William Regal Undergoes Neck Surgery, Says He Won’t Be Wrestling at WWE NXT “Takeover: London”

– WWE has announced that NXT General Manager William Regal underwent a CAT scan six weeks ago to see how he was doing following a 2014 neck surgery, and was told he had to have a second surgery. Regal had been feeling the best he had in decades and was preparing to get in the ring with WWE NXT talents at the Performance Center. However, Regal was told by doctor that he could not be cleared to return and that he needed a second neck surgery.

WWE’s medical director Dr. Joseph C. Maroon and his team performed the second surgery on Wednesday, October 21st in Pittsburgh. The next day Regal spoke to WWE’s website and below are highlights:

WWE.COM: Can you explain what the surgery entailed?

REGAL: 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. 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.

WWE.COM: Have they given you a timetable for your recovery?

REGAL: No. it’s just a lot of doing nothing but walking for the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll go from there. I’ll definitely be on the NXT tour of the UK. Definitely, there’s no question. I won’t be wrestling, but that wasn’t the plan to begin with. I’ll definitely be at all the shows. There will just probably be three to four weeks when I can’t fly long distance. I won’t be able to go on WWE’s November tour, which I normally always go on to do TVs in Manchester, which is a shame. But, as long as I’ll be there for December …

WWE.COM: Now that you’ve had this surgery, is there any expectation of stepping back in the ring?

REGAL: 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.

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