More On William Regal Possibly Leaving AEW, How Long Top People Knew About It

As previously reported, the current rumor is that William Regal is on his way out of AEW and headed back to WWE. The angle in which MJF attacked him on Wednesday’s Dynamite is believed to have been done to write him out of storylines. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has more details on Regal leaving the company, and how long AEW knew about it.

There were initially conflicting reports about how long Regal’s deal was (with one stating it was for three years). However, according to someone involved with the deal, it was believed to have been a ‘short term’ one that will expire soon. That is in line with what Fightful reported yesterday. Multiple WWE sources have added that Regal had an ‘out’ clause in his contract.

There had been talk that he was headed to WWE even before Triple H posted clips about him or Moxley told him to leave (which is when the rumors started up on social media). AEW reportedly knew Regal was on his way out several weeks ago, before Full Gear. There were several ideas pitched for the match between MJF and Jon Moxley, but all of them ended with MJF as champion. Some had Regal directly involved, as he was at Full Gear, others had him more in the background.

The idea is now for Bryan Danielson to feud with MJF, either for the Revolution PPV in March or earlier. Regal had at one point been pitched for the story, to set up his leaving (assuming he had a one year deal). But now he was written out earlier than planned.