
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) March 11, 2022
Glad to hear that the old villain is in good health — or at least better health than the Observer note led us to believe. We’ll find out more with on Talk Is Jericho next week.