i skip the beginning of every video now because i just cant stand hearing that hawk voice anymore. its uncreative and cringey like something we did as kids before we knew how to do creative voices. its been years. let it go man......grow. hogan is such an incredibly small percentage of your content it just makes no sense.
Dr Death was a product of Mid South Wrestling where Cowboy Bill Watts allegedly told all his guys "if you get beat in a bar fight don't come back here". He was a tough guy.
That as not Bill Watts, that was the rule for all wrestling promotions, he just liked to remind his employees of it. He was likely trying to keep them out of bars, and keep them reliable. That was the biggest problem years ago, finding reliable workers. Just go read the old NWA bylaws, because they make it clear that things like that will get you fired. They even have rules that say all promoters must notify NWA of any employees engaging in that behavior.
@@chrisgullett4332 what wasn't common was Watts would at times encourage a guy or two to go out looking for a fight as some sort of promotional tool. As if their names appearing in the blotter page would sell tickets. He also encouraged fights in the locker room which is pretty crazy.
@@chrisgullett4332 that actually makes a ton of sense because those that have really been in few fights know a loss could happen anytime and it would be best to just steer clear if it means your job.
@@buhbuhjaychampagne1706 Yeah, Dr. Death was a pretty big deal in Mid South where JR got his start (first as a referee then as an announcer), I get the feeling that Williams WCW and WWF runs were JR's way of getting his friend a good payday once he had the ability to suggest bringing him in.
@@VladamireD Williams worked for WCW before nitro existed. Williams was there since 87. Was in the varsity club, and in 1990-1992 (the stuff I’m familiar with because of peacock and wwe network) he held the WCW world tag team titles twice. Once with Mike rotunda and once with Terry Gordy and j.r. Was CONSTANTLY hyping up how amazing Williams was on commentary in WCW, you’d think Williams was the only man even in the match. At one point in (I think Halloween havoc 92) his partner asked him why he was so obsessed and j.r. Started to fumble and was like “wh..he’s just and impressive specimen.” Or something like that lol. J.r. Even went into a huge rant about why he was called dr. Death which was because he broke his nose in middle school amateur wrestling and wore a hockey mask to protect his face and the news papers started calling him dr. Death.
@@thehorrorhound6575I have honestly wondered if their was a little bit more to it than that. Why - it just seems real funny JR had almost an obscession with Steve Williams that was bordering on man love. Then in later years, he shows the same obscession bordering on man love for Steve Austin, whose real name just happens to be Steve Williams. Coincidence ???
Also, cool tidbit about Jerry Only: He's the only member of The Misfits (he played bass guitar if anyone wanted to know) that actually went out of his way to train to become a wrestler, even if it was for just a shows where he'd take bumps, so fair play to him for showing some respect for the business.
Jerry Only is legit, so good to see some respect for the man. Like still works in a machine shop in New Jersey legit. I could be making that last bit up (maybe still on his own basses . . . ). But I wouldn't be surprised, as Doyle still makes his own guitars that he performs on with the band.
@@dildonius Of course knew that they had a brief breakup as a band in the early 80's when Glen left. But didn't know Jerry took over vocals for any period. I've only ever seen clips of Glen or the "new(er) guy" (nothing against him, but . . . ) out front like that. Misfits trivia is always welcome addition to the contents of my brain-skull.
I knew of Steve Williams from his football playing days, and then met him in '86 when him and Tammy bought a house on the lake from my Ma & Pa. My parents built another house not far down the road from the one he bought, so we'd see him or his wife at the corner store, the only one for miles around, pretty regular. In '88 I got busted up really bad in a car wreck. I had to have 8 months in-patient rehab. I was sitting in my room one day and here comes Doc and Tammy walking in my room. Nobody had asked him to come see me, he'd just heard about it at the corner store and came to see me. He came and visited one more time before he left for Japan. About a month later, I get a post card of Mount Fuji in Japan. The man had taken time out of what I'm sure was a busy schedule to send me some words of encouragement.
Dr Death was a product of a time in wrestling where being a legit tough guy mattered because you had to defend your reputation in the bars against guys who wanted to see how tough a wrestler was and you weren't allowed to lose. It was also a time where people went into business for themselves in a more extreme way and just legit knocked people out. This kind of legit hardman was very popular in the territories and massive in Japan just gotta look at some of the big american wrestling names around that time like Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the butcher, Stan Hansen, Vader.
Without charisma or any kind of crowd pleasing he'd have had a hard time in 80s WWF, there were so many guys who just didn't look like anything in big TV productions. Might have had a run with a stupid working man gimmick in New Generation times though.
he was the only member of the country group alabama that could fight but he always got into a ruckus before they got going so they kicked him out of the band
I don't think any of that really mattered. It's not like Bubba from the bar is gonna go to the news stations showing video proof he knocked out some wrassler and ruin his reputation with the general public. Their tough guy reputations only mattered to the other boys who took part in those pissing contests. Ric Flair never had a legit tough guy reputation and never needed one.
