title: William Regal

text: On the 31 August episode of "Saturday Night", Regal captured the World Television Championship for the third time by getting an upset victory over Lex Luger after Luger was attacked by The Outsiders. After winning the title, Regal solely began focusing on his title reign and the Blue Bloods became inactive. He held the title for five months and defended the title against the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Dean Malenko, former partner Bobby Eaton and Psychosis. Regal was scheduled to defend the title against Rey Misterio, Jr. at SuperBrawl VII, but he dropped the title to Prince Iaukea after a distraction by Misterio on 16 February 1997 episode of "Nitro". Six days later, Regal avenged his title loss by costing Misterio, the title shot against Iaukea at SuperBrawl VII. Regal got a rematch against Iaukea for the title at Spring Stampede, which he lost. Regal attacked Iaukea on 7 April episode of "Nitro", which resulted in Iaukea losing the title to Último Dragón later that night.


title: William Regal

text: At Slamboree, Regal defeated Ultimo Dragon to win the belt for a fourth time, but lost the title back to Dragon two months later on 22 July episode of "Nitro". Regal got another shot at the title against next champion Alex Wright on 15 September episode of "Nitro", but he failed to capture the title. In the fall of 1997, Regal reformed the Blue Bloods with Dave Taylor and they unsuccessfully challenged Steiner Brothers for the WCW World Tag Team Championship at World War 3. Later that night, Regal participated in the World War 3 three-ring battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match.


title: William Regal

text: On the 9 February 1998 episode of "Nitro", Regal was pinned by Bill Goldberg in a match where Regal worked more aggressively and stiff than expected.


title: William Regal

text: Regal's first appearance in the World Wrestling Federation was on the 29 June 1998 episode of "Raw Is War" in which he defeated Droz via submission with the "Regal Stretch". After featuring in one more match against Tiger Ali Singh in Pennsylvania, Regal was sent to a training camp run by Dory Funk Jr. in order to get into shape. On his last day, he twisted his ankle in a match against Rhyno and upon returning home aggravated the injury falling in his bathroom, breaking his ankle and leg.


title: William Regal

text: During this time, Regal was suffering from an addiction to Renewtrient, pain medication, and Valium, and was not seen on WWF television until he returned that fall as the "Real Man's Man", a builder/lumberjack-style gimmick created by Vince Russo and based on the image of The Brawny Man. Vignettes for the character showed him doing "manly" things like chopping wood, shaving with a straight razor, and squeezing his own orange juice. After he made his full-time debut in October 1998, he faced X-Pac in the opening round of the tournament for the vacant WWF Championship at Survivor Series, ending in a double countout and thus eliminating both men from the tournament. Regal then began a feud with The Godfather, but he was taken off television soon after before subsequently checking into rehab in January 1999 and was released from the company in April.


title: William Regal

text: After checking out of rehab, Matthews was invited back into the wrestling world, making a somewhat brief return to WCW as "Lord Steven Regal". His official pay-per-view return took place during Bash at the Beach, where he was one of many participants in the first Hardcore Invitational. The following night on "Nitro", Regal, accompanied by both Fit Finlay and Dave Taylor, fought Billy Kidman. Despite outside help from Finlay and Taylor, Regal was unable to pick up the win. Two weeks later, he faced Mikey Whipwreck, but Jimmy Hart's First Family came out to challenge The Blue Bloods at Road Wild for the Hardcore Trophy, causing Regal to lose the match. Nothing came of this challenge as neither the First Family or the Blue Bloods were featured on the Road Wild card. Similar to his previous run, much of Regal's performances took place in tag team bouts. Regal continued his role as a rule breaking villain and had small feuds with teams such as The Filthy Animals. In late February 2000, Regal lost a career vs. career match against Jim Duggan on "Saturday Night" for the World Television Championship, which was done in order to explain Regal's release from the company.


title: William Regal

text: Regal was once again hired by the WWF and sent to the developmental territory Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) for a short time. He re-debuted in a match with Chris Benoit at the Third Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show.


title: William Regal

text: Regal returned on the 18 September 2000 episode of "Raw Is War" as a heel, under the name Steven William Regal (later shortened to William Regal). Regal defeated Al Snow to win the European Championship on 16 October episode of "Raw Is War". Regal would lose the title to Crash Holly at Rebellion on 2 December, before winning it back two days later on "Raw Is War". Regal would enter his first Royal Rumble match at the eponymous pay-per-view on 21 January 2001, but failed to win. The next night on "Raw Is War", Regal lost the European Championship to Test. On 8 March episode of "SmackDown!", Regal became the new WWF commissioner, after defeating Al Snow.


title: William Regal

text: Regal later became the on-screen commissioner and self-proclaimed "Goodwill Ambassador" of the WWF and was given a comedy sidekick in Tajiri. During The Invasion storyline, Regal turned face as he remained the WWF Commissioner. During the WCW/ECW Alliance storyline, Regal turned heel once again by costing Kurt Angle the WWF Championship and joining The Alliance. He was fired as commissioner by Linda McMahon, but Shane McMahon, who was the owner of WCW, hired him as the Alliance Commissioner.


title: William Regal

text: After the Alliance was defeated at Survivor Series in November 2001, Regal was forced to become the first member of Vince McMahon's "Kiss My Ass" club by kissing McMahon's buttocks so he could keep his job.


title: William Regal

text: Regal defeated Edge to win the Intercontinental Championship at Royal Rumble on 20 January 2002, after using a set of brass knuckles in order to knock out Edge, an action that would later become a trademark of Regal's character. Regal defended the title against Edge again at No Way Out in a brass knuckles on a pole match. He lost the title to Rob Van Dam at WrestleMania X8. The same week, he beat Diamond Dallas Page for the European Championship on 21 March episode of "SmackDown!".


title: William Regal

text: Regal was drafted to the Raw brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery on 25 March. Regal lost the European Championship to Spike Dudley on 8 April episode of "Raw". He regained the championship from Dudley on 6 May episode of "Raw" to become a four-time champion. Throughout April, Regal would also hold the WWF Hardcore Championship five times, with all of these reigns coming at non-televised house shows. Regal entered the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, but lost to Booker T in the qualifiers.


title: William Regal

text: Regal later lost the European title to Jeff Hardy in July, making Regal the antepenultimate champion as the championship was retired later in the year. He joined The Un-Americans, an anti-American alliance consisting of Canadian wrestlers Lance Storm, Christian and Test on 2 September episode of "Raw". At Unforgiven, The Un-Americans lost to Bubba Ray Dudley, Kane and Booker T and Goldust.


title: William Regal

text: On 30 September episode of "Raw", every member of The Un-Americans lost their matches, causing the group to separate later in the night and break away into separate groups. Regal began teaming with Lance Storm, Christian formed a tag team with Chris Jericho and Test branched off into single competition. On 30 September episode of "Raw", both Christian and Storm lost matches to Randy Orton, while Regal and Test lost to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. This led to all four members attacking each other, thus disbanding the team. Storm and Regal won the WWE World Tag Team Championship from Booker T and Goldust thanks to Regal's brass knuckles on 6 January 2003 episode of "Raw". They lost the championship to Dudley Boyz at the Royal Rumble on 19 January. but they regained the championship the next night on "Raw" thanks to an impromptu match set up by Chief Morley after Regal and Storm had put Bubba through a table. At No Way Out on 23 February, Regal and Storm defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam to retain the title in what would be his last match for over a year.


title: William Regal

text: In his 2005 autobiography, Regal recalls having swelling all over his body, high heart rate and trouble sleeping in the lead-up to the match. During the match, he suffered a concussion and was briefly knocked unconscious. Over the next few days, Regal's health worsened and he consulted a doctor. He was informed that he had contracted a heart parasite from a WWE tour of India in November 2002. This, coupled with his aforementioned concussion, kept him out of action for the rest of the year.


title: William Regal

text: Regal returned after a one-year absence on 5 April 2004 episode of "Raw". Upon his return, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff appointed him the guardian of his kayfabe "mentally challenged" nephew Eugene. Regal initially refused, but was demanded to do so in order to be reinstated onto the active roster. Initially annoyed at having to "babysit" Eugene, Regal eventually grew very fond of him and they became friends, becoming a face in the process. On the 10 May episode of "Raw", Bischoff told Regal to sabotage Eugene's match so he would quit with embarrassment, in return for Regal being reinstated. Despite reluctantly tripping Eugene, he still managed to defeat his opponent. Regal was eventually reinstated on 21 June episode of "Raw", before being put in a match with Kane at Bischoff's behest, which Regal lost after being knocked out by Kane.


title: William Regal

text: In June, Regal was inserted into a feud with Evolution, after the group's leader Triple H tried to convince Eugene that Regal was secretly plotting against him. After weeks of manipulation, Evolution turned on and attacked Eugene on 12 July episode of "Raw", much to Regal's dismay. Triple H would then continue to torment Regal and Eugene, and on 9 August episode of "Raw", Regal was kidnapped and brutalised by Triple H in order to gain an advantage against Eugene. At SummerSlam, Regal assisted Eugene in his match against Triple H by attacking his manager Ric Flair. However Eugene would still ultimately lose. In September, Regal teamed with Chris Benoit to defeat Evolution members Batista and Ric Flair at Unforgiven. Regal and Eugene won the World Tag Team Championship from La Résistance on 15 November episode of "Raw". However, at New Year's Revolution on 9 January 2005, Eugene injured himself during their tag title defence against Christian and Tyson Tomko. Although they successfully retained the titles, Eugene would be out of action for over six months. This ultimately cost them the Tag Team Championship as Regal lost the titles back to La Résistance at a 16 January house show in Winnipeg, Canada, with announcer Jonathan Coachman as Eugene's replacement. On 7 February episode of "Raw", Regal teamed with former tag partner Tajiri to reclaim the titles. On the following week's "Raw", Regal and Tajiri faced La Résistance in a rematch for the titles, which they won.


