Daniel Bryan wants to face recent WWE debutant at WrestleMania

Daniel Bryan is hoping to face William Regal’s son, Bailey Matthews, at a WrestleMania event in 10 years’ time.

Regal (real name Darren Matthews) has been Bryan’s friend and mentor in the wrestling business for the last two decades. His son debuted on NXT UK in February 2021 with a defeat against former WWE United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate.

Speaking to talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy, Bryan was asked to name his dream WrestleMania opponent. Rather than selecting a current high-profile WWE Superstar, the WrestleMania 30 main-eventer named his close friend’s son.

“It’s hard to say one. If I could do a match 10 years from now, and this is assuming that I’m still capable of doing it and that he progresses to a level like that, one of the things that I think would be really cool… William Regal’s son, Bailey Matthews. He just recently started on NXT UK. For his experience level, he’s doing really well.”

Tyler Bate faces a tough test against Bailey Matthews in this singles matchup. #NXTUK pic.twitter.com/F1AL8O6xdW

— WWE (@WWE) February 25, 2021

Bailey Matthews’ WWE in-ring debut lasted five minutes and 43 seconds. As the tweet above shows, the up-and-coming WWE Superstar appears to have adopted a similar style to his father.

Daniel Bryan’s praise for William Regal

William Regal is WWE's Director of Talent Development and on-screen NXT General Manager

Daniel Bryan and William Regal are widely considered to be two of the best technical wrestlers of their generation. In the same interview, the five-time WWE World Champion praised Regal for unselfishly helping him throughout his career.

“I loved being able to wrestle William Regal the times that I did in WWE, but I’m not sure people know how much he has affected my career. He has affected it so much. What he’s given to me and he’s never asked for anything from me.”

To clarify this.I didn’t train @WWEDanielBryan or @mrbriankendrick.I trained with them a lot from 2000.They were very well trained by Shaun Micheal’s and Rudy Boy Gonzalas at Shaun’s school.They were already great when I met them.

— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) June 5, 2018

Including live events, Daniel Bryan and William Regal faced each other in 15 singles matches in WWE between April 2010 and November 2011. Bryan won 13 times while Regal won just twice.