Doug Williams - British Pro Wrestling Legend Retires
2018 Saw the last year of in ring professional Wrestling for UK wrestling Legend Doug Williams.
Doug Williams has had a huge influence on UK Professional Wrestling and Doug Williams helped keep the UK scene and UK Wrestling alive when it was on its knees from the nineties into the early 2000s.
Back then in the mid nineties at most UK shows couldn't draw 50 people, and a lot of the shows at that time were parody shows of WWE and what was popular in WWE.
The UK had a handful of their own stars to speak of on a domestic or international Level but Doug Williams was out there travelling the UK making a name for himself, being original, wrestling a British Wrestling style and being successful.
Doug Williams was so good he then started travelling the world from USA to Japan and everywhere in between making a name for himself, wrestling the technical UK style and changing the perception of what UK wrestling had become and catapulting it into what it would become today.
Doug Williams wrestling style is studied, copied and his style to me is what "British Strong Style Wrestling" is built on today great technical skills, hard hitting and excellent transitional wrestling.
Career Highlights
Back then in the mid nineties at most UK shows couldn't draw 50 people, and a lot of the shows at that time were parody shows of WWE and what was popular in WWE.
The UK had a handful of their own stars to speak of on a domestic or international Level but Doug Williams was out there travelling the UK making a name for himself, being original, wrestling a British Wrestling style and being successful.
Doug Williams was so good he then started travelling the world from USA to Japan and everywhere in between making a name for himself, wrestling the technical UK style and changing the perception of what UK wrestling had become and catapulting it into what it would become today.
Doug Williams wrestling style is studied, copied and his style to me is what "British Strong Style Wrestling" is built on today great technical skills, hard hitting and excellent transitional wrestling.
Career Highlights
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| Credit - Wikipedia.org |
Below the career summary their are video of Doug Williams matches throughout his career.
Early Career
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| Credit - Wikipedia.org |
Doug came through in professional wrestling when World of Sport has disappeared from UK TV and wrestling's popularity was at and all time low.
Doug Williams wrestled for companies in his early career such as
All Star Wrestling
All Pro Wrestling
European Wrestling Promotion
World Association of Wrestling
FWA
Irish Whip
New England Pro Wrestling
and many many more!
Ring of Honor
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| Credit - ROH Wrestling |
Doug Williams then got an opportunity in 2002 after being in wrestling for 9 years to go to America and work for the newly formed ROH - Ring of Honor Promotion while in ROH Doug Williams would wrestle
American Dragon (Daniel Bryan) and Jay Briscoe in ROH Title Tournament and then going into the final fatal 4 way match where Doug Williams competed against Low Ki, Christopher Daniels and Spanky (Brian Kendrick).
Doug Williams also faced American Dragon ( Daniel Bryan) in a 30 Min Ironman Match in November 2002.
Pro Wrestling Noah
In 2003 Doug Williams then got the opportunity to go to Japan and wrestle for Pro Wrestling NOAH as well as wrestling in NOAH, Doug Williams also had his first match in Impact Wrestling in March 2003 vs James Storm on NWA TNA Explosion #25. Doug Williams wrestled in Pro Wrestling Noah until 2009 when he then transitioned into TNA Impact wrestling on a more full time basis.
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| Credit - Pro Wrestling NOAH |
TNA Impact Wrestling
In 2009 Doug Williams began wrestling in TNA impact wrestling both in a Team as The British Invasion along with Nick Aldis and Rob terry and also on his own and gained singles success also.
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| Credit - Impact Wrestling |
Doug Williams also faced Ric Flair in Wembley in 2011 in a TNA UK Tour.
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| Credit - britishwrestlingpictures.com |
While in TNA Doug Williams captured TNA x Division title on 2 occasions and also won TNA tag Titles with Magnus, IWGP Tag Titles with Magnus (from Team 3D) and also Won TNA TV Championship.
Doug Williams had some excellent matches in TNA especially in the x division to me he made the x division title exciting and something to see.
It was from 2010 onwards that it got frustrating in my opinion Doug Williams was criminally underused in TNA and they really didn't do what they should of done with him for someone to have so much potential and ability to be lost in the shuffle especially in the Immortal Storyline it was so frustrating to see.
Bruce Pritchard on his Podcast Something to Wrestle with admitted that he and Impact dropped the ball on Doug Williams and called Doug Williams "A Huge Missed opportunity"
UK independent Scene
Doug Williams had some excellent matches in TNA especially in the x division to me he made the x division title exciting and something to see.