title: William Regal

text: During March and April, Regal and Tajiri defended the titles successfully against the likes of La Résistance multiple times, Maven and Simon Dean, The Hurricane and Rosey and The Heart Throbs. This would lead to a tag team turmoil match involving the aforementioned teams at Backlash on 1 May. Regal and Tajiri were eliminated by La Résistance who, in turn, were eliminated by the Hurricane and Rosey, who became the new champions. Regal appeared at ECW One Night Stand as an anti-ECW "crusader" led by Eric Bischoff. At the end of show, Regal and other "crusaders" would engage in a brawl with ECW alumni lead by Stone Cold Steve Austin, in which the crusaders were soundly beaten.


title: William Regal

text: On 30 June, Regal was sent to SmackDown! as part of an eleven-person trade during the draft. His first match on "SmackDown!" was on 7 July against Matt Morgan in what was to be Morgan's final WWE match. It was interrupted before Regal was even able to enter the ring by Mexicools. His first full match as part of the roster was a loss to Chris Benoit in a catch wrestling match on 16 July episode of "Velocity". On 4 August, Regal was scheduled to go one on one with Scotty 2 Hotty, but the Mexicools came in and attacked both men. Two weeks later, they teamed up on "SmackDown!" against Psicosis and Super Crazy with Juventud in their corner. Halfway through the match, Regal betrayed Scotty by refusing to tag him and walked out of the ring with a smirk on his face, turning heel as a result and allowing the Mexicools to pick up the win. Two days later, Regal cut a promo telling the crowd that he had returned to his former self, referring to himself as a "scoundrel" and a "rogue". The promo ended when Scotty ran to the ring and attacked Regal. The following week, a match between the two was cut short when the debuting Paul Burchill interfered to aid his countryman. Regal went on to take Burchill under his wing and tag with him on the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but the team's biggest exposure was a loss in a handicap match against Bobby Lashley at Armageddon.


title: William Regal

text: On 3 February 2006 episode of "SmackDown!", Regal and Burchill told the "network representative" Palmer Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion, Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traced back to the pirate Blackbeard and that he wanted to turn this into a pirate gimmick. Burchill, with this heroic persona, started a rivalry with former teammate Regal, who tried to convince Burchill to return to his ruthless ways. Regal lost to Burchill in his first match as a pirate. Regal lost a rematch against Burchill, with the match stipulation that Regal would have to dress like a "buxom wench" if he lost. "Lady Regal", as SmackDown announcers jokingly referred to him, had to dress up like this until Burchill lost a match. This ended after Burchill abandoned him during a tag team loss to The Gymini.


title: William Regal

text: Regal continued to wrestle in a lower mid-card status, the highlight of which saw him facing the United States Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a losing effort while in England. Soon after Booker T became King Booker after becoming King of the Ring, Regal joined King Booker's Court by playing the role of a town crier. As a member of the Court, Regal helped Booker in his feud against Bobby Lashley, occasionally teaming up with fellow Court member Finlay in tag team matches. However, during this time he also feuded with Finlay for the United States Championship. Regal was knighted by King Booker and was given the title of "Sir". At No Mercy, Regal lost to a returning Chris Benoit, resulting in him turning his back on the Court afterwards by knocking down King Booker with a punch to the face after Booker slapped him and called him useless. During the broadcast, Regal was involved in a backstage segment with Vito in which he accidentally exposed his penis.


title: William Regal

text: 12 days after No Mercy, Regal stated that while he had once been one of the world's greatest wrestlers, he had since become a doormat for other SmackDown wrestlers. He referred to being dressed as a buxom wench for a pirate, the aforementioned locker room incident with Vito, and being knighted by a false king as examples. After announcing he was finished being a whipping boy, he introduced his old tag team partner Dave Taylor and the two went on to easily defeat the team of Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki. Though the pair reformed their previous tag team, they did not reuse the Blue Bloods gimmick and instead portrayed themselves as sadistic fighters. However, the team was quickly put into jeopardy in their second match together when Taylor suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee, leaving him injured. Taylor took a more relaxed role for a couple of weeks as a corner man for Regal and only wrestled in a few short house show matches. Taylor quickly healed from his injury and the pair feuded with the WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After defeating London and Kendrick on several occasions, at Armageddon they took part in a four-way ladder match alongside Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury and The Hardys. London and Kendrick coming out on top after Joey Mercury suffered a serious facial injury.


title: William Regal

text: On the 25 May 2007 episode of "SmackDown!", Regal and Taylor competed in a number one contenders match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against London and Kendrick, which they lost after Deuce 'n Domino interfered, making both teams the number one contenders. This interference led to a triple threat match the next week on "SmackDown!" in which Deuce 'n Domino retained the title.


title: William Regal

text: On 17 June, Regal was drafted back to the Raw brand during the supplemental draft, ending his tag team with Dave Taylor. On 2 July, Regal served as Interim general manager of Raw, filling in for Jonathan Coachman. While general manager, Regal introduced the Beat the Clock Sprint to "Raw", which was used to determine who would challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash.


title: William Regal

text: On 6 August episode of "Raw", Regal became the new general manager after winning a battle royal featuring other participants from the Raw roster. He began incorporating game shows into "Raw" while general manager. On 3 September episode of "Raw", Regal was attacked by WWE Champion John Cena in retaliation for rewarding Randy Orton with a WWE title shot after Orton had kicked John Cena's father in the head the previous week. Regal was missing from "Raw" programming for one month due to this attack, making his return by siding with Vince McMahon. On New Year's Eve, Triple H was scheduled to face Ric Flair in which Flair's win or retire ultimatum was still active. Regal announced that if Triple H lost the match in any way, he would not participate in the Royal Rumble match at the 2008 Royal Rumble. This was to give Triple H a reason to want to win the match rather than avoid ending the career of his best friend and idol. Regal was scheduled to compete against Hornswoggle that night with Mr. McMahon at ringside. McMahon tossed Regal some brass knuckles during the match and encouraged him to use them on Hornswoggle, but he let Hornswoggle go and left the ring. During the Flair versus Triple H match, Triple H was about to pin Flair for the win when Regal suddenly punched Flair in the face with the brass knuckles. This gave Flair the win by disqualification, ensuring that he could continue to wrestle and that Triple H would not be part of the Royal Rumble.


title: William Regal

text: As a result of Regal's actions towards Triple H, the following week on "Raw Roulette" he lost a First Blood match to Triple H after several right hands to Regal's forehead. A few weeks later, Regal made the Raw Elimination Chamber match for No Way Out. He later faced Randy Orton in a match during the European tour to try to teach him some respect. The following week, Regal won the 2008 King of the Ring tournament on a special three-hour "Raw", where he defeated Hornswoggle, Finlay and CM Punk all by submission, becoming the first man to make Punk submit. Regal's coronation ceremony the next week was interrupted by the returning Mr. Kennedy. A few weeks later, Regal lost a Loser Gets Fired match to Mr. Kennedy, after which Regal was kayfabe forced to leave WWE. In reality, Regal was suspended on 20 May for sixty days for his second violation of the company's Substance Abuse and Drug Testing Policy. On 28 July, Regal returned from his suspension as a "free agent" during an episode of "Raw", where he was defeated by then World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk.


title: William Regal

text: Regal began a mini-feud with Jamie Noble after he took an interest in Noble's romantic interest Layla, prompting him to attack Regal. Both men picked up victories in consecutive weeks, before Regal won their third match, departing with Layla at his side. Regal's feud with Noble escalated the subsequent week when Layla declared that Noble was a loser and that she found a man worthy of her in Regal. However, the feud was short lived.


title: William Regal

text: On 3 November episode of "Raw", Regal won an over-the-top battle royal to face Santino Marella for the Intercontinental Championship and the next week in Manchester, Regal defeated Marella in a 40-second squash match to win his second Intercontinental Championship. Later, he entered into a feud for the title with number one contender CM Punk. On 5 January 2009 episode of "Raw", Regal lost to Punk via disqualification after he grabbed the referee's shirt. Due to this, Stephanie McMahon awarded Punk a rematch the following week, with the stipulation that if Regal was disqualified, he would lose the Intercontinental title, but this time Punk was disqualified. McMahon awarded Punk another rematch, this time a no disqualification match on 19 January episode of "Raw", where Regal lost the title. Regal got a rematch, but lost the match. Following the draft, Regal was left alone on the Raw brand as his on-screen manager Layla was drafted to the SmackDown brand. At Extreme Rules, Regal unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston for the United States Championship along with Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Matt Hardy, Kofi Kingston retained the United States Championship by pinning Regal.


title: William Regal

text: Regal was traded to the ECW brand on 29 June. In his first match on "ECW on Syfy" the following night, he teamed with Vladimir Kozlov to defeat Tommy Dreamer and Christian.


title: William Regal

text: After winning a tag match on 6 August episode of Superstars, Regal was named as the number one contender to the ECW Championship. On 18 August episode of "ECW", Regal teamed with Kozlov again to face Ezekiel Jackson and the ECW Champion Christian in which Jackson attacked Christian to ensure Regal's victory, with the trio of Regal, Kozlov and Jackson forming a new alliance which was later dubbed the Ruthless Roundtable. At SummerSlam, Regal challenged Christian for his title, but was defeated in eight seconds. With the Roundtable's help, Regal defeated Christian in a non-title match on 25 August episode of "ECW" to earn a title rematch against Christian at Breaking Point, but Christian prevailed again with the rest of the Roundtable banned from ringside. Regal was then denied another chance at number one contender-ship, but The Ruthless Roundtable continued to repeatedly attack Christian to continue the feud. As a result, Christian demanded to face Regal, so he received another shot for the ECW Championship on 10 November episode of "ECW" in Sheffield, England, but he was once again unsuccessful.


