WWE: British Bulldog and William Regal among top English wrestlers
A look at WWE's English stars ahead of Gallagher-Neville at Fastlane
Wednesday 1 March 2017 13:25, UK
There will be a battle of the Englishmen at WWE Fastlane on Sunday when Jack Gallagher challenges Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship.
Manchester's Gallagher and Newcastle's Neville - whose clash you will be able to watch live on Sky Sports Box Office - are not the first wrestlers from their country to hit the big time in WWE, though.
There may not yet have been a male English world champion in the company but that does not mean a lack of success, as the five Superstars below can attest…
William Regal
Born: Codsall, Staffordshire
Regal, the General Manager of NXT, enjoyed a distinguished in-ring career with WWE, scooping the Hardcore Title (five times), European Championship (four times) and the Intercontinental Title (twice), in addition to enjoying four Tag Team Title reigns, two with Lance Storm and one apiece with Tajiri and Eugene.
Regal, a technical master between the ropes, enjoyed possibly his finest WWE night on April 21, 2008, when he overcame Hornswoggle, old rival Finlay and CM Punk in the space of a few hours to become King of the Ring.
The Englishman, who lost Intercontinental Title matches on his only two WrestleMania appearances to date - to Chris Jericho in 2001 and Rob Van Dam a year later - last wrestled in 2013, a losing effort against Cesaro in NXT. Let's hope he's got at least one more match left in him.
Layla
Born: London
After making it to the WWE by winning the 2006 Diva Search - beating off competition from the likes of Maryse and Rosa Mendes - Layla became the first Brit to claim the Women's Championship when she pinned Beth Phoenix in 2010, going on to hold the strap for 131 days.
Layla formed Lay-Cool with Michelle McCool, with the two taking part in the inaugural WWE Women's Tables Match in 2010, a bout in which they were beaten by impending WWE Hall of Famer Phoenix and Natalya.
A former Miami Heat cheerleader, Layla also became Divas Champion at Extreme Rules in 2012 after returning from a knee injury she had sustained while defeating McCool in a match at the same event the previous year. Layla retired in 2015, ending a WWE career which included a stint in ECW's Extreme Expose dance troupe and a spell as Fandango's dance partner.
Paige
Born: Norwich
The most recent English Divas Champion is Paige, who won the title for the first time by beating AJ Lee on her first night on the main roster in April 2014 and then landed it again by conquering the same opponent at SummerSlam later that year. Paige's success on the biggest stage followed on from her becoming the inaugural NXT Women's Champion.
The 24-year-old has been unable to claim a Women's Title since the division was swelled by the likes of Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in the summer of 2015, losing two pay-per-view championship matches to Charlotte, and has been sidelined since June with a neck injury.
The Brit has hit the headlines over recent weeks, though, with The Rock and Office co-creator Stephen Merchant announcing they are making a movie based on her wrestling family.
The British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith)
Born: Golborne, Greater Manchester
The British Bulldog is arguably the most well-known English WWE star in history, due to both tag-team and singles pursuits. Smith and his cousin, the highly-athletic and technically-savvy Dynamite Kid, held the WWE Tag Team Titles for 294 days between 1986 and 1987, having won them from Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania 2.
On his own, Smith also carried the European Title for a record 206 days but his crowning moment came at SummerSlam 1992 in front of over 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. Smith, who was accompanied to the ring by boxing legend Lennox Lewis, defeated Bret Hart in the main event to become Intercontinental Champion for the first, and only, time.
Smith, whose other notable WWE performances include finishing runner-up to Shawn Michaels in the 1995 Royal Rumble, passed away in 2002. His son, Harry, won the WWE Tag Team Titles with Tyson Kidd in 2010 and is now competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling as Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Bad News Barrett
Born: Penwortham, Lancashire
"I'm afraid I've got some bad news!" That was what the Preston North End fan used to yell in his days as the gavel-crunching Bad News Barrett, a gimmick he adopted in between his stints as Nexus leader Wade Barrett and King Barrett, the Englishman taking the latter moniker after becoming King of the Ring in 2015 following a win over Neville in the final.
Barrett won the inaugural edition of NXT in 2010 and soon after, led his peers from that show onto the main roster, the faction decimating Superstars, officials, commentators, the ring and more on a headline-making debut that led to a main-event spot at SummerSlam.
Barrett would enjoy plenty of highs before departing WWE in 2016, including pay-per-view bouts with John Cena, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan and five reigns as Intercontinental Champion, though not winning a world title must rankle with him somewhat.
Watch Gallagher and Neville fight at Fastlane, live on Sky Sports Box Office on Sunday night, or follow a live text blog of the event on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
WWE Fastlane booking details
WWE Fastlane will be live on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) and Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) at 1am on Sunday, March 5 (Monday morning).
WWE Fastlane will repeated on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) BUT NOT Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) between 10am on Monday, March 6 and 10pm on Thursday, March 9
The pay-per-view will cost £14.95 for viewers in the United Kingdom and €21.95 for customers in the Republic of Ireland.
You can order the show online by visiting this link: https://my.sky.com/orderboxoffice/?DCMP=WWEFastlane
You can also book the event over the phone: UK viewers should call 03442 410 888, while customers in the Republic of Ireland should call 0818 220 225. (There may be an additional charge for telephone bookings).
You can also order WWE Fastlane via your Sky remote:
Sky+: Press the box office button on your remote, then click the sports tab followed by WWE Fastlane.
Sky Q: Press Home on your Sky Q remote, select TV guide, then Box Office and then WWE Fastlane. Enter your TV Pin if prompted. (Only bookings via Sky TV remote are recordable using Sky Plus).
Sky TV residential customers only. Commercial customers contact Sky for price and to order. Sky Box Office terms apply. Cable customers should contact their local cable operator.
