5 times Vince McMahon helped Superstars battle addiction

#2 William Regal

Many fans will know William Regal as the GM of NXT currently, and one of the toughest wrestlers in WWE over the last two decades or so.

But, Regal had to battle a lot of demons and obstacles before reaching the position he has. He began his journey in pro-wrestling in USA with WCW in the mid 90s, before switching over to the WWE in 1998, but that run lasted just one year as he was released by WWE a year later due to his battles with addiction.

He was released by WWE, but was put into rehab by Vince McMahon and co. He changed his ways following that rehab stint, but moved to WCW, and returned to WWE in 2000.

“I went into rehab and, after ten weeks in there, I got out one day and I messed up. That was the last step for me. That was the time I just went ‘Ok, that’s it. Just stop it. Stop making excuses.’ That was the end of it, that was it. From then on it’s never been a thing since.

“I got opportunities again. WWF didn’t have to put me in rehab because they didn’t do that stuff at the time. They looked after me. Even after ten weeks, they said ‘We’ll continue to pay for it, but we’re going to let you go.’ I was told ‘You can come back when you sort your life out.’

"I came out and, straight away within a few weeks, I got a call from Eric Bischoff. ‘I heard you’ve straightened yourself out. Do you want a job back here?’ So, I had a lot of chances because I put a lot of work in before. People knew I’d been through a bit of something,” said Regal on X-Pac's podcast a few years ago.