title: William Regal

text: At Survivor Series, Regal participated in a traditional five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and was eliminated by MVP. Following Survivor Series, dissension was teased within The Ruthless Roundtable, although Jackson seemed poised to leave the group, Regal ultimately sided with Jackson and turned on Kozlov by assisting Jackson in defeating Kozlov to qualify for an ECW Homecoming battle royal to determine the number one contender to the ECW Championship. Jackson won the ECW Homecoming battle royal and was granted a title shot, but Christian defeated him at the Royal Rumble to retain his title. Despite the loss, Regal and Jackson continued to assault Christian, who accepted Jackson's title challenge. On the final episode of "ECW" on 16 February 2010, Regal helped Jackson defeating Christian in an Extreme Rules match to become the final ECW Champion.


title: William Regal

text: After "ECW" was cancelled to be replaced by "NXT", Regal returned to the Raw brand, but he also became the Pro to Rookie Skip Sheffield on the first season of "NXT". Regal made his debut on 2 March episode of "NXT", teaming with Sheffield in a losing effort against Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel. On 13 April episode of "NXT", Regal won his first match on the show, defeating former pupil Daniel Bryan. On the 10 May episode of "NXT", Sheffield was eliminated from the competition.


title: William Regal

text: Regal was mostly involved in lower-card feuds after returning to wrestle on "Raw" and also regularly appeared on "NXT" and "Superstars". In 2010, he regularly lost tag team matches against Santino Marella while trading wins with Goldust. Regal defeated Darren Young in three matches on "Superstars" in October and November.


title: William Regal

text: In March 2011, Regal became the color commentator for the fifth season of "NXT". On 26 April, Regal was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2011 WWE supplemental draft. On "NXT", Regal began a feud with rookie Jacob Novak after Novak taunted him as old and washed up. On the 3 May episode of "NXT", Regal was set to face Novak, but Novak's Pro JTG stepped in to replace Novak. While Regal had the match won, Novak interfered, attacking Regal and causing a disqualification. This attack turned Regal face. On the 10 May episode of "NXT", Regal defeated Novak by submission to end the feud as Novak was eliminated on the next episode.


title: William Regal

text: After Regal came to the aid of "NXT" host Matt Striker, saving him from an assault by Darren Young, Young challenged Regal to a match on 6 September episode of "NXT" and Regal duly defeated Young. On 13 September episode of "NXT", Regal teamed with Striker against JTG and Darren Young in a losing effort. On 10 November episode of "Superstars" held in England, Regal was pranked when his old "Real Man's Man" theme song was played, then lost to protégé Daniel Bryan, but both wrestlers showed respect after the match. On 15 February 2011 episode of "NXT Redemption", Regal temporarily took charge as "NXT" host from Matt Striker to set up matches on the show, which led to him being made "NXT" official match coordinator two weeks later. After being appointed as an authority figure, Regal had issues with "NXT"'s perennial troublemakers, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks while Maxine attempted to influence him to get her off "NXT".


title: William Regal

text: In 2011, Regal also acted as a color commentator for Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) matches and it was during this time he began a feud with Dean Ambrose after an unprovoked attack by Ambrose on Regal, setting up a match between the two on 6 November episode of "FCW", where Regal viciously attacked Ambrose's left arm and pinned Ambrose. Following the loss to Regal, Ambrose became obsessed about wanting a rematch and regularly taunted Regal by using Regal's finishing moves to win matches. A rematch was scheduled as the main event for the final episode of "FCW" on 15 July. The match began with Regal viciously attacking Ambrose's injured left arm, but Ambrose rammed Regal into the ring post to badly disorientate him. Then Ambrose ruthlessly kneed Regal's head into an exposed turnbuckle, causing Regal to bleed from the ear and the match was then ruled a no contest. After the match, Regal stared down Ambrose, then applauded him and turned his head to allow Ambrose to deliver the "Knee Trembler". Afterwards, the FCW locker room stormed the ring to separate Ambrose from a fallen Regal while commentators questioned whether Regal would ever be able to wrestle again. He continued to work as a color commentator for NXT after FCW was rebranded as NXT.


title: William Regal

text: In 2012, Regal wrestled multiple live event dates wrestling against the likes of Santino Marella and Wade Barrett. Regal ended up on both the winning and losing side. At Over the Limit, Regal participated in a 20-man battle royal, but he was ultimately unsuccessful. In late 2012, Regal played the role of Sheamus' friend in Sheamus' rivalry against Big Show, where he was repeatedly attacked by Big Show. Regal was featured on 6 November episode of "SmackDown" in Birmingham, England in which Regal teamed with Sheamus in a loss to Big Show and Wade Barrett and later on 12 November episode of "Raw" he lost to Big Show.


title: William Regal

text: Regal wrestled for the WWE during the April tour of the United Kingdom losing to Antonio Cesaro on "Raw" and losing to Wade Barrett on "SmackDown". On 1 December, Regal defeated Ace Steel in a match for World League Wrestling in Eldon, Missouri. Regal would later make a surprise appearance on 17 June 2013 episode of "Raw" where he challenged Cesaro to a match in which he was defeated.


title: William Regal

text: On 5 December, Regal started a feud with his former disciple Kassius Ohno when he saved Tyson Kidd from an assault by Ohno and Leo Kruger. When Regal later saved Derrick Bateman from Ohno's post-match attack, Ohno confronted Regal, who punched Ohno. The next week, Regal apologised to Ohno. In reply, Ohno stated that he had followed in Regal's footsteps to arrive in WWE, but that Regal's whole career had no legacy, leading to Regal punching Ohno again. After both men continued to attack each other, the rivalry culminated in a match on 10 April 2013 episode of "NXT", which Regal won. Ohno later apologised to Regal. On 26 June episode of "NXT," Regal tried to help Ohno, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves from a joint assault by The Wyatt Family, Garrett Dylan and Scott Dawson, but was overwhelmed. Two weeks later, Graves, Neville and Regal faced The Wyatt Family with Bray Wyatt pinning Regal.


title: William Regal

text: Regal's final in-ring feud was against Antonio Cesaro due to Regal saving Byron Saxton from Cesaro's bullying, which culminated with Cesaro defeating Regal on 25 December episode of "NXT". This would be his final match. In 2017, he confirmed that he had retired from wrestling.


title: William Regal

text: In July 2014, Regal was given the on-screen role of General Manager of NXT. Dave Meltzer later wrote that Regal was "moved from the commentary booth to the figurehead commissioner role, since the decision was made that NXT should be about grooming announcers for the future in WWE, and they simply don't think of Regal for that role". In both late 2014 and early 2015, WWE executive Triple H described Regal as playing a key role in recruiting wrestlers to NXT and WWE as a whole, whether from the wrestling circuit or from other sports. He also became a trainer at the WWE Performance Center after the passing of Dusty Rhodes. As the on-screen General Manager, Regal made regular appearances on NXT television throughout 2015 and 2016. He appeared during the Cruiserweight Classic semi-finals, handing TJ Perkins his medallion for defeating Kota Ibushi. On 22 January 2018, Regal made a brief appearance on stage during the 25th Anniversary episode of "Raw" as a former Raw general manager. In February, WWE.com referred to him as the WWE Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting. Regal was named also the on-screen General Manager of the cruiserweight brand 205 Live on 13 April 2020. Regal was released from his WWE contract on 5 January 2022, ending his 22-year tenure with the company.


title: William Regal

text: At the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) pay-per-view event Revolution in March 2022, Regal made his surprise debut after the match between Jon Moxley (whom he had mentored behind the scenes and once feuded with in-storyline in FCW) and Bryan Danielson (whom he trained). After the event during the media scrum, it was confirmed by AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan that Regal had officially signed with the company. He began to work as the manager for Danielson and Moxley's tag team, known as the Blackpool Combat Club, later adding Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli to the group. Over the summer, the group would feud with the Jericho Appreciation Society.


title: William Regal

text: At Full Gear, Regal helped MJF defeat Moxley for the AEW World Championship by handing MJF his brass knuckles while the referee was incapacitated. On the 30 November edition of Dynamite, MJF would turn on Regal. Following this, it was reported that Regal was set to leave AEW. His final appearance was a pre-taped segment aired on the 7 December edition of Dynamite. According to Tony Khan, Regal asked to not renew his contract so he could return to WWE and work alongside his son Bailey, who appears on the NXT brand as Charlie Dempsey and had made his debut in the time while Regal was at AEW.


title: William Regal

text: Regal's style is a hybrid mix of brawling and submission grappling, often utilising a combination of stiff forearm and knee strikes, along with multiple suplex variations to ground an opponent before locking in any number of brutal submissions. While often claiming to be a typical "English gentleman" and a goodwill ambassador, he frequently broke the rules at any given opportunity; he would choke his opponent while the referee was distracted, attack opponents who were tangled in the ropes, and punch his opponent in the head with knuckle dusters when the referee wasn't looking; the latter became one of his signature finishing moves and was named the "Power of the Punch". His other signature moves included the "Knee Trembler", a running knee lift to a bent-over opponent's head, the "Regal-plex", a bridging leg hook belly-to-back suplex and the "Regal Stretch", an arm-trap cross-legged STF.


title: William Regal

text: Matthews married Christina Beddoes in November 1986. They have three sons named Daniel, Bailey, and Dane. Bailey is also a wrestler and debuted on WWE's NXT UK brand under the ring name Charlie Dempsey in 2021.


