Steven Williams (May 14, 1960 - December 29, 2009), better known by his ring name "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, was an American professional wrestler, author, former collegiate football player, and amateur wrestler at the University of Oklahoma.
Williams was a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion, having won the UWF World Heavyweight Championship twice and the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship once. In addition to his singles success, Williams achieved notoriety in Japan in tag team competition, winning the World Tag Team Championship eight times with notable tag team partners Terry Gordy, Gary Albright, Vader, and Johnny Ace. He also achieved great tag team success in North America, winning tag team titles in the Mid-South, World Championship Wrestling, UWF and NWA United States Tag Team Championship as well as winning the World's Strongest Tag Determination League twice with Gordy and Mike Rotunda.
Video Steve Williams (wrestler)
Early life
Williams attended Lakewood High School in Colorado, graduating in 1978. He was on the track & field team, played football, and wrestled all four years. Williams graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 after a football career that saw him named an All-American. He also competed as an amateur wrestler, where he was a four time All American, finishing 6th as a freshman, 5th as a sophomore, 3rd as a junior and 2nd as a senior. His senior year, he lost in the finals of an NCAA tournament to future Olympic medalist Bruce Baumgartner. Already interested in professional wrestling, Williams had a ready-made nickname that dated back to an incident in junior high wherein he had to wrestle in a hockey goalie's mask due to shattering his nose and was jokingly labeled "Dr. Death" by one of his school's coaches and his sister.
Maps Steve Williams (wrestler)
Football career
College
Williams started every game in 1982 for the Oklahoma Sooners at right guard. He was named to the UPI All-Big Eight first team and played in the 1983 Fiesta Bowl. He was also a member of the Sooners 1981 Orange Bowl and 1980 Sun Bowl squad. Williams played both guard positions while at OU.
Professional
Williams was selected by the New Jersey Generals in the 1983 USFL Territorial Draft on January 3, 1983. He signed with the Generals on January 31, just prior to the opening of training camp. Williams was converted to a defensive tackle in training camp and was a teammate of RB Herschel Walker. During camp, Williams suffered a bruised knee and was placed on injured reserve for the first six games of the Generals 1983 season.
After being activated for week #10 vs. the Birmingham Stallions on May 9, Williams was the starting nose tackle for the Generals in a 22-7 loss at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. The game was telecast live on ESPN. Williams started at nose tackle the following week on May 16, in a 31-24 loss to the Michigan Panthers at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI - a game also shown on ESPN.
Professional wrestling career (1982 -- 2009)
Early years (1982-1987)
Williams, trained for professional wrestling by Bill Watts and Buddy Landel, started wrestling in 1982 in Watts' Mid-South Wrestling. In 1985, he formed a 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 Championship 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 National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
Unpinned in North America for a decade (1987-1997)
Williams became involved with Jimmy Garvin's war with Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club in 1988, often teaming with Jimmy and Ron Garvin or Ron Simmons in various matches, including a Triple Cage "Tower of Doom" match at The Great American Bash in 1988. Williams, however, turned heel and joined the Varsity Club in late 1988. He and Sullivan won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship at Starrcade. They feuded with The Road Warriors and he and Mike Rotunda won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in the process.
In May 1989, Williams and Rotunda were stripped of the title, and the Varsity Club disbanded. Not long after, Williams turned face again and had a short feud with Rotunda over who was responsible for the Varsity Club's breakup, before entering a feud with Lex Luger for the NWA United States Championship. Williams was scheduled to face Luger for the title at WrestleWar '90 on February 25, 1990. When Sting, who was scheduled to face Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, suffered a legitimate knee injury, Luger turned face and was moved from the US title match to the World Title match in Sting's place. Williams went to All Japan Pro Wrestling where he formed a tag team with Terry Gordy called The Miracle Violence Connection. They went on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers. One week after winning the WCW World Tag Team Title, Williams and Gordy won the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title, defeating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. Their NWA title win, however, went unrecognized by the NWA. They held onto both titles until September 1992, when they lost them to Rhodes and Windham. At Starrcade, Williams substituted for the injured Rick Rude to challenge Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but lost by disqualification. He left WCW shortly thereafter.
During the 1990s, Williams continued to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling and became a main eventer for the company, making him one of the most successful foreign athletes in Japanese wrestling history. On July 28, 1994, he defeated Mitsuharu Misawa for the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, holding it for three months before dropping it to Toshiaki Kawada. He also sporadically wrestled in the U.S. on the independent circuit. That run was brought to an end during one of his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After defeating Axl Rotten in approximately 2 minutes, Williams had an impromptu ECW World Heavyweight Championship match, but lost after being pinned by then-champion Raven. The loss happened in February 1997 at Crossing the Line Again, thus ending his unpinned streak in North America, which lasted since March 26, 1987.
WWF & Later years (1998-2004)
In 1998, Williams was signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) prior to the "Brawl for All" competition which was set up in legitimate fights. He entered the competition and was expected to win it due to his reputation as one of the toughest men in the wrestling business. Williams was the contestant that the WWF management wanted to win, as he was being groomed by Vince McMahon as a possible contender for the WWF Championship that was in the possession of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin during the Brawl for All tournament. However, after beating Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he faced Bart Gunn in the semifinals and suffered a torn hamstring. Gunn then knocked out Williams, who missed several months following the injury.
