10 Most Radical Wrestler Attitude Adjustments

10. William Regal

NXT and WWE Performance Center doyen William Regal is always a picture of resplendence at his suited and booted best, and doesn’t even appear too separated from the snooty stereotype he brilliantly portrayed during his most famous tenure. It was a far cry from the real Darren Matthews at his worst, and the gimmick he badly failed with before ‘William’ came to life.

Throughout the 1990s, Regal relentlessly abused drugs and alcohol alongside numerous freewheeling WCW colleagues, with a particular low being when he urinated on a flight attendant without even realising he was doing so. He couldn’t even recall it when he woke up in a jail cell hours later. He escaped the Atlanta asylum in 1998, but hadn’t gotten away from his real problems, appearing drunk with a slurring promo at Goldust’s expense during a match whilst working as his useless ‘Real Man’s Man’ persona.

The transformation when he made a permanent return in 2000 was striking. The upgraded version of his WCW ‘Lord’ gimmick was enhanced by deft touches he made through straight-thinking sobriety. The Regal that returned was the same one that survives to this day as a vital cog in WWE’s greedy talent acquisition machine.