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Steven Williams (May 14, 1960 – December 29, 2009)[1], better known by his ring name "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, was an American professional wrestler and former collegiate football and wrestling star at the University of Oklahoma.
Early life
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, 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.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1982–1988)
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).
Teaming with Terry Gordy and Mike Rotunda (1988–1994)
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. 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, they won the vacant NWA World Tag Team title, defeating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. Their NWA World Tag Team 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 in 1992, 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.
Unbeaten for a decade (1987–1997)
It was during the 1990s that Williams arguably had his most success. He 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. 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 Title match, but lost to the then champion Raven. The loss happened in February 1997 at ECW Crossing the Line Again.
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 was expected to win the competition, but after beating Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Bart Gunn, suffering a major injury in the process. Following the event, Williams was involved in a brief angle where he was managed by Jim Ross before Williams was released. During his time with Ross he would attack people with suplexes.
In 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 an 1999 episode of WCW Monday Nitro in a steel cage match. He went back to All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002 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.
In 2004 he was beaten in an MMA match by Alexey Ignashov in just 22 seconds at a K1 event in Japan. This defeat ended Steve Williams brief MMA career.
Battle with cancer, return to wrestling, and death (2004–2009)
In 2004, Williams underwent surgery for throat cancer and was declared cancer-free the next year. He 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 "helping out" fellow Oklahoma wrestler Jake Hager and briefly working as his tag team partner. He also made an appearance at an August 30 Raw brand house show, sitting ringside, during which he addressed the crowd and announced how happy he was to be "four years cancer free."
In 2007, he appeared at a taping of Harley Race's World League Wrestling in West Plains, Missouri, signing autographs and giving a brief speech about his battle with cancer and his newfound Christian faith.
Later, he made appearances for Oklahoma based independent federation Sooner World Class Wrestling (SWCW).[2] He also worked for Southwest Airlines in Colorado.[3]
After the death of longtime rival and friend Mitsuharu Misawa in June 2009, Williams made the decision to retire from the ring after 27 years. Williams' final American 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.[4][5]
His final match was held on October 25 in Tokyo.
The throat cancer eventually returned and Williams' 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.[6]
In wrestling
Championships and accomplishments
- Asylum Championship Wrestling
- ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
1Gordy and Williams unifies the WCW World Tag Team Championship with the NWA World Tag Team Championship 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 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.
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