William Regal was the latest guest on the ITR Live program, where the Gentleman Villain discussed his run in AEW, specifically his sporadic appearances at the commentary booth alongside Excalibur. The former NXT commissioner discussed the playful banter he had with the “Man in the Mask,” and how he tried to make each visit at the commentary table a little more fun. Highlights from the interview are below.
On the relationship he had with Excalibur and how it morphed into a weekly bromance:
What happened, the first week or whatever, me just being me, not a thought, mentioned something to Excalibur, and it went from there. At the time, I was watching ‘Brassic’, and everybody’s calling everybody sweetheart in the house on that show, and I thought, ‘Oh, l like that.’ I’ve always called people Sunshine and flower and petal, and northern sayings. So I thought, ‘Ah.’ So I did it once, and I’ve never once put any thought for the slightest bit in what I’m gonna say. If you actually watched, I had no idea what I was gonna say, and a second [later], and then I went, ‘Blah blah blah,’ which I’ve done every single week, and it’s become a thing now. I’ve left it alone for a few weeks because I felt the matches were too serious to do it. But don’t keep expecting it because I don’t put any thought into it.
Says he wanted to help lighten the load for the AEW commentators, which is why he said silly things like “Man in the Mask” when he joined the crew:
Am I having the time of my life? Yes, I am. I’m having the time of my life because I get on with all the people that are in that group, and it’s a real thing. We are there training with Wheeler at 10 o’clock. I’m not messing about with that because me and Bryan are there, and Claudio started coming out. Jon turns up when Jon wants, but that’s why I like him. He has his role in our group, but when he comes backstage, and he’ll put things into a perspective to me and Wheeler after he’s come out of the ring because he’s firing on all cylinders. I go, ‘That’s stuff I wouldn’t know because he’s lived a different life to me.’ Now all of a sudden there’s a group of other people that are listening because we’re trying to just make this whatever it is. Basically, it’s no different than how NXT started. Let’s just try to make everybody as good as they can be, and that’s what it is. [I] just happened to be able to do all this stuff that I do and just say stupid stuff. Those announcers have a brutal job of just calling stuff. If I can go out and make Excalibur smile for 20 seconds, he’s got all these things that he’s got to get out there and word perfect. I want to just go out, just lighten the load. If I see him smile through that or the other two laugh or whatever, good. If I’ve took five seconds of them and make them not go [frustrated sound], that’s no different than me helping you or teaching a wrestler how to do something a certain way. I’m doing my bit to lighten the load a little bit. That’s why I do it.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)