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). During this time he also worked for
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling,
World Class Championship Wrestling and
New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
World Championship Wrestling (1987–1990, 1992) 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. He then departed the company. Following a one-time appearance for
New Japan Pro Wrestling on February 10, 1990, at their
Super Fight In Tokyo Dome card where he defeated
Salman Hashimikov, he then went to
All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1990 where he found success with
Terry Gordy in a tag-team called
The Miracle Violence Connection, which they formed prior in 1987 in
Jim Crockett Promotions, winning the world tag team titles together on March 6 by beating
Stan Hansen and
Genichiro Tenryu. During that year, Williams was dividing his time between All Japan and New Japan, meaning he was holding the AJPW tag belt on the New Japan rings, something rare for the time. After a few more matches for New Japan, Williams firmed with All Japan in January 1991 and became exclusively loyal to them. On February 29, 1992, at
SuperBrawl II, then WCW Executive Vice President
Kip Frey announced that he was negotiating to bring Williams and Gordy back to World Championship Wrestling. On March 9, the duo defeated three enhancement teams at a television taping for
The Main Event in Anderson, SC in contests that would not air until May. On the April 18 edition of
WCW Saturday Night it was announced that Williams and Gordy would be part of the upcoming tournament for the vacant
NWA Tag-Team Championship that summer. At
Clash of the Champions XIX on June 16, the duo defeated the Australian representatives
Larry O'Day &
Jeff O'Day in the opening round of the NWA Tournament. As a bonus for the Clash, it was announced by new WCW Executive Vice President
Bill Watts that the quarter-finals would begin later that night; as a result in a non-title match Williams and Gordy defeated
WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers. While waiting for the next round to begin following the Clash, the duo would face and defeat
Marcus Bagwell and
Tom Zenk in house show matches. At
Beach Blast, Williams and Gordy again faced The Steiner Brothers, this time going to a thirty-minute draw. On July 5, 1992, at a house show at the
Omni in Atlanta, GA, Williams and Gordy won the
WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers Shortly afterwards at
The Great American Bash, the final two rounds of the NWA Tag-Team Championship Tournament were run. Gordy and Williams defeated
Ricky Steamboat and
Nikita Koloff in the semi-finals, and then beat
Dustin Rhodes and
Barry Windham in the tournament final. Their NWA title win, however, went unrecognized by the NWA. Steve Williams and Terry Gordy then began feuding with the Dangerous Alliance, defeating
Bobby Eaton and
Arn Anderson in house show matches. On the September 26 edition of the Main Event, the duo sustained their first televised defeat when they were beaten by The Steiner Brothers in a non-title matchup. On the October 3 edition of WCW Saturday Night, they were then upset by Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham and lost both titles. Williams and Gordy received a rematch at
Halloween Havoc 92 but Gordy quit the company and was replaced by Steve Austin and they were only able to wrestle Rhodes and Windham to a time limit draw. On December 12, Williams teamed with
Big Van Vader in an unsuccessful challenge to Windham & Rhodes in Columbus, OH. On December 28 he participated in the Battle Bowl event at
Starrcade and teamed with
Sting to defeat
Eric Watts and
Jushin Liger. At the start of the event it was announced that he would be substituting for an injured
Rick Rude to challenge Ron Simmons for the
WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but lost by disqualification. He left WCW shortly thereafter.