Finlay tells a story in a shoot, that when they were training the coaches used to teach British wrestlers how to break people's thumbs. It was less up to chance than a fist fight and less risk that the wrestler would get injured.
I think the biggest problem with Dr. Death not making it far into WWF/E was because his body was pretty broken down by the time he was signed in 1998. Had he been signed in 1992, I think he probably would have fit into the role Charles Wright had as Kama The Supreme Fighting Machine only more legit or something? And he was still in his prime if I recall.
Yeah, being Kama wasn't going to take him far either. If he had a decent manager, he might have done ok for himself in the pre attitude era. Dr. Death in Yokozuna's role is an interesting thought, but as soon as the Attitude era hit, and words became more important than ring work, plus WWF dropping managers, Dr. Death was DOA no matter how many times he sold out the Tokyo Dome.
@@sklba632 Yeah I don't think Dr. Death excels in the attitude era, but if Dr. Death ended Hulkamania in the WWF in 1993 there might not have been an attitude era. It's a wild what if I think Hart basically remains mostly unaffected. top babyface in the company. Yokozuna probably gets a push but ultimately fed to either Williams or Hart and never ends up with the title. What happens to Diesel and Shawn Michaels though? That's the wild one. Do they get title runs? (In this alternative realty I'm assuming Hart is the top babyface and Williams the top heel into 94 and 95. Does a frustrated Michaels book it to WCW making the core NWO members Hall, Nash and Michaels? to face babyface Hogan? Also now you have no DX. Furthermore, you have a much better product in those mid nineties years with Hart, Williams, HBK, Ramon, Diesel and Undertaker as your main eventers, rather then trying to build your company are Lex Luger and Diesel.
@@JamesR1986 Hulkamania was going to be over no matter what. Culture always changes. The fact they got more than 2 years out of Hogan is phenomenal and is the reason they weathered the storm as hard as they did. Just think, what if Vince had one year less of Hogan. They probably would have had to sell in 96 cause they would have been too broke to weather at that point. If Williams was getting the push against Hogan he was going over everyone but Hogan on the way up, and putting all those guys over on the way down, assuming he wouldn't jump before he would have to return the favor, lol. I can't imagine Michaels or Nash wanting to work with Dr. Death....those two have made their thoughts on stiff working well known. Whatever happens, it probably somehow involves Bret Hart, Razor, Waltman, or maybe PJ Walker would got that break, lol. If we can fantasy book a little more, throw Macho in the mixing putting someone over. I'm pretty sure both Hart and Michaels have spoken on Macho wanting to help them on his way down the card. Wouldn't be surprised if Hogan would then try to weasel in there once Macho started getting them over, just to quash anything they were doing, like what he did to Pillman years later. I don't think Danielson's work rate in 1992-96 would have helped much. It was just a bad time for wrestling after Hogan had kinda scorched the earth with wrestling for the past decade or so. Wrestling needed to cool off before it could get hot again, and Vince McMahon was not the one who could do that, nor was that his mindset. I know we're sitting here with 20/20 hindsight, but Vince was all about plowing through and trying to get a hit as fast as possible. It was doomed to fail because the culture simply wasn't in the mood. The What If game of wrestling is infinite and very fun.
Dr Death was a seriously real life tough guy and his work in Japan is undeniable. Him and Bam Bam Gordy were one of the best "big guy" tag teams around at that point in time
A real life tough guy that got beat up in a real fight on tv. So, yeah that was one of his problems. Look at the tough guy. Better not mess with the tough guy. Oh, he got beat up.
To be fair, Steve Williams' best work had come before this run. He is seen as a legendary figure in Japan and his tag team with Terry Gordy as the Miracle/Violence Connection was excellent in the early 1990s.
@quetzalpachecoDoc had a lot of battle damage from years of wrestling the brutal Japanese style. This was not 1984 Doc. The best analog to Doc is Brock Lesnar.
@quetzalpacheco he was 38 in that goofy, boxing glove, yet you could do take downs fight. And he tore his hamstring, which obviously set him up for that knock out. Bart was 33, 5 years from early 30s to late 30s is a lot. Look at any professional sport. If not for that injury, he probably would've made it through the Gunn fight. And they probably would've given him the decision, because they were pushing him, and everybody wouldn't have remembered Gunn was getting the best of him at times by the next day. But he was, at least by then, injury prone, so that's how it goes. But Gunn was a tough man, so it stands to reason he lost the fight anyway, had youth on his side too.