title: William Regal

text: Matthews' real accent, which greatly differs from the RP accent he primarily used on television, is a mixture of his native Staffordshire accent and a Lancashire accent inspired by his teenage years in Blackpool. He has a tattoo which says "Made in England" on his left leg and a rose with his wife's name on his left arm. His pets include two dogs, three cats, two snakes, eight lizards, and a tortoise; he once quipped that he owns so many pets because "humans disgust [him]".


title: William Regal

text: Matthews participated in a 2001 episode of "The Weakest Link", winning two of the first three rounds and eventually finishing third.


title: William Regal

text: In 2003, Matthews was misdiagnosed with what was later found to be a heart defect that was causing the right side of his heart to beat out of sequence with the left, allowing large volumes of fluid to build in his body. After undergoing specialist treatment which involved stopping his heart and months of anti-blood clot treatments, he returned to wrestling in April 2004. During his illness and recovery, he gained and then lost 40 pounds of fat.


title: William Regal

text: Matthews' autobiography, "Walking a Golden Mile", was released on 3 May 2005. While in WCW, he was arrested during a flight from Japan to the U.S. when he got drunk and urinated on a stewardess. In his book, he claimed to be so drunk at the time that he could not remember the incident and only remembered waking up in a jail cell in Anchorage, Alaska.


title: William Regal

text: On 30 August 2007, "Sports Illustrated" named Matthews and nine other athletes as those who were found to have been given steroids not in compliance with the WWE Talent Wellness program. He received stanozolol, somatropin, genotropin, and anastrozole between November 2004 and November 2006.


title: William Regal

text: In December 2022, he stated that his favorite band was Slade and that his favorite song from them was "Far Far Away" from the Slade in Flame album.


title: William Regal

text: Matthews has been featured in the WWE video games "WWF Road to WrestleMania", "WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It", "WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth", "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006", "SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007", "SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008", "SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009", "SmackDown! vs. RAW 2010", "SmackDown! vs. RAW 2011", "WWE '12", "WWE 2K15", "WWE 2K16, and WWE 2K22". In WWE 2K15 and WWE 2K16, both his modern and WCW-era Lord Steven Regal personas were available.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 80% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist. Syncretic combinations of both, known generally as , are common; they represented Japan's dominant religion before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Japanese concept of religion differs significantly from that of Western culture. Spirituality and worship are highly eclectic; rites and practices, often associated with well-being and worldly benefits, are of primary concern, while doctrines and beliefs garner minor attention. Religious affiliation is an alien notion. Although the vast majority of Japanese citizens follow Shinto, only some 3% identify as Shinto in surveys, because the term is understood to imply membership of organized Shinto sects. Some identify as , yet this does not signify rejection or apathy towards faith. The is a specified identity, which is used mostly to affirm regular, "normal" religiosity while rejecting affiliation with distinct movements perceived as foreign or extreme.


title: Religion in Japan

text: , also , is the indigenous religion of Japan and of most of the people of Japan. George Williams classifies Shinto as an action-centered religion; it focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently in order to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient roots. The written historical records of the and first recorded and codified Shinto practices in the 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified "Shinto religion", but rather to a collection of native beliefs and of mythology. Shinto in the 21st century is the religion of public shrines devoted to the worship of a multitude of gods (), suited to various purposes such as war memorials and harvest festivals, and applies as well to various sectarian organizations. Practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual dating from around the time of the Nara (710–794) and Heian (794–1185) periods.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Japanese adopted the word "Shinto" ("way of the gods"), originally as "Shindo", from the written Chinese (), combining two kanji: , meaning "spirit" or ; and , meaning a philosophical path or study (from the Chinese word ). The oldest recorded usage of the word dates from the second half of the 6th century. are defined in English as "spirits", "essences" or "gods", referring to the energy generating the phenomena. Since the Japanese language does not distinguish between singular and plural, refers to the divinity, or sacred essence, that manifests in multiple forms: rocks, trees, rivers, animals, places, and even people can be said to possess the nature of . and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, yet only a small percentage of these identify themselves as "Shintoists" in surveys. This is due to the fact that "Shinto" has different meanings in Japan: most of the Japanese attend Shinto shrines and beseech kami without belonging to Shinto organisations, and since there are no formal rituals to become a member of folk "Shinto", "Shinto membership" is often estimated counting those who join organised Shinto sects. Shinto has 100,000 shrines and 78,890 priests in the country.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Profound changes occurred in Japanese society in the 20th century (especially after World War II), including rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Traditional religions, challenged by the transformation, underwent a reshaping themselves, and principles of religious freedom articulated by the 1947 constitution provided space for the proliferation of new religious movements.


title: Religion in Japan

text: New sects of Shinto, as well as movements claiming a thoroughly independent status, and also new forms of Buddhist lay societies, provided ways of aggregation for people uprooted from traditional families and village institutions. While traditional Shinto has a residential and hereditary basis, and a person participates in the worship activities devoted to the local tutelary deity or ancestor – occasionally asking for specific healing or blessing services or participating in pilgrimages – in the new religions individuals formed groups without regard to kinship or territorial origins, and such groups required a voluntary decision to join. These new religions also provided cohesion through a unified doctrine and practice shared by the nationwide community.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds, and total membership reportedly numbers in the tens of millions. The largest new religion, Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect founded in 1930, has about 10 million members in Japan. Scholars in Japan have estimated that between 10% and 20% of the population belongs to the new religions, although more realistic estimates put the number at well below the 10% mark. there are 223,831 priests and leaders of the new religions in Japan, three times the number of traditional Shinto priests.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Many of these new religions derive from Shinto, retain the fundamental characters of Shinto, and often identify themselves as forms of Shinto. These include Tenrikyo, Konkokyo, Omotokyo, Shinrikyo, Shinreikyo, Sekai Shindokyo, Zenrinkyo and others. Others are independent new religions, including Aum Shinrikyo, Mahikari movements, the Church of Perfect Liberty, Seicho-no-Ie, the Church of World Messianity, and others.


title: Religion in Japan

text: first arrived in Japan in the 6th century, introduced in the year 538 or 552 from the kingdom of Baekje in Korea. The Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras. After overcoming brief yet violent oppositions by conservative forces, it was accepted by the Japanese court in 587. The Yamato state ruled over centered around the worship of ancestral nature deities. It was also a period of intense immigration from Korea, horse riders from northeast Asia, as well as cultural influence from China, that had been unified under the Sui dynasty becoming the crucial power on the mainland. Buddhism functioned to affirm the state's power and mold its position in the broader culture of East Asia. Japanese aristocrats set about building Buddhist temples in the capital at Nara, and then in the later capital at Heian (now Kyoto).


title: Religion in Japan

text: The six Buddhist sects initially established in Nara are today together known as "Nara Buddhism" and are relatively small. When the capital moved to Heian, more forms of Buddhism arrived from China, including the still-popular Shingon Buddhism, an esoteric form of Buddhism similar to Tibet's Vajrayana Buddhism, and Tendai, a monastic conservative form known better by its Chinese name, Tiantai.


title: Religion in Japan

text: When the shogunate took power in the 12th century and the administrative capital moved to Kamakura, more forms of Buddhism arrived. The most popular was Zen, which became the most popular type of Buddhism of that time. Two schools of Zen were established, Rinzai and Sōtō; a third, Ōbaku, formed in 1661.


title: Religion in Japan

text: With the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and its accompanying centralisation of imperial power and modernisation of the state, Shinto was made the state religion. An order of elimination of mutual influence of Shinto and Buddhism was also enacted, followed by a movement to thoroughly eradicate Buddhism from Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Today, the most popular school in Japan is Pure Land Buddhism, which arrived in the Kamakura period. It emphasizes the role of Amitabha Buddha and promises that reciting the phrase upon death will result in being removed by Amitabha to the "Western Paradise" or "Pure Land", and then to Nirvana. Pure Land attracted the merchant and farmer classes. After the death of Honen, Pure Land's head missionary in Japan, the school split into two branches: , which focuses on repeating the phrase many times, and the more liberal , which claims that only saying the phrase once with a pure heart is necessary. Today, many Japanese adhere to , a conservative sect of .


title: Religion in Japan

text: Another prevalent form of Buddhism is Nichiren Buddhism, which was established by the 13th century monk Nichiren who underlined the importance of the Lotus Sutra. The main representatives of Nichiren Buddhism include sects such as and , and lay organisations like and —a denomination whose political wing forms the , Japan's third largest political party. Common to most lineages of Nichiren Buddhism is the chanting of (or Nam Myoho Renge Kyo) and the inscribed by Nichiren.


title: Religion in Japan

text: , there were 355,000+ Buddhist monks, priests and leaders in Japan, an increase of over 40,000 compared to 2000.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Christianity (キリスト教 "Kirisutokyō"), in the form of Catholicism (カトリック教 "Katorikkukyō"), was introduced into Japan by Jesuit missions starting in 1549. In that year, the three Jesuits Francis Xavier, Cosme de Torres and Juan Fernández, landed in Kagoshima, in Kyushu, on 15 August. Portuguese traders were active in Kagoshima since 1543, welcomed by local "daimyōs" because they imported gunpowder. Anjirō, a Japanese convert, helped the Jesuits understanding Japanese culture and translating the first Japanese catechism.


