Steve Williams (wrestler)

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Another professional wrestler with the real name Steve Williams is better known as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Steve Williams
Statistics
Ring name(s) "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight 280 lb (127 kg)
Born May 14, 1960 (1960-05-14) (age 47)
Lakewood, Colorado
Resides Shreveport, Louisiana
Trained by Bill Watts
Debut 1982

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams (born May 14, 1960 in Lakewood, Colorado) is a professional wrestler and former collegiate American football and wrestling star at the University of Oklahoma.

Contents

Career

The early years

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 after a stellar football career that saw him named an All-American. He also competed as an amateur wrestler losing in the finals of an NCAA tournament to future Olympic medalist Bruce Baumgartner.

Already interested in professional wrestling, Williams had a ready-made nickname which dated back to an incident in Junior High where he had to wrestle in a hockey goalie's mask and was jokingly labeled "Dr. Death" by one of his school's coaches.

Williams was trained for professional wrestling by Bill Watts and started wrestling in 1982 in Watts' Mid-South Wrestling. In 1985, he formed a successful team with Ted DiBiase and feuded with Eddie Gilbert and The Nightmare. In 1986, Mid-South was renamed the Universal Wrestling Federation and Williams went on to win the UWF Heavyweight Title from Big Bubba Rogers. When Jim Crockett Promotions bought the UWF in late 1987, he was one of the few UWF wrestlers to receive an initial push in the NWA.

Tag team greatness

Williams helped Jimmy Garvin in his feud with Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club and then joined them in late 1988 to team with Mike Rotunda. They feuded with the Road Warriors and won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in the process.

In May 1989, they were stripped of the titles and the Varsity Club disbanded. Williams went to All Japan Pro Wrestling where he formed a tag team with Terry Gordy called the Miracle Violence Connection. They dominated the tag team scene there through 1993 with a brief stop in WCW in 1992, where they won the WCW World Tag Team Titles and feuded with the Steiner Brothers. One week after winning the WCW World Tag Team titles, Williams and Gordy won the vacant NWA World Tag Team titles, defeating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. They held onto both titles until September 1992, when they lost them to Rhodes and Windham. At Starrcade '92, Williams substituted for the injured Rick Rude to challenge Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight title, but lost by disqualification. He left WCW shortly thereafter.

Unbeaten for a decade

It was during the 90s that Steve Williams arguably had his most success. Williams continued to work for All Japan and became a main eventer for the company, making him one of the most successful foreign athletes in Japanese wrestling history. He also sporadically wrestled in the states on the indy circuit. Incredibly through his tag team appearances in WCW and great success on the idy circuit in the 90s, Steve Williams went unpinned on US soil for over a decade. That run was brought to an end with his one off appearance in ECW. After defeatign Axl Rotten in around 90 seconds, Steve Williams had an impromotu shot at the ECW World Title, but lost to the then champion Raven. The loss happened in February 1997 at ECW 'Crossing The Line Again' on which show Paul Heyman announced ECW's first pay per view Barely Legal.

Return to The Big Two

In 1998, Williams was signed by the WWF prior to the "Brawl For All" competition which was set up in "shoot fights". Williams was expected to roll through the competition, but after beating Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Bart Gunn. Following the event, the WWF did a brief angle where he was managed by Jim Ross before granting Williams his release.

In 1999, Williams appeared briefly in WCW again with Oklahoma as his manager in a feud with Vampiro, as a result of this feud, he wrestled against Jerry Only from The Misfits on an 1999 episode of WCW Monday Night Nitro on a steel cage match. He went back to All Japan in 2002 and wrestled a couple of matches for WWE in 2003 against Lance Storm. In late 2003, he was a major farce in Major League Wrestling and also wrestled for the new NWA Mid-Atlantic, where he won their title in one of the first professional wrestling events in the People's Republic of China.

Battle with cancer

In 2004, Williams had surgery on his throat to battle throat cancer. He was declared cancer free in 2005. On March 11, 2006, Williams returned to the ring for a WWE Smackdown house show in Alexandria, Louisiana. He currently helps train WWE wrestlers that are under a Development contract. Recently he appeared on OVW television helping out fellow Oklahoma wrestler Jake Hagar by becoming his tag partner. On August 30 at a RAW house show in his home state of Louisiana Williams appeared in front of the crowd at the top of the show and stated that he was happy to be four years cancer free.

Today

Most recently, Williams appeared at a taping of Harley Race's "World League Wrestling" in West Plains, Missouri, where he signed autographs and gave a brief speech about his cancer and his newfound Christian faith.

Legend

Through his success on the independant circuit, Steve Williams became an underground legend in wrestling. Whenever he would appear in one of the major promotions a lot of the crowd seemed to already know who he was, or at least have heard the name.

Though he never won more than World Tag Team Titles in America his cult hero status transferred to being a full fledged legend to his fellow wrestlers, wrestling promoters, and some wrestling fans. Many wrestlers are baffled he was never a main eventer in the US.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

  • IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ryo Miyake
  • PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year award in 1985.
  • PWI ranked him # 8 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1991
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1992 - with Terry Gordy.
  • PWI ranked him # 78 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him # 16 with of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" with Terry Gordy in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him # 20 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" with Ted DiBiase in 2003.

1Gordy and Williams unifies the WCW World Tag Team Championship with the NWA World Tag Team Champinship after winning the NWA title in a tag team tournament. This happens nearly four years after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. He renamed the promotion World Championship Wrestling but it remained an NWA affiliate until September of 1993. As a result, the two titles were separated once more and Gordy and Williams' are now recognized as having two separate title reigns with two different titles rather than one unified reign.
²This promotion, while operating out of the same area and using some of the same regional championships, is not the same promotion once owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. and didn't begin operating until the mid 1990s.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Williams_%28wrestler%29"
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