@@Tucj-zh1dy mans was running All Japan at a point where they had some of the heaviest hitters in the game at the time. A bad wrestler can't be pulled to a good match. Doc has plenty of good ones to his name.
Dr Death was an absolute beast. He had a bad run in WWF but otherwise was amazing. He was also a really great guy, I actually went to church with him back in the 90s/early 2000s
Correction: Vampiros group wasnt the Misfits in Action. Solely the Misfits. They are a legendary punk band that went into wrestling. The Misfits in Action was a military based stable ran by Hugh Morrus (General E Rection)
I remember an ECW match where Williams and Terry Gordy (The Miracle Violence Connection in Japan) were up against The Eliminators. Williams, Perry Saturn and John Kronos were trying hard but they were clearly covering for Terry Gordy, who hadn't been the same since he suffered from falling into a coma from a drug overdose years before. It ended when Saturn climbed up the scaffolding meant for another match, hung from the rafters and hit Steve Williams with an elbow drop from the ceiling in the center of the ring. I don't know if Saturn had planned on doing that spot because he knew they needed a big finish or if he just did it spur of the moment to try to salvage the match, but either way it worked because it was F*CKIN' AWESOME.
Very much so. By the Attitude Era, Dr. Death's body had so much wear and tear, he was a shell of himself. Hard hitting style in Japan does that to you.
Not defending it at all. But if someone is low on intelligence and they did it before without an issue they would see no problem doing it again. Trust me I’m an idiot and also a hawk.
@@Markyd123 I'm not arguing if he approved of the same guy doing it in WWE then not sure why there was an uproar about him doing the same thing in WCW. Although admittedly no one would have seen it on Heat the first time around.
There's a big difference doing it in WWE where JR was employed and in on it in comparison to it being done by the 2 people who did WWE dirty in their competition's promotion.
Fun fact: at WrestleMania 15 before the match between Bart Gunn and butter bean Jerry Lawler literally said on commentary to Michael Cole I wouldn't mentioned that Dr death stuff if I were you
@@IrishKyokushin Yeah if you watch his channel long enough it becomes pretty clear that he doesn't like that style of wrestling at all and mostly just shits on wrestlers from Japan who come to the US
I'd honestly say British Bulldog deserves to be in that conversation. Dude was strong as an ox. I still remember he did a delayed vertical suplex to Vader and didn't even grimace holding him up there. Also Tony Atlas deserves to be in this conversation; he was a beast.
Although he's not very famous for being a wrestler Bill Kazmaier is undoubtedly the actual strongest wrestler of the period. Being a world record breaker powerlifters and 3 time Worlds strongest man winner.
back in day i thouth its just wcw rip off of actual band . but damn prety cool from jerry he actualy was able to work matches , he should do angle with danzig look a like XD
As I'm watching this I remember this clearly but I thought Dr death was in his late 40s in 99 but it shocks me that he was only 39 years old. He looked so much older. 39-year-olds today look so much younger. But man I'll never forget how awesome he was in the early 90s when he teamed up with Terry Gordy they were one of the best tag teams in wcw had awesome matches with The Steiner Brothers. I highly suggest checking them out.
Hehe, yeah, even Dr. Death himself thought it was funny. In an AJPW promo in 2000 "I'm not *_that_* old, but I come from that 'old school', just look at me!". 😆 Coincidentally, Dr. Death in 2007-2008 when he was in his actual late 40s (the short time he was cancer-free), he looked younger than he did in 1999 and joked about it with Bill Apter, saying "I've found the Fountain of Youth but I ain't tellin' ya where it is." 😉
@@thehorrorhound6575 Yes, Doc was very chill and down to earth, he was my favorite and I followed his career while it was happening in real-time. I had access to AJPW tapes a month or 2 from when they aired in Japan. Thankfully, when Dr. Death returned in January 2000, his AJPW career went back on track and kicked serious butt in the early 2000s. He beat everyone but Kawada, and let Kobashi win when he went to NOAH. Speaking of his older look, Doc got into much better shape (leaned down to 265 lbs) and started getting better haircuts/dying it black to look younger lol😋. He was a babyface and sympathetic character at this point, and an AJPW loyalist. Doc even had an angle with Bart Gunn which Dr. Death won in a sold-out Tokyo Dome (January 2001). Bart Gunn already had a really great run in late 1998 and 1999 AJPW, so it was only fair to let Dr. Death win. After that, Bart Gunn and ECW alum Jim Steele would join Dr. Death and Mike Rotunda in the Varsity Club, and unless selling the storyline, Doc was never bitter about Bart. Compare with Droz and D'Lo Brown. He once said in a promo too, "Bart knocked the Big Doc out, now Bart's a somebody now. But, in the ring [emphasis], can he hang with the best of All Japan?" 😉
@@kristaolson401 Primarily through 3 ways in my case at the time. 1- When I lived in Wisconsin there was a middle-aged Japanese guy and his Turkish friend with a huge flea market table selling Japanese video games, bootleg movies, cartoons, anime, import CDs, etc. 2- Some local comic type shops would also carry AJPW home video given the wrestling boom at the time. Anything with "wrestling" in the title was a guaranteed sell. 3- By the time eBay came to be in late 1995, sellers in Japan were able to ship VHS blanks to America. They'd take 2 months to get through the mail, 1 month if you got lucky. About $10 for a month's worth of TV per tape, even cheaper if you bought a ton of them with combined shipping. My Uncle also used to collect Japanese stuff in the 1980s and the early 1990s (rare CDs and wrestling), which he got through magazine classified ads and he traded with them. But I mostly got my stuff at the flea market and eBay. In my case I got internet in December 1996, so AJPW was easier to get if you were an early internet adopter. Before the internet, like I recall in 1994 (when I started watching) and the first half of 1995, it was all about who you knew and what contacts you had, and finding that one crazy import seller.