It was from 2010 onwards that it got frustrating in my opinion Doug Williams was criminally underused in TNA and they really didn't do what they should of done with him for someone to have so much potential and ability to be lost in the shuffle especially in the Immortal Storyline it was so frustrating to see.
Bruce Pritchard on his Podcast Something to Wrestle with admitted that he and Impact dropped the ball on Doug Williams and called Doug Williams "A Huge Missed opportunity"
UK independent Scene
Doug Williams left Impact Wrestling in 2014 and then began working on the UK Independent scene full time once again.
Doug Williams was a huge reason why I went back out and would start going further afield on UK Wrestling shows because I knew when Doug Williams was on the card I was going to see great wrestling, see a move, transition or sequence I hadn't seen before and I would see a great wrestling match.
I remember on the UK independent scene seeing Doug Williams have some great matches a 3 way match in Gloucester where Doug Williams faced Rampage Brown and AJ Styles for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, Aj Styles won the match and retained his title. However after the match AJ Styles got on the mic and told the crowd about how great Doug Williams is as a wrestler and how TNA had dropped the ball with him as the crowd cheered.
I would go on to see Doug Williams on shows across the South West and all over England for the next few years, every match I saw I always saw something different, something new and they were always exciting to watch.
Doug Williams vs Joe Coffey in Manchester at Progress Wrestling Chapter 57 Enter Smiling was a great example of this.
Doug and Joe had an amazing match and Doug lost the match but after wards the fans all rose up form their seats and started cheering and clapping Doug Williams who was stood in the ring, it was an emotional and incredible moment and the appreciation from the fans didn't stop they stayed clapping and cheering for some time until Doug could get on the mic and speak.
It was a great sign of respect to a man who had given so much to UK wrestling and for fans to show him how much they cared about him, I was their in the crowd that day and was one of my favourite moments in UK Wrestling.
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| Doug Williams and Me in Gloucester in 2014 before his match with AJ Styles and Rampage Brown |
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| Doug Williams getting ready to suplex AJ Styles - Credit Jon Orchard |
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| Credit - Jon Orchard |
Doug and Joe had an amazing match and Doug lost the match but after wards the fans all rose up form their seats and started cheering and clapping Doug Williams who was stood in the ring, it was an emotional and incredible moment and the appreciation from the fans didn't stop they stayed clapping and cheering for some time until Doug could get on the mic and speak.
It was a great sign of respect to a man who had given so much to UK wrestling and for fans to show him how much they cared about him, I was their in the crowd that day and was one of my favourite moments in UK Wrestling.
On a Personal level...…..
On a personal level, As I got into wrestling more and worked for a few companies along the way I would cross paths with Doug Williams and I was lucky enough to gain some advice form Doug Williams on certain things I was doing, the things he pointed out to me and advice he gave was only for a few minutes but it was invaluable to helping me and I always appreciated that he took time out to give me some advice and was so forthcoming with help.
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| Me and Doug Williams in Devizes |
Also personally another highlight for me in 2018 was Doug Williams main eventing CSF Wrestling in my home town of Devizes, Wiltshire at a sold out Corn Exchange vs Dick Riley - that was Doug last CSF Wrestling match.
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| Doug Williams vs Dick Riley - Devizes CSF Wrestling 2018 - Credit Jon Orchard |
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| Doug Williams vs Dick Riley - Devizes CSF Wrestling 2018 - Credit Jon Orchar |
Doug Williams appeared on the newly revamped World of Sport Wrestling on ITV in 2018.
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| Credit - World of Sport |
Later in 2018 Doug Williams would win the Progress Wrestling Atlas World Title and go on to Progress Wrestling Biggest Ever Show Hello Wembley and come up against Trent Severn where not only was the Atlas Title on the line but Doug Williams career as well.
Check out video below of Doug Williams announcing what he is going to do with Progress Wrestling Atlas Title
Doug lost the match vs Trent Severn and also that was his last match in the UK.
Doug Williams then had one more match outside of the UK in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH vs Yoshinari Ogawa.