Following the event, Williams was involved in a brief angle where he was managed by Jim Ross in early 1999 before Williams was released. During his time with Ross, he would attack people with suplexes, debuting as the masked man who threw Bart Gunn off a stage during a match of his. Williams was involved in two midcard storylines, one where he was pursuing the WWF Hardcore Champion from Hardcore Holly, and another where he sought revenge on Tiger Ali Singh for making fun of Ross on live television. According to Williams' autobiography, "How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life", as well as in his RF Video shoot interview in 2001, these midcard storylines were meant as a way to build his character up on television before entering a main-event feud with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, which was planned for sometime later in the year of 1999. Williams was released in mid-April for needing further time to rehab his injury and for refusing to work for FMW, a Japanese promotion that the WWF had talent exchanges with. He was scheduled to compete against Snow and Holly at Backlash: In Your House for the WWF Hardcore Championship, but he did not appear due to his release.
According to a interview from November 1999, Williams was originally planned to be in Triple H's spot before his release, as much of what was previously booked for Williams was eventually given to Triple H. Most notably, the segment on the October 4, 1999 episode of Raw is War when Triple H attacked Jim Ross was the moment when Williams was going to start his feud with Austin. Because this segment was planned for Williams, this was supposed to be the moment he would become a heel, as Ross was going to manage him as a face until that point. Considering that Williams was released in April (also the same time Triple H began being booked as an upper mid-carder), this occurrence of events could be a possible reason as to why D-Generation X abruptly ended that month, as the WWF needed to build-up another main-eventer to feud with the likes of Austin and The Rock.
In November 1999, Williams appeared briefly in World Championship Wrestling (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 the November 29, 1999, edition of WCW Monday Nitro in a steel cage match. He went back to All Japan Pro Wrestling and had a second stint from 2000 to 2003 and wrestled a couple of matches for WWE in 2003 against Lance Storm. In late 2003, he was involved with the independent promotion Major League Wrestling (MLW) and also wrestled for the new NWA Mid-Atlantic, where he won their title in one of the first professional wrestling events in China.
On March 14, 2004, Williams faced Belarusian kickboxer Alexey Ignashov in a mixed martial arts bout in the K-1 promotion and was knocked out 22 seconds into the fight. This proved to be his first and only professional fight.
Cancer, return to wrestling, and retirement (2004-2009)
In 2004, Williams underwent surgery for throat cancer and was declared cancer-free the next year. His return match was against King Kaluha, who he defeated on August 27, 2005 at WrestleReunion 2. According to promoter Sal Corrente, Williams was initially hesitant to work with King Kaluha but was ultimately appreciative about the choice of opponent.
Williams made an appearance at a SmackDown! brand house show on March 11, 2006, in Alexandria, Louisiana, after which he was signed to help train up-and-coming WWE wrestlers in its Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental territory. While acting in that capacity, he made a few appearances on OVW television, where he helped fellow Oklahoma wrestler Jake Hager and briefly working as his tag team partner. He also made an appearance at an August 30 Raw house show, during which he addressed the crowd and announced how happy he was to be cancer free for four years.
Later, he made appearances for Oklahoma-based independent federation Sooner World Class Wrestling (SWCW). He also worked for Southwest Airlines in Colorado.
After the death of longtime rival and friend Mitsuharu Misawa in June 2009, Williams made the decision to retire from wrestling after 27 years. Williams's final match took place August 15 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for Asylum Championship Wrestling. He defeated Franco D'Angelo for the ACW Heavyweight Championship, which he vacated after the match.
Death
The throat cancer eventually returned and Williams's health gradually worsened. His last public appearance was at the K&S Wrestlefest Wrestling Convention on December 12, 2009, in Carteret, New Jersey. On December 29, 2009, Williams died at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver from throat cancer. He was 49 years old.
Mixed martial arts record
Championships and accomplishments
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- World Tag Team Championship (8 times) - with Terry Gordy (5), Gary Albright (1), Vader (1) and Johnny Ace (1)
- World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1990, 1991) - with Terry Gordy
- World's Strongest Tag Determination League (2000) - Mike Rotunda
- January 2 Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1995, 2000)
- International Wrestling Association of Japan
- IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ryo Miyake
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling2
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Mid-South Wrestling Association/Universal Wrestling Federation
- Mid-South Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Ted DiBiase
- UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- UWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ted DiBiase
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1985)
- PWI Tag Team of the Year (1992) with Terry Gordy
- PWI ranked him #8 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1991.
- PWI ranked him #78 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
- Pro Wrestling This Week
- Wrestler of the Week (July 19-25, 1987)
- Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams)
- UWF SportsChannel Television Championship (1 time)
- UWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- World Championship Wrestling
- NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kevin Sullivan
- WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Mike Rotunda (1) and Terry Gordy (1)
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time, inaugural) - with Terry Gordy
- NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament (1992) - Terry Gordy
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- 5 Star Match (1993) vs. Kenta Kobashi on August 31
- 5 Star Match (1995) with Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on March 4
- 5 Star Match (1996) with Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama on June 7 in Tokyo, Japan
- Match of the Year (1996) with Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama on June 7 in Tokyo, Japan
- Most Improved (1985)
- Rookie of the Year (1982)
- Tag Team of the Year (1992) with Terry Gordy
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2011)
1 Gordy and Williams unified the WCW World Tag Team Championship with the NWA World Tag Team Championship after winning the NWAtitle in a tag team tournament. This happened 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 1993. As a result, the two titles were separated once more and Gordy and Williams were then recognized as having two separate title reigns with two different titles rather than one unified reign.
2 This 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 did not begin operating until the mid-1990s.
See also
- List of premature professional wrestling deaths
References
Further reading
- Williams, Steve; Caiazzo, Tom (March 15, 2007). How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life. Foreword by Jim Ross, Special foreword by Barry Switzer. Sports Publishing L.L.C. ISBN 1-59670-180-3.
External links
- "Dr. Death" Steve Williams on WWE.com
- Steve Williams's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
Source of article : Wikipedia
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