Dr Death was a legit tough guy, and fun fact, Bart Gunn was able to sort of resurrect his career in Japan after the whole Butterbean fiasco mainly due to Dr Death's reputation there. Sure, it was during the awful Brawl for All, but without any context, if you were someone who was able to beat a guy like Brock Lesnar (as an instance) in a match, that counts for something at least. If I were to rebook Dr Death's run, I would have taken Vince Russo's need to bring Bradshaw down a peg (which was the reason for the Brawl for All to begin with), but have Bradshaw provoke Dr Death, resulting in a squash match. Russo gets his wish, Dr Death gets depicted as a badass, and judging from fan reaction, either this can be the start of a storyline between the two, or continue to build up Dr Death's reputation with more squash matches before challenging someone on the main roster. Instead, we get the Brawl for All, and Dr Death's injury severely weakened his mobility, and was never the same again. Talk about a waste of talent.
Dr Death was an unusual athlete. He was an All American offensive lineman for the Oklahoma Sooners. At the same time he finished 2nd at the NCAA tournament in the heavyweight division to Bob Baumgartner who went on to be the gold medalist at the Olympics. He lost the match 2-1 to Baumgartner. Dr. Death was a stud.
Poor old Dr Death, just can't help but feel bad for the man, and Jr as well. Before this, I didn't know him being struck with Bell's palsey was that bad
"DAMN YOU LOOK AT MY FAACE" -JR It's not funny at all but the way JR said that to Bart and was carrying on idk how Bart didn't lose it lmfao. Go look at that segment and you can see Bart TRYING HIS HARDEST not to laugh.
He was a 4 time football all american, he was a 2 time wrestling all american He wrestled a future 2x Olympic gold medallist in his last college match after starting the season very late due to his football season... he lost 3 to 2. He was known as a tough as nails human being. Part of the miracle violence connection in Japan. He was not mister charisma, nor did he have an over the top gimmick. But there was a lot to be impressed about him.
Well part together video clips of 1998-1999 Dr. Death. Yes, definitely go back and research, watch and enjoy the classic matches of Steve “Dr. Death” Williams (R.I.P.) Watch Mid-South, UWF both versions particularly the Bill Watts promotion. The NWA (1987-1989) also Williams & Gordy vs the Steiners from 1992 WCW and his many appearances in Japan. You started the video at 1998 WWF. 🤔 I’m sure that you can make a great follow up video from say 1983-1996. You should review the bloodbath classic feud from 1985 Williams & Dibiase vs the Fabulous Freebirds.
Thank God you did this video!!! I thought I was having a stroke moment as a kid because nobody has ever referenced Dr. Death (for a long time I thought his name was Dr. Doom cause I just totally forget about him for like 18 years.) I just remember JR going heel and then he was always on Dr. Death's nutts and I was just like, "Ok this is a weird story path for our dearly loved match commentator. But I haven't seen any news or clips or ANYTHING regarding Dr. Death....I remember JR complaining about his Palsy condition too.
Relationship-wise, the two of them go back to when Bill Watts was running Mid-South Wrestling (later UWF). According to Jim Ross on his Grilling JR podcast, the three of them first met while he was in his junior year in college when they were recruiting guys to wrestle pro so early 80s. His Mid-South/UWF work was decent, same goes for well, a lot of guys who later left for WWF & pre-WCW Crockett.
I feel like people don't get upset with the WWE making fun of JR because he was there as a character whereas WCW just had him for the sake of having him. Either way it doesn't matter as JR himself said he was ok with it.
My Moms cousin used to date DD when he was at the height of his career in Mid South...One time at Boobisox airport lounger in Little Rock me an couple of my best buddies got to meet DD, and Ted Dibiasse...and I sawr Scandar Ackbar without his sheiks hat...Ted assured me he wouldn't be coming over to our table as I was scared cause they was all in the same room...then the big Russian walked by and I froze until Hacksaw Jim Diggan showed up and everything was cool....
