AEW President Tony Khan has responded to reports that William Regal is leaving the promotion to return to WWE.
Regalis will return to WWE after the new year when his contract with AEW expires this month, where he will work in a backstage role.
Regal betrayed Jon Moxley by assisting MJF at AEW Full Gear, costing him the AEW World Heavyweight Title. The AEW World Heavyweight Champion attacked Regal on Dynamite last week in order to get him off the show.
Khan addressed Regal’s departure from the promotion during the ROH Final Battle media scrum.
Khan revealed that his mother had a stroke between All Out PPV and Dynamite’s Grand Slam edition. She was doing better after treatment, but had a second stroke around his birthday. Around this time, Khan learned that Regal approached Megha Parekh, a member of AEW’s legal team, and requested that the promotion not renew his contract because he wanted to return to WWE to be near his son and to coach alongside some of his old friends in his golden years. Khan explained that this occurred when doctors discovered a spot on his mother’s heart that they believed could be repaired surgically to help prevent strokes.
On October 16, Regal texted him and asked to speak with him while Khan was at the Mayo Clinic. Khan stated that they had a good conversation but that they needed to consider Regal’s request and decided that major changes would be required to accommodate his request.
Khan wished Regal the best of luck in the future, and they spoke just this week. The AEW President stated that they both enjoyed their time together, but Regal’ is not leaving the company just yet. He claimed it was the best thing he could do for Regal. He went on to say that he wouldn’t be able to accommodate every similar situation for a family reunion, but he was happy to do so in this case.
Here is a transcript of what Khan said, thanks to Jeremy Lambert:
“I got a phone call saying William Regal had approached [Chief Legal Officer] Megha (Parekh) and said, it was all very legitimate and valid stuff, basically, he has a son who works in another wrestling promotion [WWE] and he really wanted us, at the end of the year when we had the option to renew his contract, he was asking that we would not. Nothing bad. We were having a great time working together, but this is an opportunity for him to go back and work in these golden years of his career with his son and do things that he likes to do, coaching, and he has friends that he would like to go back and coach with. It’s a very complex situation for AEW because he’s a huge part of what we’re doing on-screen and we really value him. There are multiple storylines he’s involved in, and as we were going to Toronto that week, obviously, I had a lot on my mind.”
“I got a message from Regal, asking if we could talk. I made time to talk to him. I went outside the hospital, I’m sitting on the park bench in front of the Mayo clinic, and we had this really long and good talk. It was very positive. He really had good intentions for why he wanted to go back, and it made a lot of sense to me why he would want to work his son and be with his son. He said to me, and it made sense, ‘Given where you’re sitting right now, does it make sense to you why I would want to go back and be with my son?’ At that point, where I was sitting, it really did make a lot of sense and the last thing I wanted to do in that moment was prevent any parent and any child from being together.”
“I sat with Regal for over 90 minutes in my office after, and this was probably the longest one-on-one in person talk I’ve ever had with him. We talked and I told him I would make major sacrifices to this company to do the best thing for you and your family because this is a family first company. The person I’m releasing later this month, who is still with us through the holiday, has been an essential part of major TV stories and is still an essential part of the TV as of tonight. We’ve done a lot of things to help him create the best situation he can for his family. For Lord Regal, I’m wishing him the best and he knows I wish him the best. We’ve had conversations even this week, and I think he’s grateful for what I did and I know he enjoyed his time here and I enjoyed the time with him. It’s hard to see him go and it was a challenge to make it compelling and he’s not gone yet.”
Bailey Regal, Regal’s son, began training in February 2020 before signing with WWE. He won his first match in a WWE ring last month.
