Born Darren Kenneth Matthews on May 10, 1968, William Regal began wrestling in carnivals and in the North Pier of Blackpool when he was just 15 years old. He wrestled all over England, regularly teaming up with Robbie Brookside, before flying to the United States in 1992.
A year later, Regal became part of WCW, where he won the Television Title four times. He briefly teamed up with Triple H, and later formed the team The Blue Bloods with Robert Eaton and David Taylor.
In 1998, Regal signed with WWF, debuting on June 1998's Raw is War, in which he defeated Droz (Darren Drozdov). He fought X-Pac (Sean Waltman) for the vacant WWF Championship at the 1998 Survivor Series, but they were both eliminated from the tournament. In January 1999, he began a three month stay in rehab.
Coming out of rehab, Regal worked with WCW but was later released in February 2000. Regal made a come back to WWF, and was sent to Memphis Championship Wrestling. He later promoted to the full roster after a fight with Chris Benoit at the Third Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show. He re-debuted on September 2000's Raw is War, where he won the WWF European Championship.
In 2002, Regal underwent surgery for his nose and came back to feud with Edge (Adam Copeland), thus winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship. However, the title was later lost to Rob Van Dam, while Regal held the WWE Hardcore Championship.
When WWF transitioned into WWE and its two brands Raw and Smackdown, Regal was recruited into Raw, where he teamed up with Lance Storm. Together, they won the World Tag Team Championship. The title was later given up due to Regal's heart condition. When he returned, Regal teamed with Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) and the two won the World Tag Team Championship from La Résistance in November 2004's Raw.
In 2005, Regal was drafted into Smackdown, where he lost to Chris Benoit in WWE Velocity. Regal also teamed with Dave Taylor to feud with WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Brian Kendrick, whom they defeated at Armageddon 2006, before Regal returned to Raw.
(Photo courtesy of WWE)