Bro you saw the end of his career. You gotta go watch his early NWA/WCW and later AJPW run to know that he was a very good wrestler. It's just that by the time he got back to America he was pretty banged up and working in promotions where realness was a draw and not sports entertainment meant it was hard for him to work in the states in the late 90s.
I followed his whole career. Started for Bill Watts around the same time as Shawn Micheals. He was a decent enough promo, not great but not bad. Came up among legends like JYD, DiBiase, Duggan, One Man Gang, Big Boss Man, The Freebirds, Rock and Roll Express, Ron Simmons. I would say the best run of his career started with WarGames against the Freebirds probably peaking with the fued of Doc and Gordy vs The Steiner Brothers. Hate to say it but when Jim Ross brought him in it's like he was jinxed for the rest of his career.
I remember this- I remember in the 90s while this was happening, there was no internet or google or anything to seek more info. But SOMEHOW it was like a known thing among kids that JR was REALLY vouching for this guy. So much so, that I believed it. I thought that he was brought in and was supposed to be like this dominating villain character. Then when he got toasted on Brawl for All, I was so confused.
I know very well the story behind this. It was around December 1998/January 1999 that Dr. Death was done healing. Vince McMahon still saw hope in a Dr. Death vs. Stone Cold run when SmackDown! debuted in later 1999 if Doc worked the midcard (hardcore title run for the spring/summer to repair Brawl For All damage). With that, Doc got his own trading card talking about "pursing the WWF Championship". McMahon called Jakks Pacific to request that acting figure too (this indeed happened). A Jakks exec in an interview in late 1999 talked about all of this, saying McMahon called wanting Dr. Death and the figure being a poor seller (because he was so little on TV). So I guess McMahon called Acclaim Entertainment for "WWF Attitude" and did the same thing. It was in March 1999 Dr. Death did all the voicework for the game, and he was released a month later.
Steve Williams runs in Japan was when his style really made its mark, their "strong style" in the 80s & 90s was when I first saw him. He earned his title of Dr. Death for good reason. His last runs in WWF and wCw were an embarrassment of script writing. Sure, he was older, injury prone, but he was more entertaining than Lex Luger, and could suplex in the ranks of the Steiner Brothers. The matches in wCw were gimmick filled run-in insults to his potential, and WWF booked him just as poorly. R.I.P. Dr. Death
I didn't mind Dr.Death to be honest, and I didn't think he was out of place because there was people like Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman around at the same time. As for the JR impressions, I guess the difference is the person it was making fun of was at least in on the joke and part of it, where the WCW version he wasn't.
Did the commentator really imply that Dr. Death was an unknown anybody? Dr. Death was probably one of the best not only Mid-South, but in Japan as well. Top 5 strongest wrestlers in the world. Also wrestled in the State of Oklahoma.
@quetzalpacheco because Jim Ross screwed him by taking him to the WWF to compete in that idiotic brawl for all and he tore his knee, was never the same. Now I'm talking about the Dr. Death of the 80's and 90's
The Brawl for All was proof that even the precious "Attitude Era" wasn't as perfect as its made out to be. While WCW has been criticized for its bad angles during its dying days, the WWE had its share of failed angles, even duing the "Attitude Era".
Also a slight correction The Misfits in Action was a completely different group led by Hugh Morrus (as Hugh G Rection) while Vampiro was just aligned with the legendary Punk Band The Misfits for a little bit completely different groups!!!
After a Misfits concert I was at in the 90's Jerry Only was signing autographs. Someone was wearing an NWO shirt and he complimented it. The fan went on to ask him if he ever considered wrestling because hes a pretty big dude. He said hes thought about it. A year or two later he showed up in WCW. I thought it was pretty cool.
I've always been fascinated by the legend of the underwhelming end to his US career but I hadn't seen really any of the matches. Thanks for the summary, interesting to see. No wonder he decided to head back to Japan.
Dr. Death had a really good run in early 2000s AJPW and had a great 2000, and later a year and a half feud against Keiji Muto with really good/funny promos.
@@albalog2449 I didn't like his work by that point. Winning Tag League with Mike Mike Rotondo? Blech. Then the god awful run in WJ in 2k3. But I love the story how he walked in to Kawadas locker room to swear his allegiance to AJPW when the NOAH split occurred, then was basically stalking/threatening Misawa til Masao Inoue threw a chair at him. Even more fascinating because Kawada infamously hates white people.
