William Regal on IF the WWE ruined British Wrestling

[RealityCheckWithJayCooper]

I can listen to Mr. regal talk all day. He is such a wealth of information and his insights are invaluable. Any promotion is blessed to have him on board.

[willshields]

The thing that killed the Bri'ish wrestling scene is half the talent being exposed as sex pests lol

[multiverseguy]

People forget how good NXT UK was at making main roster talent. Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Gunther, Piper Niven and JD McDonagh are people that came from NXT UK.

[wastelander]

It really is a shame that NXT UK died, It would have been great if they had got to the point where they had shows on every week up and down the country. A strong weekly UK show, showcasing all the talent the UK has to offer would have been brilliant.

[Halfdanr_H]

I work in the UK independent scene. What Regal is saying is true.
In 2024 it’s very hard to make money out of wrestling, it’s hard to get good training, and one has to sell merch, including the promoters, to keep things ticking over.

[andrewgraham]

ICW Glasgow never really recovered from the lockdowns nor has had the same draw. NXT UK was great if I’m honest as it took me back to the old European style wrestling days

[jonathanford]

The sad truth is that (taking All Star out of the equation, and maybe WAW through the summer) the only serious money being made in British wrestling is relatively untrained kids with a ring in a lock up teaching the very little they know to kids who know less.

I was trained by Keith Myatt, and we didn’t get anywhere near a ring until we knew how to legitimately stretch someone and more importantly, protect each other. Very few appreciate the importance of the suspension of disbelief.

[immortallegacy]

The UK basically had two or three PWGs, where the guys and girls wrestle on big cards, but for the most part, they work elsewhere the rest of the year, or were having to work other jobs because they weren't making a livable wage. You can make the argument that WWE raided the talent pool, but those promotions are still in business, WWE did them a solid more than once, and a LOT of those wrestlers are now major stars in WWE, AEW, and NJPW. I highly doubt Gunther or Rhea Ripley are too upset about what happened, or Ospreay and Saber, or a lot of the undercard guys and girls who came from the UK indie scene. They experienced a boom period, and even when NXT UK was founded in 2018, the scene was cooling off. The sex pests in the industry and Covid were what "killed" the scene.

[Peter-eo]

Unless Greg Dyke was working for the WWF in the 1980s then WWE did not kill UK wrestling.

[PaulDavies]

I grew up in the 1980's and was aware of Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, but never had much interest in British Wrestling.
The WWF exploded in the UK around Summerslam 1990 and was the fad every boy was talking about up until the end of 1991. We had sticker albums, VHS video tapes etc and other WWF merchandise, but most of us had zero interest in British wrestling.
British wrestling stopped being broadcast on tv in 1988 several years before the WWF fad started. The two situations are not linked.
The 1980's were basically all toy fads, we had Star Wars, then He-man, then we went onto Transformers, then Masked Crusaders, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then WWF wrestling. Basically we all watched a tv program and bought the toys.

[scottishjp]

Also regal is right alot of small time promoters only care about there pockets rather than the talent

[stephenharper]

He's spot on, seeing the side of the business that wasn't so glamorous for the wrestlers personally, it was unfortunately the way

[nlifepodcast]

2015 - 2018 was for me my favourite time to be a British Wrestling fan. I went to F&L, SSS16, York Hall, and so many promotions around the south. But everything William has just said is right. These lads went off and are now making us proud. But the main thing I agree with was there was fuck all protection for the talent. Some smaller promotions didnt start getting paramedics until it 2020, and I imagine there are still some out there that aren't. Also, talking to the wrestlers, I know there are still manipulating individuals in promotions up and down the country that take advantage of these peeps. They're still being told where they can or can't wrestle. Luckily, this isn't everywhere. There are some very good eggs out there trying to get these wrestlers over so they can go earn a living off of this in a big promotion.

There needs to be rotation of people making it, moving on, allowing others to get pushed, talent coming back down and getting younger talent over. British Wrestling will always be so dear to my heart, and I want to see these wrestlers make it.

[stevieweevyC]

As a kid. I didn't see that Big Daddy and Haystacks killed British Wrestling. I use to watch it with my nan who moved to Australia got me into the WWF.

[xthefun]

World of Sport Wrestling had a second go in 2018 on national TV and failed.

[craigshannon]

My comment might not be too popular, but I believe Big Daddy initially ruined British wrestling.
Even as a young child I thought it was ridiculous this old guy so out of shape was beating all this great talent by hitting them with his belly. Made British wrestling a joke when it was previously so popular, Everyone watched it back in the day. It only appealed afterwards to some young children and they lost the majority of fans. Was only there because his brother owned the company.
It's never been the same since.

[jonwoodmass]

Brother reflecting is natural healing. Love you bro in a i wish i could give you a big hug steve ❤️

[stevedunbar]

Saw you wrestling in Elgin Town Hall in 1989.Think Rollerball Rocco was on same bill.Used to see all the greats there.Great days.

[gothard]

I loved NXT UK. It was supposed to be rebranded as NXT Europe, but that fell through and never happened.

[connorscoarsefishingjourne]

I was at a lot of TNT shows and we was told certain people can’t be here because wwe said no to working certain events or companies