Regal Undergoes Neck Surgery, Won’t Be Able To Wrestle At NXT Takeover: London

NXT General Manager William Regal underwent neck surgery last Wednesday and will be unable to compete at NXT Takeover: London later this year.

As a follow up to his 2014 neck surgery, Regal underwent a CAT scan about 6 weeks weeks ago to check on his progress. Despite the fact that he has been feeling better than he has in a long time, Regal was told that he would not be medically cleared to return to action and a second surgery would be required. WWE’s medical director Dr. Joseph C. Maroon and his team performed the procedure on October 21st in Pittsburgh.

The day after the surgery, Regal spoke to WWE.com about the situation:

“I had a neck surgery last year and everything was very, very good, and I went in for a follow-up exam six weeks ago,” Regal said. “Luckily, we did the exam, because they found there was more damage in the back of the neck that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. The last surgery I had, they went in through the front of my neck; this one’s in the back, so there’s a lot more work involved and a lot of healing in the muscle in the back of the neck.

It was my C3, C4, C5 and C6 [vertebrae]. I believe the operation is called a laminectomy, where they go in and completely clean out the calcium deposits from the back. Now that I’ve got this done, it’s just a matter of healing up and I’ll be good to go. Dr. Maroon, who is head of the WWE Wellness Program, performed the operation. He said I’ll be good to go for another 50,000 miles, or 50 years. Hopefully, that will cover me for the rest of my time on this Earth, anyway.”

Regal will be attending all of the shows on the NXT UK tour, but will be unable to travel with WWE to the UK in November due to his recovery.

As for his in-ring career, Regal says he’s unsure if he’ll ever be able to wrestle again.

“I really don’t know. It’s too early to tell to see whether it’s a good idea or not. I’m not one of those people desperate to get in the ring again. I’ve been in this for 32 years. I haven’t wrestled for the last two years. Including a year off once, when I got sick after going to India, with a couple of suspensions [laughs], I worked a solid full-time schedule for 26 years. Most people don’t get anywhere close to that, especially with the physical style I did. So if I don’t do anything else, I’m quite happy with that. There’s no problem with that, to me.”