"He lost to someone I never heard of" ... You never heard of JERY ONLY or The Misfits??? aaannnddd that's whats wrong with the world these days. The Misfits are LEGENDS in the punk rock community. Their sound has this classical taste to it, like if Beethoven, Elvis and G.G. Allen had a love baby, and that baby only listened to The Clash/Social Distortion.....(Yep.....I've explained The Misfits' sound perfectly!). All Jerry and Doyle ever did was work out in their basement and watch old B-Horror films so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they joined wrestling for a spell. I totally forgot about them in WCW until I saw this video!! Their logo is worn on t-shirts all across the world by people who don't even know 1 of their songs and it's a shame because The Misfits are an AMAZING!!
Well even if he had not got beat in the brawl for all and injured, he died just a year later so say they had gave him a big push it was always going to be shortened abruptly
It was his oaklahoma kink. He thought everyone from there was great. Dr death WAS awesome and tough as hell in the 80s. But by the time wwf tried to push him it was over
You've never heard of Jerry Only? Damn, you need to check out the Misfits, pre or post Danzig eras, both rule. He also had a solo album out in the past week or so, is also killer. Knew he was in WCW but never realised he wrestled though.
My theory is very simple. Dr Death was a great football player at the university of Oklahoma, JR’s alma mater and Dr death was mad over as a brawler in Japan and I’m sure JR being stuck in a boomer wrestling mentality similar to Cornette figured he could get Dr Death just as over in the WWF. The problem was JR was a few years too late as WWF was moving into the attitude era by the time Dr Death got there when he should have been used in the new Gen era where he would have fit in better as a brawler heel.
The best time for him was when he reigned as Triple Crown champion in All Japan. He had some good matches there against Kobashi and Masawa. Here in the states he won UWF heavyweight champion (the original universal title) but by the time he won that title that title wasn’t meaningful anymore cause of JCP purchasing the UWF from Bill Watts Edit: ironically this Dr. Death winning the UWF title is what I compared Claudio Castagnoli winning the ROH title to. ROH basically is today’s Bill Watts’ UWF. Bought by another company and rendered secondary and no longer major.
I had Bell's Palsy when I was in the first grade it lasted for close to a year I woke up with it and months later woke up and it was gone it really sucks one side of the face won't move and can't smile right it sucked
I remember when one of the Law & Order spinoff actors got it, he had to use an eyepatch for a bit while filming a season of episodes but then it was gone by the show's next season. Still crazy thinking how JR got hit with it not once but 3 times.
Williams was a Sooner and was extremely successful in the wrestling program, also did good in football, and was a folklore hero of sorts in Ross’s Oklahoma for his bar fights 😅 if any of you guys here or southerners you know how a guy can build a “tough guy” rep for beating up drunk guys in bars 😂
1st off, JR is a Oklahoma Football mark. Steve Williams was a star football player & amateur wrestler @ Oklahoma. Dr Death was great in Japan, UWF, etc. But WWF of course didn't promote him and booed him terribly. Then he got injured in the Bawl for All event. I think JR over valued him. But everyone else in the management at WWF undervalued him. He was a very good technician in the ring. But not some outlandish character or great promo guy.
This was around the time Goldberg got big and Steve Williams, in his prime, was a lot like Goldberg, eventually fans grew tired of all the standup comedy on the microphone and wanted to see a guy shut up and kick ass. Williams just hit some bad luck with the injuries
Sziasztok. Én is magyar vagyok és nagy rajongója Steve Williamsnek. 😄 Ha többet szeretne látni a Williamsről, van egy lejátszási listám az AJPW-ről 1994-ből (a legjobb éve első számú bajnokként), és a legutóbbi 2003-asról (amikor visszavonult). Sokat szerepel ezekben az epizódokban. A Terry Gordyval való összefogás után a Williams kedvenc meccseim Kenta Kobashi (brutális klasszikus 😉), Misawa (1994-ben és 1997-ben verte meg az övért), Bart Gunn (bosszú történet), Kawada és Keiji Muto (sok beszéd) ellen játszottak.
Rumour has it that good ol` Oklahoma is still thinking about Dr. Death everytime he goes to the spank bank... Jokes aside, from what I've seen the guy was actually a beast when he was younger.
You know all the shit Sunday Night Heat gets I think people forgot that Velocity was a thing it came on before Smackdown and used the color green am I the only person who remembers this show
From someone who grew up watching his matches, in AJPW, he was a freak. He would gorilla press someone centre of the ring and throw them down on the turnbuckle. He was most known for being impossible to put down, it would take Mitsuhara misawa several of his finishing elbows, that completely floored people like Stan hansen in an instant just to hurt Steve williams. I think this is another case of someone coming from one company as a mega star only to be kind of ignored in a new company under new management.
It‘a genuinely great that I get to see one of my favourite bands in the squared circle. It doesn’t even matter if they were any good in the ring because the Misfits are always entertaining. Their gimmick naturally fits in with late 1990s wrestling.
