Another Second Generation WWE Superstar Won't Be Using Their Family Name

By Connor Casey

WWE announced back in January that it had signed Bailey Matthews, the son of NXT general manager William Regal, to join the NXT UK brand. This week's episode gave its first look at Matthews, renaming him Charlie Dempsey. While the video package looked promising, fans were left wondering why Matthews wasn't allowed to use Regal as his character's last name given who his father is. 

This comes days after the company decided to rename Bronson Rechsteiner (the son of Rick Steiner who had been going by Rex Steiner) as Bron Breakker right before his debut on NXT 2.0. That change was reportedly made so WWE could own the copyright on the new name. 

Back in June, when it looked like Regal might be stepping away from his role as NXT GM, Triple H told the press in a post-show media conference call how integral the former champion is to the brand. 

"William Regal has been such an integral part of this since day one," Triple H said. "There are certain people that have and then [there are] people that have come in along the way that have become — it's hard to envision doing it in any sort of way without them. Regal's definitely one of those people. I don't think that we will ever do it without him, he'll be a part of this until the day that he tells me he doesn't want to be a part of it anymore."

"He just loves — it's why Shawn's here, it's why I'm here, it's why Matt blooms here, it's why Sara [Amato's] here. It is why this whole team is here," he continued. "They love the business and they love all the aspects of this business and want to see it continue and move forward. They want to help guide it and change it into the future trying to create the business they always hoped and wished it could be as they were coming up. [They want to] get rid of the things that none of us liked or understood about the business, and enhance the bits and pieces that we did love about it, and [William Regal] is that way to the core. You know, he's constantly pulling talent aside, constantly in their ear. He's one of the biggest recruiting factors we have. He's got a handle on just about everybody that's out there and is one of the best eyes of somebody that's maybe never done this before that steps in the ring and just athletically you can see, 'Okay, yeah, they'll be able to do this and do it really well.' You know, he's, he's incredible at that. So his value here is tough to be measured and he'll always be a part of it, no matter where we go on Tuesday."

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