10 Most Inspirational Wrestling Stars Of All Time
6. William Regal
For a long time Darren ‘William Regal’ Matthews was the king of the game face, able to turn it on once he walked through the curtain, deliver a fantastic performance, and then fall apart once again in private. His issues with substance abuse had been going on for years, and for years he’d managed to cover it in the ring through sheer talent.
However, by the mid nineties, even he couldn’t hide the extent of his drug addiction. His physique and conditioning were suffering, and his ring work had become phoned in, to the extent that sometimes he’d just leave a message.
In 1997, while working for WCW as Steven Regal, Regal was arrested and taken off a plane on the way home from Japan for (amongst other things) urinating on a flight attendant while wasted. He remembered nothing of the incident: at first, Eric Bischoff simply suspended him, but it wasn’t long before he was released altogether. He’d find work with the WWF fairly easily, but his drug problems were beyond hiding by this point: he actually passed out during the job interview.
Regal’s a tall guy, so it took a little longer for him to hit rock bottom, and his addictions had a self-destructive element to them. In addition to the painkillers and booze, he became hopelessly addicted to GHB, a drug with a sedative effect. It caused havoc with his family life, nearly driving him genuinely insane. At his lowest point, he locked himself in a bedroom for weeks on end, grimly focused on turning his brain to useless mush.
Waking up in hospital for the final time was his wake-up call. It was like a light being flicked on in his skull: he was, simply put, ready to quit and sort his life out.
Regal has been clean and sober for seventeen years now, and made amends with his wife and family in the nick of time to avoid losing them. He’s a credit to the industry and to life in general, one of the leading lights of WWE backstage and in NXT, where his thirty-three years of experience is invaluable in ushering in the next generation of superstars.
He’s also living proof that, with hard work and the support of your peers and loved ones, you can come back from anything.