Dr. Death was a huge star in Mid-south, he was also a tag team champion with Ted Dibiase. The thing that killed his career was Vince McMahon. Cancer ultimately took his life.
He was a perfect example of the times. In 1994 he would have been someone but by 1998-99 in full swing of the attitude era he just wasn't gonna get over. He had skills, a good enough look to be seen as legit and strong. But did he have a personality? We don't know. We will never know. Putting him with JR wasn't a very attitude thing to do. They should have put him with a hot female valet. Give him a cool nickname that isn't as generic as Dr Death. (Plus there was already a Dr Death prior to him) then let's see if he can talk. If I were wwe, I would have used his time in the brawl for all to build him up and say only a few superstars raised their hand to compete in such a competition. Then just blame his loss to bart Gunn to an injury he had prior. Bill him as a legit guy without overtly telling ppl he's legit. I think any gimmick would have been better. If they made him a trucker/arm wrestling champion like a rip off from stallone over the top movie. That would have been better. Scott Hall basically stole Tony Montanas gimmick and was a huge star. When sting became crow sting, huge star. I know it can be hacky but ANYTHING would have been better. Very sad he died so young. RIP
"Two likab le guys" Tbf, from what I hear, Steve Williams was an awesome guy backstage, if a little old school. Bob Holly was just as ghruff behind the scenes as in character.
Misfits in action had Lash leroux, hugh morris, the wall, chavo Guerrero, Booker t at one point. That was the real life 70s punk band The Misfits that was started by jerry only and glen danzig. They supported vampiro pre Kiss Demon and Pre ICP.
Steve Williams can't be blamed for the Brawl 4 All and picking up a legit injury. That the WWF couldn't book someone as genuinely tough and credible as Steve Williams is WWF's failure entirely.
Dr Death Steve Williams had a stellar career in the Territories such as Mid-South long before his WWF run. He was a main eventer who sold thousands of tickets and worked big money shows with some of the biggest names in the business.
Slight correction. Vampiro and Jerry only were the misfits. Not the misfits in action which were a completely different group.
Jerry Only was in the band Misfits. Vampiro wasn't.
I was thinking, I swear that was Hugh G Rection's gang.
Sgt AWOL
And.... lash. Leroux, but I forget his name 🤣
@@ashleynewman3360 Lash was "Corporal Cajun".
i skip the beginning of every video now because i just cant stand hearing that hawk voice anymore. its uncreative and cringey like something we did as kids before we knew how to do creative voices.
its been years. let it go man......grow.
hogan is such an incredibly small percentage of your content it just makes no sense.
Markyd please do a video on the entire wwf hardcore belt history and the wrestlers who have held it. Similar to the cruiserweight championship video
His work in Japan was great, especially his tag team with Terry Gordy that had the best name ever: Miracle Violence Connection.
Watching their matches hurts my back with how physical they were lol
Thank you. I am glad to see other puroresu fans. 👍
Lol this video is so strange. Williams is regarded by everyone as a legend & one of the GOAT HWs
I never knew that they even had a name for their team. They never used that name when they were in WCW though...🤔
Vince would have shorten it to "Connection".
Dr Death was a product of Mid South Wrestling where Cowboy Bill Watts allegedly told all his guys "if you get beat in a bar fight don't come back here". He was a tough guy.
Carny bullshit that no-one still cared about by the 90s.
Facts
That as not Bill Watts, that was the rule for all wrestling promotions, he just liked to remind his employees of it. He was likely trying to keep them out of bars, and keep them reliable. That was the biggest problem years ago, finding reliable workers. Just go read the old NWA bylaws, because they make it clear that things like that will get you fired. They even have rules that say all promoters must notify NWA of any employees engaging in that behavior.
@@chrisgullett4332 what wasn't common was Watts would at times encourage a guy or two to go out looking for a fight as some sort of promotional tool. As if their names appearing in the blotter page would sell tickets.
He also encouraged fights in the locker room which is pretty crazy.
@@chrisgullett4332 that actually makes a ton of sense because those that have really been in few fights know a loss could happen anytime and it would be best to just steer clear if it means your job.
Pretty sure one of the main factors JR liked him was the fact he was from Oklahoma and played for the Sooners
They’d been friends since the early 80s. JR was working for Mid South at the time Bill Watts brought in Dr. Death.
@@buhbuhjaychampagne1706 Yeah, Dr. Death was a pretty big deal in Mid South where JR got his start (first as a referee then as an announcer), I get the feeling that Williams WCW and WWF runs were JR's way of getting his friend a good payday once he had the ability to suggest bringing him in.