Universal Wrestling Federation (1990–1991, 1994) Williams made his debut for
Herb Abrams's
Universal Wrestling Federation in September 1990. Williams defeated
Bam Bam Bigelow in the tournament finals for the
UWF SportsChannel Television Championship at
Beach Brawl. After winning, Williams went to Japan and vacated the title. Williams returned for a one-night appearance in 1994 at
UWF Blackjack Brawl where he was award the UWF World Heavyweight Championship and defeated
Sid Vicious by disqualification.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1990–1998) In February 1990, Williams began to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling with
Terry Gordy, initially as part of
The Miracle Violence Connection team, while still wrestling for New Japan at the same time. They established themselves on the card and had matches against the likes of
Giant Baba,
Stan Hansen,
Jumbo Tsuruta,
Genichiro Tenryu and
André The Giant. Williams became the last wrestler to defeat André The Giant, which took place June 5, 1992. André in the early 90s was ill with
acromegaly, and during one of Williams's Tag Team Championship victories with Terry Gordy, André shook Williams's hand as a way to pass the torch. Both of them prior had been close friends prior in
Mid-South Wrestling. After André's death in February 1993, Williams began winning many matches against AJPW native main-eventers in singles such as defeating
Akira Taue (April 1993),
Kenta Kobashi (September 1993) and
Jun Akiyama (April 1994). Williams would go on to defeat Kobashi twice again in 1994. Over time Williams gradually got traction and fanfare from the Japanese audience. Baba booked him to be a
main eventer for the company. After, Williams became one of the most successful foreign athletes in Japanese wrestling history, especially in reference to the 90s and early 2000s. On July 28, 1994, he defeated top AJPW star
Mitsuharu Misawa for the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, holding it for three months before dropping it to
Toshiaki Kawada. Williams became a mainstay
gaijin on AJPW television along with
Stan Hansen,
Terry Gordy,
Johnny Ace and
Gary Albright. He would either team with them or fight them in singles from 1994 to 1998 in a variety of feuds during a wrestling boom in
Japan, comparable to that of WWF's
Attitude Era. On August 31, 1997, Williams won the
World Tag Team Championship titles with
Gary Albright. Williams' last TV appearance for his first All Japan run was on the June 28, 1998 edition of AJPW TV. He and
Wolf Hawkfield defeated
Masao Inoue and
Takao Omori before Williams went to the WWF, giving a symbolic farewell to Giant Baba and the Japanese audience after the match.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996–1997) 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.
World Wrestling Federation (1998–1999) In May 1998, Williams was signed by the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) prior to the "
Brawl for All" competition, which was set up in
legitimate fights. WWF took interest in signing him due to his success in All Japan. Before entering the Brawl for All and signing a contract, he had only one in-ring match with the WWF, which was against
2 Cold Scorpio on a
WWF Shotgun taping
dark match (April 28, 1998). According to house show cards and recaps,
Vince McMahon introduced him to the ring for this dark match. On the July 20 edition of
Raw is War, Williams entered the Brawl for All tournament, making his first WWF television appearance with many expecting him to win. However, after beating
Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he faced
Bart Gunn in the second round. Gunn took Williams down, tearing his quad, then knocked Williams out. Williams missed several months following the injury. Upon healing in January 1999, Williams worked dark matches on
Heat/Shotgun/Raw is War tapings, mainly against Bob Holly (then still a part of the
J.O.B. Squad) to open up the tapings. His first match after rehabilitating his quad was defeating Holly on January 12, 1999, in Beaumont, TX. 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 on the February 22, 1999 edition of Raw is War. He wore a
kabuki mask and threw Bart Gunn off a stage during a match of his. On the March 1 episode of Raw, Jim Ross announced that Bart Gunn would fight
Butterbean at
WrestleMania XV, and Gunn and Ross argued over the Brawl For All in a worked shoot. During the segment, Williams attacked Gunn with the backdrop driver, revealing himself to be the masked man. This story was played-off on WWF television as Williams getting revenge against Gunn for his Brawl for All loss. After, Williams was involved in two storylines as a babyface, one where he was pursuing the
WWF Hardcore Championship from
Hardcore Holly, and another where he sought to get even with
Tiger Ali Singh for making fun of Ross on live television. On the March 15, 1999 edition of
Sunday Night Heat, Tiger Ali Singh paid a fan (
Ed Ferrara) to impersonate Jim Ross, who had a bout with
Bell's palsy at the time. Out of anger, Williams attacked Ferrara with a backdrop driver and Singh with his signature "Dr. Bomb" slam, and Ross would proceed to conduct a promo before
Vince McMahon sent
Big Show out to clear the ring. Williams would stare at Big Show, but would later leave the ring with Ross. On the March 21, 1999 edition of Sunday Night Heat, Williams defeated
The Hardy Boys in a handicap match. He next appeared on the March 22 edition of Raw is War, where he and
WWF Hardcore Champion, Hardcore Holly, brawled in a fraternity house in Albany, New York. At WresleMania XV on the
HSN version of
WWF Free For All, Williams cut a backstage promo on Bart Gunn, saying how "Bart deserved what he got" after Bart lost to Butterbean. The day after on March 29 Raw episode, Williams and Hardcore Holly fought in a hardcore match, which Williams lost because
Al Snow interfered. On the April 5 Raw episode, Williams attacked both Snow and Holly with suplexes in the ring. Later in the week on the April 10 episode of
WWF Shotgun, Williams defeated Tiger Ali Singh in what would be his final match for the company. While injured with a bad hamstring Williams decided to wrestle at the Giant Baba Memorial Show on May 2, 1999. Despite wrestling injured he didn't want to miss out at this event due to not wanting to let his mentor Giant Baba down, who died at the beginning of the year. In Williams' autobiography, 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 in Williams's contract was promised to be a 6-month feud. Williams was released in mid-April for needing further time to rehab his injury and for refusing to work for
FMW, a Japanese promotion with which the WWF had talent exchanges. 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 radio interview from November 1999, Williams stated that he was originally planned to have some of
Triple H's storylines before his release. He would use the segment on the October 4, 1999 episode of Raw is War when Triple H attacked Jim Ross as an example, saying that this was the storyline where he was going to start his feud with Austin. Williams said that, because the angle was originally planned for him, it was intended to be the storyline through which he would turn heel, as Ross was going to manage him as a babyface until that point later in the year. Williams stated in his book that his main event push was going to start after the debut of
WWF Smackdown! on
UPN.
