Raw General Manager William Regal Interview, Luger Talks About Being Redeemed
Submitted by Errol Leigh Farrell on Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 5:12 PM EST







• Regal Wrestling - Interview With Raw General Manager William Regal
  
  Alicia Butwell of TheDaily.com.au interviews WWE Raw general manager, Darren Matthews aka William Regal.
  
  Q: You changed names from Steve Regal with WWF to William Regal when you went to WWE, did it bother you to change names?
  
  It didn’t bother me at all, not really because I was asked if I didn’t mind changing my name because of Steve Austin I believe, I guess they didn’t want too many people called Steve, so I was quite happy at the time because my grandfather who used to do a bit of wrestling, his name was William and my eldest son who’s middle name is William, so I was quite happy to juts change it.
  
  You know it was a fresh start and I wanted to get away and start something new. Nearly everybody still calls me Steve you know so, I just go along with it.
  
  Q: Was wrestling something you always wanted to do?
  
  From my first memories in England, it was such a big thing; wrestling on a Saturday afternoon. In England there were just the three channels so there was basically wrestling and a couple of TV shows, Steptoe and Son and Slade the group, and that’s the three things I seem to remember from when I was little.
  
  I always wanted to be a wrestler and there was never any question, I just sort of pursued it before I was leaving school and I wanted to leave school at 16 and I was either going to go and get a real job or do what I wanted, and so I ran away and joined the carnival.
  
  Q: Was wrestling popular in England, like it is in America? Did it start with the British Bulldogs?
  
  It was British Professional Wrestling, the British Bulldogs were around to start with when they were younger and they all moved to Canada and then on to America, but this was, and I can imagine a lot of people in Australia would remember Mick McManus and Jackie Pallo and people that were huge stars in the 50s, 60s and 70s in England and that’s sort of what I grew up around and it was just part of the culture and it still is.
  
  Anybody my age would remember those people because there was such little choice on the TV.
  
  Q: Does WWE travel to England very often?
  
  Oh yeah we go there every six months, we go there in October and we’re there for several days and it’s nice that I get to go back there every six months at least working, and then I try and go at least once a year for a few weeks and I get to see everybody.
  
  Click Here To Read The Full Interview.
  
  
• Former Wrestler Tells Tale of Being Redeemed
  
  (Credit: macon.com)
  
  A broken wrestler, body slammed by his own selfish decisions, brought a story of redemption to a church full of teenagers Wednesday night near the Bibb-Jones county line.
  
  Lex Luger, once The Total Package, now a 49-year-old mortal with a bad hip, recounted a meteoric rise that was really a downward spiral. Big-time college football star. Pro football player. World-famous wrestler.
  
  Divorced loser. Druggie. Multiple felon.
  
  And now, just the one title: Christian.
  
  "I was chasing everything," the one-time member of the Four Horsemen wrestling team said. "Things of the earth, things of the flesh.
  
  "Behind the scenes I was never happy," he said. "No matter what we have, we covet more."
  
  A room full of some 400 teenagers, parents and volunteers with Real Life Church's Relevant program looked on as Luger rambled through his life story and referenced a well-worn black Bible. There were a lot of rapt eyes, rounded out by the usual bored teenage stares. The Relevant group, which drew attention this year by buying carnations on Valentine's Day for every girl in the Jones County high and middle schools, brought in Luger as part of it's out-of-the-box-for-Christ repertoire.
  
  "You think more people's gonna come tonight to hear a preacher preach, or you think more people's gonna come to hear a WCW wrestler who gave his life to Christ?" said Chris Dorrity, youth pastor at Real Life and organizer of what he calls "not a youth group, but a youth movement."
  
  Luger's story was a frank one, full of drugs and booze and the death of his girlfriend - the one wrestling fans called Miss Elizabeth. The one he bought a townhouse across the city from the Atlanta home he shared with his wife and kids. Elizabeth Hulette died of a drug overdose in 2003. Luger said she was trying to be like him, partying beyond anything that was reasonable.
  
  "People say, 'Did you kill her?' I might as well have put a gun to her head," he said.
  
  But even that wasn't rock bottom, just the start of the lowest valley. Police found enough drugs at the townhouse to lock Luger up on multiple felonies, though most of his sentence was probated. Divorce came soon after, as did embarrassment for his daughter, now 16, and his son, who plays basketball for Mercer University.
  
  Click Here To Read The Full Article.
  
  
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