10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2008
6. What Could’ve Been With William Regal
This had so much potential.
The ever-talented William Regal won King Of The Ring by beating CM Punk on the 21 April Raw. Regal was excellent in this role, but was promptly suspended on 20 May for violating the Wellness Policy. He’d return in late-July for a match vs. Punk for the World Heavyweight Title, then won the IC Title from Santino Marella on 3 November, but things were never the same.
Personally, this guy had one thought in his mind when binging episodes of Raw from 2008: Regal could’ve been pushed to the top of the card after winning KOTR. He was on top of his game, but that suspension ruined everything. Never mind things changing forever once WWE went HD - things were never the same for Willy once that 60-day suspension kicked in.
In retrospect, his alliance late in the year with Layla was a crafty decision by creative too. That gave the Diva something impactful to do, and it made Regal look like a cold hearted son of a bitch for ripping her away from prior love interest Jamie Noble. There wasn't much romantic fluff between William and Layla, but he took her away because he could.
This should be considered one of the finest main event pushes that got away from WWE's writers. Imagine the fun they could've had with Regal challenging Triple H for the WWE Title at SummerSlam instead of Khali (a SmackDown story, but still...), or how much work William could've done to help Punk bed in as World Champ every Monday on Raw.