Return to WCW (1999) In November 1999, Williams healed from his hamstring injury and appeared briefly in
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) again, with
Oklahoma (who in an ironic twist happened to be Ed Ferrara) 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 edition of
WCW Monday Nitro in a
steel cage match. On December 2 on Thunder in Topeka, KS, Williams rebounded to defeat
Silver King,
Villano IV and
Villano V in a three on one match. On the following Nitro in Milwaukee, WI, Williams teamed with Oklahoma to defeat Vampiro and Jerry Only. On December 13, 1999, he then faced
Sid Vicious in New Orleans, LA, but was pinned. At
Starrcade 99 on December 19, Williams faced Vampiro in a one-on-one encounter and was defeated via disqualification after he shoved referee
Charles Robinson. Very shortly after, the announcement that he would return to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) was on December 26, 1999.
Return to AJPW (2000–2003) Williams went back to AJPW and had a second full-time run from 2000 to 2003. In the early 2000s, Williams was a
babyface with an
antihero edge, portraying an AJPW loyalist keeping the legacy of the Baba family name alive, as well as a comeback story upon his injury in the Brawl For All. Williams made his return on January 2, 2000, winning the New Year's Battle Royal on AJPW TV. In the following weeks, Williams defeated Mike Barton to start up a revenge angle and teased a program with
Big Van Vader. In a match they kept slapping each other acting as if they were setting up a future angle, but both of them swerved the audience and excitedly high-fived to reveal themselves as tag-team partners. Together they held a tag-team title reign when they captured the
World Tag Team Championship titles from
Kenta Kobashi and
Jun Akiyama in February 2000. They split in early April when Vader left the company. Williams then feuded with success in singles against
Akira Taue in the spring,
Jinsei Shinzaki in the summer,
Scott Norton in the fall at
NJPW Do Judge!!, and
Mike Barton again at the beginning of 2001 in a revenge match. In the summer of 2000, Williams had an unsuccessful feud against
Toshiaki Kawada throughout AJPW TV episodes, which Williams lost, the angle being that Williams sought to get even with Kawada for defeating him for the Triple Crown Championship in 1994. On the December 9, 2000 pay-per-view Steve Williams and
Mike Rotunda won the
World's Strongest Tag Determination League in the main event and honored Giant Baba after the match. Williams had a main event pay-per-view match against
Keiji Muto on July 14, 2001, for the
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, which Williams lost when the referee (secretly aligned with Muto) kayfabe called a two-count as a three-count. After leaving the backstage area Williams would then going on a huge swearing tirade, where he kicked a trash can, was about to cry in tears, and then throwing his armpads to the ground while swearing again. Such scenes never happened in the traditional All Japan, and this would be an early sign of what would become the
Pro Wrestling Love era, ultimately leading Williams into a grudge feud with Muto into 2002. In late 2001, 2002 and early 2003 Williams often teamed with
Mike Rotundo and
Mike Barton. The latter he befriended on TV and took part in multiple in-ring and backstage skits with, such as singing together in the ring for
Abdulla The Butcher's birthday and Williams supporting Barton's effort in fighting
Genichiro Tenryu and Keiji Muto. However, Williams would turn on Barton on the April 15, 2002 pay-per-view, before befriending him again in October 2002. Williams would have sporadic singles feuds against
Keiji Muto (defeating him in a singles match once out of revenge in March 2002),
Taiyo Kea and
George Hines, since Williams dealt with ongoing leg injuries and was used less frequently in singles competition than earlier in his career. Staying in the tag division was safer for Williams' longevity in AJPW's upper-midcard and main events, as well as the popularity of tag-teams in Japanese wrestling at this time. Williams last main event in the Budokan would be on the August 31, 2002 Summer Action Series pay per view, where Williams and Muto would each lead their own 5-man teams in a 10-man elimination match. The match ended with Williams scoring a clean pinfall victory against Muto, thus ending the angle. In the tag division, Williams notably feuded with