title: Religion in Japan

text: These missionaries were successful in converting large numbers of people in Kyushu, including peasants, former Buddhist monks, and members of the warrior class. In 1559, a mission to the capital, Kyoto, was started. By the following year there were nine churches, and the Christian community grew steadily in the 1560s. By 1569 there were 30,000 Christians and 40 churches. Following the conversion of some lords in Kyushu, mass baptisms of the local populations occurred, and in the 1570s the number of Christians rose rapidly to 100,000.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Near the end of the 16th century, Franciscan missionaries arrived in Kyoto, despite a ban issued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1597, Hideyoshi proclaimed a more serious edict and executed 26 Franciscans in Nagasaki as a warning. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors enforced the prohibition of Christianity with several further edicts, especially after the Shimabara Rebellion in the 1630s. Many Christians continued to practice in secret. However, more importantly, the discourses on Christianity became the property of the state during the Tokugawa period. The state leveraged its power over to declare Christians enemies of the state in order to create and maintain a legally enforceable identity for Japanese subjects. As such, Christian identities or icons became the exclusive property of the Japanese state. Although often discussed as a "foreign" or "minority" religion, Christianity has played a key sociopolitical role in the lives of Japanese subjects and citizens for hundreds of years.


title: Religion in Japan

text: In 1873, following the Meiji Restoration, the ban was rescinded, freedom of religion was promulgated, and Protestant missionaries (プロテスタント "Purotesutanto" or 新教 "Shinkyō", "renewed teaching") began to proselytise in Japan, intensifying their activities after World War II, yet they were never as successful as in Korea.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Today, there are 1.9 to 3 million Christians in Japan, most of them living in the western part of the country, where the missionaries' activities were greatest during the 16th century. Nagasaki Prefecture has the highest percentage of Christians: about 5.1% in 1996. As of 2007 there are 32,036 Christian priests and pastors in Japan. According to a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2006, Christianity has increased significantly in Japan, particularly among youth, and a high number of teens are becoming Christians.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Throughout the latest century, some Western customs originally related to Christianity (including Western style weddings, Valentine's Day and Christmas) have become popular among many of the Japanese. For example, 60–70% of weddings performed in Japan are Christian-style. Christianity and Christian culture has a generally positive image in Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Islam (イスラム教 "Isuramukyō") in Japan is mostly represented by small immigrant communities from other parts of Asia. In 2008, Keiko Sakurai estimated that 80–90% of the Muslims in Japan were foreign-born migrants primarily from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. It has been estimated that the Muslim immigrant population amounts to 10,000–50,000 people, while the "estimated number of Japanese Muslims ranges from thousands to tens of thousands".


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Bahá'í Faith (バハーイー教 "Bahāiikyō") in Japan began after a few mentions of the country by 'Abdu'l-Bahá first in 1875. The first Japanese convert was , who lived in Honolulu, and accepted the faith in 1902; the second convert was . The first Bahá'í convert on Japanese soil was in 1915. Almost a century later, the Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 15,700 Bahá'ís in 2005.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Judaism (ユダヤ教 "Yudayakyō") in Japan is practiced by about 2,000 Jews living in the country. With the opening of Japan to the external world in 1853 and the end of Japan's "sakoku" foreign policy, some Jews immigrated to Japan from abroad, with the first recorded Jewish settlers arriving at Yokohama in 1861. The Jewish population continued to grow into the 1950s, fueled by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with Tokyo and Kobe forming the largest communities.


title: Religion in Japan

text: During World War II, some European Jews fleeing the Holocaust found refuge in Japan. These mainly Polish Jews received a so-called Curaçao visa from the Dutch consul in Kaunas, Jan Zwartendijk. This allowed one Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul to Lithuania, to issue Japanese transit visa. In doing so, both Zwartendijk and Sugihara disregarded orders and helped more than 6,000 Jews escape the Nazis. After World War II, a large portion of Japan's Jewish population emigrated, many going to what would become Israel. Some of those who remained married locals and were assimilated into Japanese society.


title: Religion in Japan

text: There are community centres serving Jews in Tokyo and Kobe. The Chabad-Lubavitch organization has two centers in Tokyo.


title: Religion in Japan

text: In September 2015, Japan nominated a Chief Rabbi for the first time, the head of Tokyo's Chabad House, Rabbi Binyamin Edrei.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Hinduism (ヒンドゥー教 "Hindūkyō" or 印度教 "Indokyō") in Japan is practiced by a small number of people, mostly migrants from India, Nepal, Bali. Nevertheless, Hindu culture have had a significant but indirect role in Japanese culture, through the spread of Buddhism and the fascination of ancient world about Bharatvarsha . Four of the Japanese "Seven Gods of Fortune" originated as Hindu deities, including Benzaiten (Sarasvati), Bishamon (Vaiśravaṇa or Kubera), Daikoku (Mahakala/Shiva), and Kisshoutennyo (Laxmi). Various Hindu deities, including the aforementioned, are worshipped in Shingon Buddhism. This denomination, and all other forms of Tantric Buddhism, borrow heavily from Tantric Hinduism.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Sikhism (シク教 "Sikukyō") is presently a minority religion in Japan mainly followed by families migrated from India.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Jainism (ジャイナ教 "Jainakyō") is a minority religion in Japan. , there were three Jain temples in the country.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Happy Science was founded in 1986 by Ryuho Okawa. This Japanese religion has been very active in its political ventures to re-militarize Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Ryukyuan religion is the indigenous belief system of the people of Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands. While specific legends and traditions may vary slightly from place to place and island to island, the Ryukyuan religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship (more accurately termed "ancestor respect") and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural world. Some of its beliefs, such as those concerning "genius loci" spirits and many other beings classified between gods and humans, are indicative of its ancient animistic roots, as is its concern with , or life essence.


title: Religion in Japan

text: One of its most ancient features is the belief , the spiritual superiority of women derived from the goddess Amamikyu, which allowed for the development of a class of "noro" (priestesses) cult and "yuta" (female media). This differs from Japanese Shinto, where men are seen as the embodiment of purity. Ryukyuan religion has been influenced by Japanese Shinto and Buddhism, and various Chinese religions. It includes sects and reformed movements such as Ijun or Ijunism (Ryukyuan: いじゅん "Ijun"; Japanese: 違順教 "Ijunkyō"), founded in the 1970s.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Ainu religion is the indigenous belief system of the Ainu people of Hokkaido and parts of Far Eastern Russia. It is an animistic religion centered around the belief that "Kamuy" (spirits or gods) live in everything.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Most Chinese people in Japan practice the Chinese folk religion (), also known as Shenism (), that is very similar to Japanese Shinto.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Chinese folk religion consists in the worship of the ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors, "shen" (神 "gods", "spirits", "awarenesses", "consciousnesses", "archetypes"; literally "expressions", the energies that generate things and make them thrive), which can be nature deities, city deities or tutelary deities of other human agglomerations, national deities, cultural heroes and demigods, ancestors and progenitors of kinships. Holy narratives regarding some of these gods are codified into the body of Chinese mythology.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Taoism (道教 "Dōkyō") was introduced from China between the 7th and 8th centuries, and influenced in varying degrees the Japanese indigenous spirituality. Taoist practices were absorbed into Shinto, and Taoism was the source of the esoteric and mystical religions of Onmyōdō, Shugendō and Kōshin.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Taoism, being an indigenous religion in China, shares some roots with Shinto, although Taoism is more hermetic while Shinto is more shamanic. Taoism's influence in Japan has been less profound than that of Japanese Neo-Confucianism. Today, institutional Chinese Taoism is present in the country in the form of some temples; the "Seitenkyū" was founded in 1995.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Confucianism (儒教 "Jukyō") was introduced from Korea during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), and developed into an elite religion, yet having a profound influence on the fabric of Japanese society overall during the Edo period. The Confucian philosophy can be characterized as humanistic and rationalistic, with the belief that the universe could be understood through human reason, corresponding to the universal reason ("li"), and thus it is up to man to create a harmonious relationship between the universe (天 "Ten") and the individual. The rationalism of Neo-Confucianism was in contrast to the mysticism of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Unlike the Buddhists, the Neo-Confucians believed that reality existed, and could be understood by mankind, even if the interpretations of reality were slightly different depending on the school of Neo-Confucianism.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The social aspects of the philosophy are hierarchical with a focus on filial piety. This created a Confucian social stratification in Edo society that previously had not existed, dividing Japanese society into four main classes: samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants. The samurai were especially avid readers and teachers of Confucian thought in Japan, establishing many Confucian academies.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Neo-Confucianism also introduced elements of ethnocentrism into Japan. As the Chinese and Korean Neo-Confucians had regarded their own culture as the center of the world, the Japanese Neo-Confucians developed a similar national pride. This national pride would later evolve into the philosophical school of Kokugaku, which would later challenge Neo-Confucianism, and its perceived foreign Chinese and Korean origins, as the dominant philosophy of Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Most Japanese participate in rituals and customs derived from several religious traditions. Life cycle events are often marked by visits to a Shinto shrine and Buddhist temples. The birth of a new baby is celebrated with a formal shrine or temple visit at the age of about one month, as are the third, fifth, and seventh birthdays ("Shichi-Go-San") and the official beginning of adulthood at age twenty ("Seijin shiki"). The vast majority of Japanese wedding ceremonies have been Christian for at least the last three and half decades. Shinto weddings and secular weddings that follow a "western-style" format are also popular but much less so and a small fraction (usually less than one percent) of weddings are Buddhist.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Japanese funerals are usually performed by Buddhist priests, and Buddhist rites are also common on death day anniversaries of deceased family members. 91% of Japanese funerals take place according to Buddhist traditions.


