William Regal Worked Tony Schiavone At AEW Revolution 2022
Tony Schiavone had no idea William Regal was at AEW Revolution 2022 until it happened...
Tony Schiavone was as kayfabed as anyone watching at home when William Regal debuted for AEW at Revolution 2022 this past Sunday.
The veteran announcer spoke of Regal's Revolution arrival on the latest episode of his What Happened When podcast. Saying he was "stunned" by the sudden appearance, Schiavone claimed the pieces started coming together in his head after the fact, recalling Bryan Danielson mentioning the former NXT General Manager in a recent interview segment (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
“I was absolutely stunned about William Regal,” Schiavone said. “I did not see him prior to that. Then all of a sudden, the live interview I had done with Bryan Danielson a few weeks prior made sense because he mentioned Regal’s name. I remember in that interview thinking, ‘Wow, that’s some inside baseball talk there. I don’t know if he got permission to say Regal’s name or not.’ It just didn’t dawn on me that Regal would show up.”
Continuing, Schiavone outlined how he reacted when he caught up with Regal backstage:-
“When he walked in, the fans went bananas chanting his name. It was a great scene. Before I went back and did my thing with Swerve, I ran back real fast and asked one of our producers backstage where Regal was. He said around the corner. Regal was standing there. I went up to him and grabbed him, hugged him, and said, ‘Well you son of a b*tch. You kayfabing son of a b*tch.’ He said, ‘How are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m doing excellent.’”
Regal's 22-year WWE tenure ended on 5 January, when the promotion let go of him as part of its latest round of personnel cuts. Prior to that, the Englishman had served as the company's Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting, as well as his on-screen role in NXT, though his appearances shrunk following NXT 2.0's birth in September.
Referencing Regal's WWE release, Schiavone said that seeing him show up in AEW was particularly gratifying as he had reached out to his old friend following the cut:-
“I thanked Moxley and Danielson for putting their bodies on the line to make a great show. I thank all the guys for doing that. It was a very good surprise for me personally because when he got the ax from the WWE, another unwarranted ax, I got in contact with him. I called him and we talked. He’s always been a good friend. He’s one of the great guys and actually one of the funniest guys that I’ve ever been around in my life.”
See? Sometimes we can have nice things.