Match Videos
Doug Williams vs Eddie Guerrero - FWA 2003
Tightrope - A Progress Wrestling Documentary on Doug Williams ( This is excellent and gives a great look at Doug Williams as he is coming towards the end of his career)
Doug Williams vs Wild Boar - CSF Wrestling 2014
Top 10 Moves of Doug Williams
AJ Styles vs Doug Williams TNA Wrestling 2010
Doug Williams vs Johnny Kidd
Doug Williams vs Yoshinari Ogawa NOAH 2007
Doug Williams vs Kazuachika Okada - TNA Wrestling 2010
Daniel Bryan vs Doug Williams - FWA 2003
Doug Williams/Nigel McGuiness/Bison Smith vs Akitoshi Saito/Kishin Kawabata/Masao Inoue - NOAH 2006
Doug Williams vs Nathan Cruz - NGW Wrestling 2017
Doug Williams Title History
Career Championships
Career Championships
Judo
4 Front Wrestling
ASW British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[
ASW Middle Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[
ASW People's Championship (1 time)[
ACW German Championship (1 time)[
New Generation Wrestling
Destiny Rumble (2016)[
EWA Intercontinental Championship (1 time)[
EWP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)[
FWA British Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
GWP WrestlingCorner Championship (2 times)[
ICWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Maximum Championship (1 time)
Maximum Rumble (2016)[
King of the Ring (1998)
IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brutus Magnus
OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
POW Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
POW Tag Team Championship (2 times, current) - with Dave Mastiff (1 time), Michael Kovac (1 time, current)
PWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
PWF Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Worthing Trophy (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2014, 2017)[
Preston City Wrestling
PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
PWI ranked him #45 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010
Pro Wrestling Noah
GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scorpio
PWP Catch Division Championship (1 time)
Progress Wrestling
Progress Atlas Championship (1 time)
One Night Tournament (2005)
ROH Pure Championship (1 time)
ROH Pure Championship Tournament (2004)
Thermencup (2005)
SWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
TNA Television Championship (1 time)
TNA X Division Championship (2 times)
TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brutus Magnus
Feast or Fired (2009 – X Division Championship contract)1
Universal British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
TWA British Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[
TWA European Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
TWA British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Robbie Brookside
TopCatch
TopCatch Europameisterschaft Championship (1 time)
TXW Crush Championship (1 time)
Ultimate Wrestling Alliance
UWA Championship (1 time)
Trios Tournament (2006) – with Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
XWA Frontier Sports Championship (1 time)
British Judo Championship (72 kg weight class; 1992)
3 Count Wrestling
3CW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
4FW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
All Star Wrestling
ASW Middle Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[
ASW People's Championship (1 time)[
Athletik Club Wrestling
ACW World Wrestling Championship (1 time)[
Destiny Rumble (2016)[
European Wrestling Association
European Wrestling Promotion
EWP Submission Shoot Championship (1 time)
Frontier Wrestling Alliance
FWA British Heavyweight Championship Tournament (2001)[
German Wrestling Promotion
International Catch Wrestling Alliance
Maximum Wrestling
Maximum Rumble (2016)[
NWA UK Hammerlock
Survivor Series Tournament (1996, 1997)
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Ohio Valley Wrestling
Power of Wrestling
POW Tag Team Championship (2 times, current) - with Dave Mastiff (1 time), Michael Kovac (1 time, current)
Premier Wrestling Federation
PWF Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Worthing Trophy (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2014, 2017)[
Wrestler of the Year (2002–2004, 2006, 2007)
PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Noah
GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scorpio
Pro Wrestling Pride
Progress Wrestling
Progress Atlas Championship (1 time)
Revolution British Wrestling
Ring of Honor
ROH Pure Championship Tournament (2004)
Rings of Europe
Scottish Wrestling Alliance
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
TNA Television Championship (1 time)
TNA X Division Championship (2 times)
TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brutus Magnus
Feast or Fired (2009 – X Division Championship contract)1
The Wrestling Alliance
TWA British Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[
TWA European Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
TWA British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Robbie Brookside
TopCatch
TopCatch Europameisterschaft Championship (1 time)
Triple X Wrestling
Ultimate Wrestling Alliance
UWA Championship (1 time)
Westside Xtreme Wrestling
wXw Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Martin Stone
X Wrestling Alliance
I want to wish Doug Williams all the best in his retirement from Professional wrestling and to say thank you for keeping british wrestling alive, helping to thrive and come back now as stronger than ever without you British wrestling wouldn't be where it is now
Thank you.
Thanks for Reading
@jon422002
Jonathan Orchard
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