William Regal calls out wrestlers for lazy pins and weak kickouts

William Regal posted advice to wrestlers on October 16, 2026, calling out lazy pins and weak kickouts. After 42 years in the business and currently working for WWE, he's earned the right to say it: something has been lost over the last 20-plus years, and it's making matches look fake.

Regal pointed to AJ Styles versus Amazing Red from the early 2000s as the standard for aggressive pinning technique. That match showed what it looks like when two guys pin and kick out like their lives and careers depend on it. Watch it and you'll see the difference: urgency, desperation, the kind of effort that makes you believe the finish could come any second.

The problem

Wrestlers today don't always commit. A guy hooks the leg, the ref slaps the mat twice, and the shoulder pops up on cue with no real fight. It looks rehearsed instead of desperate. There's no struggle to stay down, no panic to escape. Regal's message was direct: wrestlers need to act like they're actually trying to win or survive, not just hitting their marks.

He also wrote that wrestlers unwilling to endure a few seconds of discomfort while stacked in a pin position should reconsider the business. The awkwardness is the point. A believable pin should look brutal: the guy on top grinding down with everything he has, the guy on bottom clawing for air and leverage. Comfort kills the illusion.

Why it matters

The pin is the finish. It's the payoff for everything that came before it. When both guys phone it in, the whole match loses weight. The Attitude Era and the years before it understood this: every nearfall was a moment, every kickout was a pop, because the wrestlers sold it like their careers were on the line.

Regal's advice is simple and it's not new, but it's worth repeating because the current generation needs to hear it. Pin hard. Kick out harder. Make it look like it matters, because if you don't, nobody else will either.