I watched him the UWF, I watched him in the NWA... and I caught some of his legendary matches in Japan as well (albiet much later). Cancer is just an awful, awful illness. Just terribly sad.
One of the first monster wrestlers I could remember. He was huge, bearded, and strong like a bull. I had no idea he was breaking necks with the Doctor Driver on foreign soil. I only saw the Oklahoma Slam, a move that's now a full quarter of Batista's moveset. He set a precedent for a young Mister Tracker, and he was a hard act to follow.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Who will keep Lucha population in America in-check now?
Another legendary All Japan Wrestling alumni is gone and in the same year as Misawa. That Death Driver was wicked and set a precedent for drop-you-on-your-head backdrops in wrestling. Goodbye you thick-necked killer gaijin.
Steve Williams and the rest of the UWF was the first non Verne wrestling I got to see live when I kind of "came back" to watching wrestling as a young adult.
He and Eddie Gilbert and, to a lesser extent, the Freebirds and the Von Erichs, were my first look at a promotion other than the AWA and early WWF (which I had only seen on TV up to that time).
I saw Dr Death take on Big Bubba (Ray Traylor) live and it was almost as good as seeing the Bruiser and Crusher when I was a kid. I was more or less hooked for the next 20 years or so.
too bad. So young. I was surprised he was only 49.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Due to lack of cable, I never got to enjoy a lot of his 80's/90's matches, but really liked what I saw and he had one of the *best* nicknames ever. R.I.P.
"You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face." Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic's "Manhunter")
I got to see Dr. Death first on the older TBS shows in the mid/late 80's. I did really like a lot of the Varsity Club stuff too, will never forget him pressing Gordy into the Wargames cage at Bash 89. RIP
Chuck Norris drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls.
Originally posted by AWArulzSteve Williams and the rest of the UWF was the first non Verne wrestling I got to see live when I kind of "came back" to watching wrestling as a young adult.
I'd say something similar. Growing up in the northeast we only had WWF in my early years until WCCW started being shown on Saturday mornings. Then one of the channels started showing a different program each weekday right when I got home from school, and UWF was shown one day per week. (I think the rest was NWA stuff.) I think Williams might have even been the UWF champ then, but I remember thinking he (and the UWF in general) was pretty bad-assed.
RIP.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
With Big Bubba Rogers, Terry Gordy and now Dr. Death gone, that leaves the One Man Gang as the only remaining UWF Heavyweight Champion. RIP to Stitch me up doc, I've got a match tonight.