William Regal Clarifies Why He Was Suspended By WWE In 2008

Former WWE star Wiliam Regal has clarified the circumstances surrounding his 2008 suspension. Regal was suspended for 60 days on May 20, 2008, for his second violation of the WWE Wellness Policy.  

Speaking on the latest episode of his Gentleman Villain podcast, the current AEW star said this about the suspension: 

"I still don't know what it was about. Something showed up on my drug test and, again, there's been things said about me 'Oh he relapsed'. No, that's not true at all". 

Regal called any talk of a relapse "absolutely false". 

"Nobody printed anything about what happened to me at that time because nobody knew", he continued, before saying: "It was a fraction of a slight something showed up on my drug test". 

The former Intercontinental Champion was confused by the test result and attempted to get answers from those "as high up" in WWE's corporate structure as he could get, but was ultimately told that while the test result "didn't make sense", they couldn't do anything due to publicity reasons.

Regal noted that "It was a very sensitive time at that time because it wasn't too long after a certain major incident. I think you can figure out what that was", referring to the Benoit family tragedy from June 2007.

Regal was in the middle of a major push at the time, having just won the King of the Ring tournament while acting as Raw General Manager, when he was hit with the suspension. 

Despite having issues with the result, he decided to take his punishment "on the chin", feeling as though the company had done a lot for him over the years and that the suspension may have been a bit of cosmic payback for his earlier wilder years.

H/T Wrestling Inc.