title: Religion in Japan

text: There are two categories of holidays in Japan: "matsuri" (temple fairs), which are largely of Shinto origin (some are Buddhist like Hanamatsuri) and relate to the cultivation of rice and the spiritual well-being of the local community; and "nenjyū gyōji" (annual feasts), which are largely of Chinese or Buddhist origin. During the Heian period, the "matsuri" were organized into a formal calendar, and other festivals were added. Very few "matsuri" or annual feasts are national holidays, but they are included in the national calendar of annual events. Most "matsuri" are local events and follow local traditions. They may be sponsored by schools, towns, or other groups but are most often associated with Shinto shrines.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Some of the holidays are secular in nature, but the two most significant for the majority of Japanese—New Year's Day and "Obon"—involve visits to Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples and only Buddhist temples for later. The New Year's holiday (January 1–3) is marked by the practice of numerous customs and the consumption of special foods. Visiting Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples to pray for family blessings in the coming year, dressing in a kimono, hanging special decorations, eating noodles on New Year's Eve, and playing a poetry card game are among these practices. During Obon, "bon" (spirit altars) are set up in front of Buddhist family altars, which, along with ancestral graves, are cleaned in anticipation of the return of the spirits. People living away from their family homes return for visits with relatives. Celebrations include folk dancing and prayers at Buddhist temples as well as family rituals in the home.


title: Religion in Japan

text: In early Japanese history, the ruling class was responsible for performing propitiatory rituals, which later came to be identified as Shinto, and for the introduction and support of Buddhism. Later, religious organization was used by regimes for political purposes; for instance, the Tokugawa government required each family to be registered as a member of a Buddhist temple. In the early 19th century, the government required that each family belong to a shrine instead, and in the early 20th century, this was supplemented with the concept of a divine right to rule bestowed on the emperor. The Meiji Constitution reads: "Japanese subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief".


title: Religion in Japan

text: Article 20 of the 1947 Constitution states: "Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity". This change in constitutional rights provided mechanisms for limiting state educational initiatives designed to promote Shinto beliefs in schools and freed the populace from mandatory participation in Shinto rites.


title: Religion in Japan

text: In postwar years, the issue of the separation of Shinto and state arose in the Self-Defense Force Apotheosis Case. In 1973, Nakaya Takafumi, a member of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and husband of Nakaya Yasuko, died in a traffic accident. Despite Yasuko's refusal to provide relevant documents for her husband's enshrinement at the Yamaguchi prefectural National-Protecting Shrine, the prefectural Veterans’ Association requested the information from the Self-Defense Forces and completed the enshrinement. As a result, in 1973, Yasuko sued the Yamaguchi Prefectural Branch of the Self-Defense Forces, on the grounds that the ceremony of apotheosis violated her religious rights as a Christian.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Although Yasuko won the case at two lower courts, the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court of Japan on June 1, 1988, based on the precedent established by the Tsu City Shinto Groundbreaking Ceremony Case. First, the Supreme Court ruled that because the Veterans’ Association—which was not an organ of the state—had acted alone when arranging the ceremony of apotheosis, no violation of Article 20 had occurred. Second, the Supreme Court held that the Self-Defense Forces' provision of Takafumi's documents to the Veterans’ Association did not constitute a religious activity prohibited by Article 20, because neither the intention nor the effects of its action harmed or patronized any religion.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Third, the Supreme Court adopted a narrow interpretation of individual religious rights, by ruling that violation of individual rights to religion did not occur unless the state or its organs coerced individuals to perform some religious activity or limited their religious freedom. On June 2, 1988, a report by the "Los Angeles Times" described the Japanese Supreme Court's decision as “a major setback for advocates of stronger separation of religion and state in Japan.” On June 7, 1988, an article published in the "New York Times" expressed concern that the Japanese Supreme Court's decision was likely to encourage the resurgence of State Shinto and nationalism. Because the prefectural National-Protecting Shrines perform the same ceremony of apotheosis as the Yasukuni Shrine does, the significance of this case also lies in its implications for the constitutionality of state patronage of and official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.


title: Religion in Japan

text: The Japan Militant Atheists Alliance ("Nihon Sentoteki Mushinronsha Domei", also known as "Senmu") was founded in September 1931 by a group of antireligious people. The alliance opposed the idea of kokutai, the nation's founding myth, the presence of religion in public education, and the practice of State Shinto. Their greatest opposition was towards the imperial system of Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: Two months later, in November 1931, socialist Toshihiko Sakai and Communist Takatsu Seido created the Japan Anti-religion Alliance ("Nihon Hanshukyo Domei"). They opposed "contributions to religious organizations, prayers for practical benefits (kito), preaching in factories, and the religious organizations of all stripes" and viewed religion as a tool used by the upper class to suppress laborers and farmers.


title: Religion in Japan

text: According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2015 by the Agency for Culture Affairs, Government of Japan: there are 181 thousand religious groups in Japan.


title: Religion in Japan

text: According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2008, less than 40% of the population of Japan identifies with an organized religion: around 35% are Buddhists, 3% to 4% are members of Shinto sects and derived religions, and from fewer than 1% to 2.3% are Christians.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of California, Oregon, and Washington, but sometimes includes Alaska and Hawaii, especially by the United States Census Bureau as a U.S. geographic division.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: There are conflicting definitions of which states comprise the West Coast of the United States, but the West Coast always includes California, Oregon, and Washington as part of that definition. Under most circumstances, however, the term encompasses the three contiguous states and Alaska, as they are all located in North America. For census purposes, Hawaii is part of the West Coast, along with the other four states. "Encyclopædia Britannica" refers to the North American region as part of the Pacific Coast, including Alaska and British Columbia. Although the encyclopedia acknowledges the inclusion of Hawaii in some capacity as part of the region, the editors wrote that "it has little in common geologically with the mainland states."


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Several dictionaries offer different definitions of the West Coast. Lexico restricts the West Coast's definition to "the western seaboard of the U.S. from Washington to California." However, Macmillan Dictionary provides a less specific definition as "the western coast of the U.S., along the Pacific Ocean." As for the Cambridge Dictionary, the West Coast is "the area of the Pacific coast in the U.S. that includes California."


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The history of the West Coast begins with the arrival of the earliest known humans of the Americas, Paleo-Indians, crossing the Bering Strait from Eurasia into North America over a land bridge, Beringia, that existed between 45,000 BCE and 12,000 BCE (47,000–14,000 years ago). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. Between 16,500 BCE and 13,500 BCE (18,500–15,500 years ago), ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America and possibly by sea.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Alaska Natives, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, and California indigenous peoples eventually descended from the Paleo-Indians. They developed various languages and established .


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Later, Spanish, British, French, Russian, and American explorers and settlers began colonizing the area.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: On May 10, 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed joining the West Coast to the East of the United States.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The West Coast of the United States has an oceanic climate in its Northwestern, Northern, and Eastern edge towards the U.S.-Canada border, but from Northern California, towards the U.S.-Mexico border the climate is mediterranean. While the northern half of the west coast, particularly coastal Washington and Oregon has moderate rainfall, particularly during the winter months, much of coastal California is drier year-round.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The coastline sees significantly milder temperatures compared to inland areas during summer. In far Northern California there is a difference of 17 °C (30 °F) between Eureka and Willow Creek in spite of only 25 miles (40 km) separating the locations and Willow Creek being located at a elevation. Slightly narrower fluctuations can be seen all through the coastline, and could partially be explained by the cold currents in the Pacific Ocean moderating coastal temperatures and the mountain ranges blocking the maritime air from moving farther inland than its foothills during summer. Coastal fog is also prevalent in keeping shoreline temperatures cool. While famous in the San Francisco Bay Area, coastal fog also affects Santa Monica in Los Angeles, Southern California, leading to May gray and June gloom conditions. Coastal California has very little yearly temperature differences with cool summers similar to those expected in parts of Northern Europe in San Francisco but warmer temperatures year-round further south. A short journey inland and summer temperatures are comparable with the rest of the United States on the same latitudes, sometimes warmer due to prevailing winds from the Nevada and Arizona hot desert climate. Humidity is far lower on the west coast compared to the eastern seaboard and thunderstorms are uncommon.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: With the exception of Alaska, the Democratic Party has dominated West Coast politics in contemporary history, with the states consistently voting for Democrats in elections at various levels. Four out of five West Coast states have voted for Democrats in presidential elections since 1992, three of which have done so since 1988.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: In politics, the West Coast usually refers to the contiguous coastal states of California, Oregon, and Washington because of their similar political leanings. In 2017, "The Oregonian" columnist David Sarasohn described the West Coast as a "blue wall" of shared values on immigration, abortion, climate change, and civil liberties. By 2016, the West Coast states legalized marijuana after California voted to do so. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center poll, 72% of adults in Pacific states said that "climate change is affecting their local community at least some", higher than in any other region in the country.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Since 1992, the three states have voted for Democrats in presidential elections without interruption, but Oregon and Washington also voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 1988. Although the three states have reliably voted Democratic, no Democratic presidential candidate from any of the three states has won their party's nomination as of 2020.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: In the 2010s, Democrats strengthened their political power along the West Coast. After winning a special election for a seat in the Washington state senate in 2017, Democrats built a government trifecta in all three West Coast states. After the 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections, Democrats controlled all West Coast congressional districts except Washington's 3rd, represented by a Republican.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Hawaii is not usually considered part of the West Coast in the political definition, it has been a Democratic stronghold. Before achieving statehood in 1959, Hawaii became a state favorable to Democrats to the point that they sought statehood for the territory. Southern Democrats opposed the move because it would mean additional votes against their region on several issues. Since achieving statehood, Hawaii consistently voted for Democrats in presidential elections, except in 1972 and 1984. In 2016, the Democratic Party unseated the lone Republican in the Hawaii Senate and controlled all seats in the state's upper house, which had not occurred anywhere in the country since 1980.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Dissimilar to the rest of the West Coast, Alaska has been a reliable state for Republicans in presidential elections. Since achieving statehood, Alaska has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate only once in 1964. In 1960, the state narrowly voted for Republican Richard Nixon over Democrat John F. Kennedy and had voted for Republicans uninterrupted since 1968.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: According to the results of the 2020 United States Census, 16 of the 20 largest cities on the West Coast exist in California. Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose, all among the top 10 most populous cities in the country, lead the West Coast in population with more than a million people in each city, with Los Angeles being nearly three times the size of San Diego's population. Behind these three cities, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland are respectively fourth, fifth and sixth in population. Hawaii's capital and largest city, Honolulu, is the 13th largest city, and Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, is 17th on the West Coast.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Since the West Coast has been populated by immigrants and their descendants more recently than the East Coast, its culture is considerably younger. Additionally, its demographic composition underlies its cultural difference from the rest of the United States. California's history first as a major Spanish colony, and later Mexican territory, has given the lower West Coast a distinctive Hispanic American tone, which it also shares with the rest of the Southwest. Similarly, two of the three cities in which Asian Americans have concentrated, San Francisco and Los Angeles, are located on the West Coast, with significant populations in other West Coast cities. San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest in North America, is a noted cultural center.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The West Coast also has a proportionally large share of green cities within the United States, which manifests itself in different cultural practices such as bicycling and organic gardening.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: In the Pacific Northwest, Portland and Seattle are both considered among the coffee capitals of the world. While Starbucks originated in Seattle, both cities are known for small-scale coffee roasters and independent coffeeshops. The culture has also been significantly shaped by the environment, especially by its forests, mountains, and rain. This may account for the fact that the Northwest has many high-quality libraries and bookshops (most notably Powell's Books and the Seattle Central Library) and a "bibliophile soul". The region also has a marginal, but growing independence movement based on bioregionalism and a Cascadian identity. The Cascadian flag has become a popular image at Seattle Sounders FC and Portland Timbers games.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Alaska is widely known for its outdoors and its inhabitants engage in a range of activities that are unique to the state. Some of these activities can be experienced through the state's annual events, such as the Iron Dog snowmobile race from Anchorage to Nome and on to Fairbanks. Other events include the World Ice Art Championships (Fairbanks) and the Sitka Whalefest (Sitka).


