[2] Regal also made appearances with World Class Championship Wrestling during this time period, challenging Brian Adias for the Texas Heavyweight Title.

[4] In 1986, he joined Jim Crockett Promotions and made his debut on May 17 at a house show in Baltimore, MD where he fought Denny Brown to a draw for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Regal would successfully defend his title several times in August against Brown before finally losing the championship back to him at a house show in Greensville, NC on September 1.

[5][6] While with the AWA and NWA, Regal's career appeared to be on the rise, but by 1985, the WWF roster was full of large athletes and bodybuilders, and the primary focus was on brawling and personality over science.

Despite his talent, Regal was used exclusively as a jobber,[5] a fate shared by many WWF wrestlers at the time who were not large bodybuilders and didn't have an over-the-top gimmick.

From this point onward however, Regal was winless for several weeks, facing Nick Kiniski, Billy Jack Haynes, Dick Slater, and the Honky Tonk Man.