Satoshi Kojima, where Williams took the role of the veteran AJPW loyalist and Kojima as the young NJPW invader, who served as the sidekick to Keiji Muto. Williams surprise attacked and suplexed Kojima on TV when Kojima was cutting an in-ring promo, and Williams would often mention Kojima in his backstage promos as someone he would like to defeat. In November 2002, Williams and
Mike Rotunda faced Kojima and Taiyo Kea in a hardcore tag-team match at the Korakuen Hall in a losing effort. After a series of three house show matches involving Rotunda at Williams's side, where they defeated Kojima and his team each time, the Williams vs. Kojima feud ended abruptly in January 2003 when AJPW's sale finalized and Williams left the company, with no singles match payoff. William's last appearance during his second All Japan run was on the January 13, 2003 pay-per-view of AJPW. On this show, Williams,
Mike Rotunda, and
Shigeo Okumura defeated
George Hines,
Hideki Hosaka and
Johnny Smith.
Christian Wrestling Federation (2002–2003) During his vacations from AJPW, Williams would still work in independent promotions in the United States, most notably the Christian Wrestling Federation (CWF). He became the CWF Heavyweight Champion sometime in the first half of 2002, later holding a successful title defense against Apocalypse in August 2002 at the
Six Flags Darien Lake Resort. During the match, Apocalypse worked as a heel and had two wrestlers interfere in the match in his favor, but Williams was able to fight both of them back using Japanese style moves. After, Williams defeated Apocalypse by way of pinfall after using the Dr. Bomb powerbomb. Post match, he cut an AJPW-like promo, saying, "I might be the champion today! The CWF champion, me! But the real man is the champion!", pointing at the sky and the crowd cheering in response. Upon leaving AJPW in January 2003, Williams began to work more shows for the CWF while hoping for potential work with NJPW, NOAH or WWE as a trainer. Ultimately, Williams was hired IWA Japan later that year. In his autobiography, Williams spoke positively about his time in the CWF, saying that since his "focus is to win souls for Jesus Christ, I really enjoyed working here and for other Christian organizations". Williams then spoke about his match in 2002, saying "I remember one stint where Wyndham [his son, then 10 years old] and I spent four days in Buffalo, New York, at a Christian convention. The event was located inside the Six Flags theme park. Not only did I wrestle, but Wyndham and I had a great time riding all the rides".
Later career (2003–2009) Williams wrestled a couple of matches for WWE on May 23 and 24, 2003 against
Lance Storm. In late 2003, he was involved with the independent promotion
Major League Wrestling (MLW) and also wrestled for
IWA Japan and 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. According to Williams he was tested positive with throat cancer a couple days before the match. This was his first and only professional fight. In March 2004, Williams underwent surgery for
throat cancer, the tumor developing and remaining undetected since September 2003. Williams made a surprise appearance on the July 22, 2004 AJPW pay-per-view while he was undergoing surgery. He and
Genichiro Tenryu defeated
Arashi and
Nobukazu Hirai on the show. Williams also cut a promo in a very hoarse and sickly voice, saying that he still wanted to wrestle Kawada again and return to AJPW when Williams became healthy. This would be Williams's last appearance in the Pro Wrestling Love era as well as in AJPW. Williams was declared cancer-free in March 2005, making the announcement on the March 27, 2005 edition of IWA Japan TV. This was also the show where he publicly unveiled his
electrolarynx. 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 ==