10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2001 Facts

5. William Regal Performed With Herniated Discs

Austin Royal Rumble 2001
WWE.com

Regal was another one of those "now you see me, now you don't" entrants in the 2001 match, gone after just two minutes. According to The Ross Report at the time, Regal had a pretty good reason for his short visit in the Rumble match.

The suave Englishman was cleared to wrestle after receiving an epidural in his neck, to try and relieve two herniated discs. Regal was thrown out quickly by Test, and would actually lose his European Championship to him after a 90-second match on the following night's Raw.

Regal missed about a month of action after that, but continued to serve in his on-air role of commissioner. Regal returned shortly before No Way Out, and would begin building his spring feud with IC Champion Chris Jericho.

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Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.