title: West Coast of the United States

text: The "Coast Starlight" is the main interstate passenger railroad route provided by Amtrak along the coast. Interstate railroad tracks in the Western United States are provided by Union Pacific Railroad. Interstate travel is also served by roads such as the Interstate 5 freeway, the main high-speed north-south route along the West Coast.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Interstate 5 follows the coast only as far north as Dana Point, California, before turning inland for much of its route. The main coastal scenic route throughout most of California is California State Route 1. From the end of SR 1 at Leggett, California, U.S. Route 101 serves as the main scenic route along the coast in far Northern California, Oregon, and Washington State. Sierra High Route is a popular trekking route.


title: West Coast of the United States

text: Several of the most important international airports in the United States are located along the West Coast, including Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport. Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles all connect numerous destinations around the Pacific Ocean to points throughout North America, and are often described as gateways to the Pacific Rim.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Tate Buckley Donovan (born September 25, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in "Damages", Jimmy Cooper in "The O.C.", and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disney animated film "Hercules", the animated television series of the and in a few "Kingdom Hearts" video games. He starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the 1992 film, "Love Potion No. 9".


title: Tate Donovan

text: He also had supporting roles in films, such as "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Argo". Donovan also played Brian Sanders in "Hostages" and White House Chief of Staff Mark Boudreau in "". He has been a guest star in a number of television series, notably "Friends". He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film "Inside Monkey Zetterland".


title: Tate Donovan

text: He has also worked as a producer of 30 for 30 "Shorts", for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan was born on September 25, 1963, in Tenafly, New Jersey, to John Timothy Donovan, a surgeon, and Eileen Frances ("née" McAllister), both Roman Catholics of Irish descent. Donovan is the youngest of six children. He attended Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, before transferring to Tenafly High School and attending the University of Southern California. He has appeared on television since his teenage years.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan's earliest film roles included Kevin Donaldson in "SpaceCamp" (1986), a recovering drug addict in "Clean and Sober" (1988), 1st Lieutenant Luke Sinclair in "Memphis Belle" (1990) and Paul Matthews in "Love Potion No. 9" (1992). Donovan voiced the title character in the Disney animated film "Hercules" (1997). Donovan played Jesse Zousmer in the Best Picture nominated film "Good Night, and Good Luck" (2005). In 2007, Donovan starred in the film "Nancy Drew" alongside Emma Roberts. Later, he played Bob Anders, one of the key supporting roles in the Oscar-winning film "Argo" (2012). In 2019, Donovan portrayed the role of Doug Weston in "Rocketman".


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan portrayed Joshua, the love interest of Rachel Green, for several episodes of Season 4 of "Friends". Ironically, he had recently broken up with Jennifer Aniston in real life. He also portrayed 'Cheanie' in 1997, who was a client of and also dated Ally McBeal in season 1 of the show. He later portrayed the priest-son of a large Catholic family in "Trinity" (1998). He has appeared as a guest star in several television series, such as "Magnum, P.I." (1986), "The Guardian" (2001), "Mister Sterling" (2003), "Exposed" (2003), and "The O.C." (2003), where he appeared as Jimmy Cooper. From 2007 to 2010, he portrayed Tom Shayes on "Damages". In 2005, Donovan began directing episodic television when he directed an episode of "The O.C.". In 2007 he guest starred on a season 6 episode of "". In 2009, he directed an episode of the sixth season of "Medium". He also directed two episodes of "Damages" in its third season and an episode of "Nip/Tuck" in its sixth season. In 2010, Donovan directed the third episode in the sixth season of "Weeds", the tenth episode in the fourth season of "Gossip Girl", the fourth episode of the fifth season, and one episode of "Damages" from the third season. In 2011, Donovan directed the Valentine's Day-themed episode of "Glee" and the episode "I Kissed a Girl" in the third season. In March 2010, he joined the cast of "No Ordinary Family". However, after only one season, the series was cancelled. Donovan guest appeared in the series, "Red Oaks". Starting in 2017, Donovan appeared in CBS’s MacGyver as James MacGyver, father to the main character.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan starred on stage with Amy Ryan in the Los Angeles production of "Rabbit Hole". On Broadway, he played Alan Seymour in the 1994 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of "Picnic" and appeared in "Amy's View" with Judi Dench in 1999. Off Broadway, Donovan appeared with Glenn Fitzgerald in the 2001 production of "Lobby Hero" by Kenneth Lonergan, playing the role of the crooked cop Bill. Donovan has appeared in numerous productions at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including "Once in a Lifetime", "Under the Blue Sky", and "The Glass Menagerie". He has also appeared at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York City. In 2011, he starred with Frances McDormand in the world premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's play "Good People" at the Manhattan Theatre Club.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan had a regular gig with traditional Irish band the McGuffins, with whom he released an album titled "Wake Amusements". He plays the bodhrán and fiddle.


title: Tate Donovan

text: As of May 2011, Donovan voices radio and video advertising for PNC Financial Services and volunteers with the Young Storytellers Program.


title: Tate Donovan

text: Donovan was in a relationship with Sandra Bullock from 1990 to 1994, and Jennifer Aniston for two and a half years from 1995 to 1998. He later married writer Corinne Kingsbury on a Malibu, California beach in 2005. They divorced in 2008.


