Tony Khan confirmed during Wednesday’s media call that William Regal will be leaving AEW at the end of the year and will return to WWE.
While promoting Final Battle, Khan opened up the call addressing personal issues over the past several months where his mother suffered two strokes and underwent heart surgery in October.
During this period, Regal first contacted AEW’s chief legal officer Megha Parekh and later spoke with Khan to request that AEW not pick up the option on his contract for next year. Regal’s request was to return to WWE to work with his son Bailey (a.k.a. Charlie Dempsey on NXT).
Khan said he spoke with Regal on the phone outside the hospital where his mother was staying and given his own personal issues going on, didn’t want to prevent Regal from working with his son.
In a follow-up question from reporter David Bixenspan, Khan said it’s a conditional release where Regal is returning to WWE in a backstage role and would not expect to see him on television next year.
Given that Regal is not finished yet with AEW, Khan was surprised to see Paul Levesque post a tweet that referenced Regal.
Tonight just wouldn't be the same without… pic.twitter.com/5wM71u0u7i
— Triple H (@TripleH) November 26, 2022
After turning on Jon Moxley at the Full Gear pay-per-view and assisting MJF in winning the AEW championship, MJF attacked Regal on last week’s episode with brass knuckles, and Regal was taken away on a stretcher.
