William Regal and Bryan Danielson share a history that’s spans across two decades, with both men currently finding themselves on AEW television as members of the Blackpool Combat Club, alongside Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta.
Regal has spoken numerous times about his storied relationship with the American Dragon, and in a recent interview with the Daily Star, he was asked to comment on the claim that Danielson was held down during his spell with WWE.
Regal shot down this claim, stating it to be a “nonsense myth”, highlighting the then Daniel Bryan’s pair of Wrestlemania headline bouts as evidence that WWE believed in him.
“If you want to buy into that nonsense myth that people like to put out there – because it sounds like a good story – that he was held was held down in WWE, you are absolutely living in fairy land. If they didn’t want him to main event WrestleMania, he wouldn’t have main evented WrestleMania. The boss knew he had something special on his hands and he didn’t care about the narrative, he was going to see if he got there, and every test he gave him, he got there.”
-William Regal
Regal continued, sharing a story of Vince McMahon’s backstage reaction following a bout between Regal and Bryan during a 2011 episode of Superstars. McMahon earmarked Bryan for success as a top heel following the match, and he would go on to capture the World Heavyweight Championship at the following pay-per view.
“He shook our hands and Bryan, who’d carried me through that match walked away. Vince said to me – because for whatever reason, people in England liked me – ‘he’s gonna make a great villain this kid.’ He already knew how good Bryan was but if you look, it was right after that he started putting him into all that stuff with Kane and all of that. He’s the living proof of a motto I tell a lot of people: Make it work for you. No matter what he was given, he made it work.”
-William Regal
Danielson is set take part in a 5-on-5 ‘Anarchy in the Arena’ match at tomorrow night’s Double or Nothing PPV, teaming with Jon Moxley, Proud & Powerful, and Eddie Kingston to take on the Jericho Appreciation Society.