title: Tate Donovan

text: In 2008, Donovan announced his support and campaigned for Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential election of 2008. Donovan also supported Obama in the 2012 presidential election.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and play their home matches at the Roazhon Park. The team's president is Nicolas Holveck, and its owner is Artémis, the holding company of businessman François Pinault.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes was founded in 1901 under the name Stade Rennais and is one of the founding members of the first division of French football. Alongside Nantes, Rennes is one of the top football clubs in the region and the two are among the main clubs that contest the Derby Breton. The club's best finish in the league has been third, accomplishing this feat after the season was ended prematurely in 2019–20. Rennes has won three Coupe de France titles in 1965, 1971 and 2019. After winning the Coupe de France in 1971, Rennes changed its name to its current version.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes' home colours are red shirts with black shorts and socks. They have a long-standing rivalry with fellow Breton club Nantes, with whom they contest the Derby Breton.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes is known for its youth academy, known in English as the Henri Guérin Training Centre, which was formed in 2000. The French Football Federation (FFF) recognised Rennes as having the best youth academy in the country in 2010. The cornerstone of the academy is the under-19 team, which has won the Coupe Gambardella three times in 1973, 2003 and 2008. The academy has produced several notable talents, such as Ousmane Dembélé, Yacine Brahimi, Eduardo Camavinga, Yoann Gourcuff, Yann M'Vila, Moussa Sow, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Sylvain Wiltord and Jimmy Briand.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Stade Rennais Football Club was founded on 10 March 1901 by a group of former students living in Brittany. Football had quickly become widely circulated in nearby regions and it was soon brought to Brittany. The club's first match was played two weeks later against FC Rennais, which Stade lost 6–0. In 1902, Stade Rennais joined the USFSA federation and, subsequently, became a founding member of the Ligue de Bretagne de football, a newly created regional league founded by the federation. In the second league season, the club won the competition after defeating the inaugural league winners FC Rennais 4–0 in the final. On 4 May 1904, Stade Rennais merged with its rivals FC Rennais to form Stade Rennais Université Club, with the primary objective being to overcome the recent domination of the Ligue de Bretagne by US Saint-Malo, then known as US Saint-Servan, which fielded mostly British players. The new club adopted the colours of Rennais, which consisted of a red and black combination with black vertical stripes on the shirt. After three years of Saint-Malo dominating the league, Rennes finally eclipsed the club in 1908 under the leadership of Welsh manager Arthur Griffith. In the following season, Rennes won the league again, but in 1910 Rennes was unable to win a third, as Saint-Malo won the league by two points. The champions subsequently went on an impressive run in which it won the league for the next four seasons over.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: After World War I, Rennes began focusing its efforts on winning the recently created Coupe de France. Strengthened by the arrivals of internationals Bernard Lenoble, Maurice Gastiger, Ernest Molles and captain François Hugues after the war, in the competition's fourth campaign, Rennes reached the final. In the match, the club faced two-time defending champions Red Star Olympique, which was led by attacker Paul Nicolas, defender Lucien Gamblin and goalkeeper Pierre Chayriguès. Red Star opened the scoring in the fourth minute and the match was concluded following a late goal from Raymond Sentubéry. After the disorganisation of the USFSA in 1913, Rennes joined the Ligue de l'Ouest. In 1929, Rennes departed the league after disagreeing with the increased number of games the league sought to implement in the new season. The departure led to Rennes becoming a "free agent", and the club played numerous friendly matches to compensate for the loss of league matches.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: In July 1930, the National Council of the French Football Federation (FFF) voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. Under the leadership of club president Isidore Odorico, Rennes was among the first clubs to adopt the new statute and, subsequently, became professional and became founding members of the new league. In the league's inaugural season, Rennes finished mid-table in its group. Two years later, in 1935, the club reached the final of the Coupe de France for the second time. Rennes, however, lost to Marseille 3–0 after failing to overcome three first-half goals. The club's attack was also limited in the match due to being deprived of its top two attackers, Walter Kaiser and Walter Vollweiler, who were both injured. Rennes spent four more years in the first division before suffering relegation to Division 2 in the 1936–37 season. Rennes played in Division 2 before professionalism was abolished due to World War II. After the war, Rennes returned to Division 1. Led by the Austrian-born Frenchman Franz Pleyer, Rennes achieved its best finish in the league after finishing fourth in the 1948–49 campaign. Despite the domestic resurgence under Pleyer, the club struggled to maintain the consistency and, in the 1950s, rotated between the first division and the second division under the watch of the Spaniard Salvador Artigas and Henri Guérin, who acted in a player-coach role.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Under the leadership of new president Louis Girard, Rennes underwent a major upheaval, which included renovations to the stadium. Girard sought to make Rennes competitive nationally and the first objective was achieved when the club earned promotion back to Division 1 in 1958. After finishing in the bottom-half of the table for six-straight seasons, Rennes, now managed by former club player Jean Prouff, finished in fourth place in the 1964–65 season. In the same season, the club earned its first major honour after winning the Coupe de France. Rennes, led by players such as Daniel Rodighiéro, Georges Lamia and Jean-Claude Lavaud defeated UA Sedan-Torcy 3–1 in the replay of the final. The first leg of the match ended 2–2, which resulted in a replay. After the cup success, Rennes played in European competition for the first time in the 1965–66 season. The club, however, lost to Czechoslovakian club Dukla Prague in the first round.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: In the ensuing years, Rennes struggled in league play but performed well in the Coupe de France, reaching the semi-finals on two occasions in 1967 and 1970. In 1971, Rennes captured its second Coupe de France title after defeating Lyon 1–0 with the only goal coming from a penalty conversion by André Guy. On 23 May 1972, Rennes officially changed its name to its current form. After another season in charge, Prouff departed Rennes and the club entered free-fall. From 1972 to 1994, Rennes was supervised by 11 different managers and, during the years, consistently hovered between Division 1 and Division 2. In 1978, the club was on the verge of bankruptcy and, as a result, was order by a tribunal to sell its biggest earners and enter a policy of austerity. In the 1980s, the city's municipality gained a majority stake in the club.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: In 1994, Rennes returned to Division 1 and entered a period of stability mainly due to the utilisation of the club's youth academy. Instead of entering bidding wars for players, Rennes groomed its youngsters and inserted them onto the senior team when coaches felt they were ready. This strategy proved successful with players such as Sylvain Wiltord, Jocelyn Gourvennec and Ulrich Le Pen. In 1998, the club was sold by the municipality to retail magnate François Pinault. Pinault invested a substantial amount of funding into the club and sought to increase Rennes' production of youth talent by constructing a training centre, which was completed in 2000. Pinault also paid for a completed re-construction of the stadium and also invested in the transfer market, recruiting several players from South America, most notably Lucas Severino, whom Rennes paid a record €21 million for.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: The results were immediate in the decade from 2000 to 2010, with Rennes appearing in UEFA-sanctioned European competitions in five of the ten seasons. In youth production, the club produced several youth talents such as Yann M'Vila, Yacine Brahimi, Jimmy Briand and Abdoulaye Diallo, among others. In league competition, Rennes tied its best finish ever in the league by finishing fourth in 2004–05. Two seasons later, the club accomplished this feat again. In 2009, Rennes reached the Coupe de France final for the fourth time in its history. In the final, Rennes faced Breton rival Guingamp and was the heavy favourite. Despite taking the lead in the second half, however, Rennes was defeated 2–1 after Guingamp scored two goals in a ten-minute span. In 2014, Rennes made the Coupe de France final and once again their opponent was Guingamp. In a tense final, Rennes lost the match to their fierce rivals 2–0. In the 2017–2018 Ligue 1 season, Rennes had one of their best campaigns in recent memory finishing 5th and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: In 2019, Rennes claimed its third Coupe de France win on 27 April. In the final, Rennes played Paris St Germain. The French Cup winners for the last four years were heavy favourites to beat Rennes having already been crowned Ligue 1 champions for the 2018–19 season on 21 April. Rennes rallied back from two goals down to beat Paris St Germain 6–5 on penalties.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: In 2019–20 season, Rennes finished third in Ligue 1 and qualified for 2020–21 UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes has played on the land where the club's stadium, the Roazhon Park, situates itself since 1912. The Roazhon Park, then named Stade de Route de Lorient, which is its address, was constructed in 1912. The facility was inaugurated on 15 September 1912 in a match between Rennes and SA du Lycée de Rennes. The Stade de la Route de Lorient was officially inaugurated a month later when Rennes took on Racing Club de France in front of 3,000 spectators.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: The Roazhon Park is owned by the city of Rennes and has undergone renovations three times, in 1955, 1983 and 1999. In 1983, the club renovated the stadium in an attempt to resemble the Olympiastadion in Munich. After nearly four years of renovation, the new stadium was unveiled on 7 March 1987. In 1999, the new renovations, which were designed by architect Bruno Gaudin, cost €37.3 million and took four years to complete. The stadium's inauguration was celebrated twice: in a match between France and Bosnia and Herzegovina in August 2004, and another football match contesting by Rennes and Metz two months later. The current capacity of the stadium is 29,778.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: The Centre d'entraînement Henri-Guérin (Henri-Guérin Training Center), colloquially known as "La Piverdière", was inaugurated in June 2000. Named for former club player and manager Henri Guérin, "La Piverdière" is located on the outskirts of Rennes just southwest of Roazhon Park. The centre hosts the senior team's training sessions, as well as the club's reserve and youth teams. In 2007, "La Piverdière" became the home of the club's administrative and business headquarters.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Since its inception, "La Piverdière" has become reputed for its consistent production of youth talent, bringing through players that have become household names at the international level. In that time, the club's youth system has made up most of the club's first team. Current first-team players Eduardo Camavinga and Joris Gnagnon were graduates of the academy. Rennes has been awarded the honour of having the best youth academy in France.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes has won the Coupe Gambardella, the under-19 national youth competition, three times, in 1973, 2003 and 2008. In 2003, the team that won was anchored by Yoann Gourcuff and Marveaux. Gourcuff went on to win both the UNFP Player of the Year and French Player of the Year awards and established himself as a French international. Marveaux graduated from the academy after the Gambardella triumph and went on to appear in over 100 matches for Rennes. He had his best season in the 2009–10 season, appearing in 38 matches and scoring 12 goals. In 2008, the team that won the competition was composed of Brahimi, M'Vila, Souprayen, Yohann Lasimant, Quentin Rouger, Kévin Théophile-Catherine, and Damien Le Tallec. Six of the seven players made appearances with the first-team. Le Tallec moved to German club Borussia Dortmund before he could make an appearance.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: Rennes have several supporter groups associated with the club, ranging from groups of senior supporters to "ultras". The oldest, most structured and frequented is Allez Rennes. The group was founded in 1962 and together with "Les Socios", founded in 1992, is the largest group of traditional supporters.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: The section of the stadium popularly called "Tribune Mordelles" is occupied by the Roazhon Celtic Kop (RCK). Although the group was founded in 1991, its roots date back to 1987 when a group of supporters known as Ultras Roazhon was formed. The RCK was formed by three young supporters who decided to establish the Mordelles stand as the true hot spot of the stadium. The group marks its presence not only through continuous singing and the use of flares, but also through numerous tifos and choreographic celebrations. The Breton identity is regularly displayed and the use of Celtic symbols is frequent. A special feat of the RCK is that the group is responsible for having made the largest Gwenn-ha-du in history measuring 270 square metres. It was displayed at the Mordelles stand during the 1994–95 season.


title: Stade Rennais F.C.

text: The RCK functions as an unconditional supporters' group present at all matches, including those at European level, and gathers supporters mainly of the "ultra"-mentality, but also holds on to its values describe by the group as "Amitié, Respect et Fête" ("Friendship, Respect and Party"). The Kop keeps an open attitude towards those supporters of Rennes who share them. The group has taken a strong position against "football business", the suppression of the "ultra"-movement and racism. Although the group is not officially political, it regularly manifests anti-fascism. The RCK is a member of the RSRA (Réseau Supporter de Résistance Antiraciste), a French network of football supporter groups against racism, and involved in Fare, a European network of football supporter groups against racism and discrimination.