@@VladamireD Williams worked for WCW before nitro existed. Williams was there since 87. Was in the varsity club, and in 1990-1992 (the stuff I’m familiar with because of peacock and wwe network) he held the WCW world tag team titles twice. Once with Mike rotunda and once with Terry Gordy and j.r. Was CONSTANTLY hyping up how amazing Williams was on commentary in WCW, you’d think Williams was the only man even in the match. At one point in (I think Halloween havoc 92) his partner asked him why he was so obsessed and j.r. Started to fumble and was like “wh..he’s just and impressive specimen.” Or something like that lol. J.r. Even went into a huge rant about why he was called dr. Death which was because he broke his nose in middle school amateur wrestling and wore a hockey mask to protect his face and the news papers started calling him dr. Death.
@@thehorrorhound6575I have honestly wondered if their was a little bit more to it than that. Why - it just seems real funny JR had almost an obscession with Steve Williams that was bordering on man love. Then in later years, he shows the same obscession bordering on man love for Steve Austin, whose real name just happens to be Steve Williams. Coincidence ???
@@foreverunsaved6661 big if true lol
Also, cool tidbit about Jerry Only:
He's the only member of The Misfits (he played bass guitar if anyone wanted to know) that actually went out of his way to train to become a wrestler, even if it was for just a shows where he'd take bumps, so fair play to him for showing some respect for the business.
Jerry Only is legit, so good to see some respect for the man. Like still works in a machine shop in New Jersey legit. I could be making that last bit up (maybe still on his own basses . . . ). But I wouldn't be surprised, as Doyle still makes his own guitars that he performs on with the band.
At that point he was lead singer too.
@@dildonius Of course knew that they had a brief breakup as a band in the early 80's when Glen left. But didn't know Jerry took over vocals for any period. I've only ever seen clips of Glen or the "new(er) guy" (nothing against him, but . . . ) out front like that. Misfits trivia is always welcome addition to the contents of my brain-skull.
@@justinkline1294 Oh there's plenty of reasons to have something against Michael Graves... Proud Boy POS that he is.
Thank you for not saying "Fun fact"
I knew of Steve Williams from his football playing days, and then met him in '86 when him and Tammy bought a house on the lake from my Ma & Pa. My parents built another house not far down the road from the one he bought, so we'd see him or his wife at the corner store, the only one for miles around, pretty regular. In '88 I got busted up really bad in a car wreck. I had to have 8 months in-patient rehab. I was sitting in my room one day and here comes Doc and Tammy walking in my room. Nobody had asked him to come see me, he'd just heard about it at the corner store and came to see me. He came and visited one more time before he left for Japan. About a month later, I get a post card of Mount Fuji in Japan. The man had taken time out of what I'm sure was a busy schedule to send me some words of encouragement.
Dr Death was a product of a time in wrestling where being a legit tough guy mattered because you had to defend your reputation in the bars against guys who wanted to see how tough a wrestler was and you weren't allowed to lose. It was also a time where people went into business for themselves in a more extreme way and just legit knocked people out. This kind of legit hardman was very popular in the territories and massive in Japan just gotta look at some of the big american wrestling names around that time like Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the butcher, Stan Hansen, Vader.
Without charisma or any kind of crowd pleasing he'd have had a hard time in 80s WWF, there were so many guys who just didn't look like anything in big TV productions. Might have had a run with a stupid working man gimmick in New Generation times though.
he was the only member of the country group alabama that could fight but he always got into a ruckus before they got going so they kicked him out of the band
I don't think any of that really mattered. It's not like Bubba from the bar is gonna go to the news stations showing video proof he knocked out some wrassler and ruin his reputation with the general public. Their tough guy reputations only mattered to the other boys who took part in those pissing contests. Ric Flair never had a legit tough guy reputation and never needed one.
Finlay tells a story in a shoot, that when they were training the coaches used to teach British wrestlers how to break people's thumbs. It was less up to chance than a fist fight and less risk that the wrestler would get injured.
@@Breakfast_of_Champions uhh DD looked like a grizzly bear & had immense amounts of charisma... what’re you talking about???
Kenta Kobashi vs. Doctor Death is one of the hardest hitting matches I have ever seen in my life.
it is legit uncomfortable to watch
The man was a monster in japan. His backdrop drivers looked so much better there
Only thing that compared was Kenta vs Hansen.
I prefer his stuff with Kawada (the racist who had no problem stiffing gaijin) but you are 💯
@@kevinwillette5161 you can’t be a “racist” toward gaijjn 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️😂🤣. “Gaijin” typically refers to muricans, and ‘murican’ isn’t a race lmfaoo
I think the biggest problem with Dr. Death not making it far into WWF/E was because his body was pretty broken down by the time he was signed in 1998. Had he been signed in 1992, I think he probably would have fit into the role Charles Wright had as Kama The Supreme Fighting Machine only more legit or something? And he was still in his prime if I recall.
Yeah, being Kama wasn't going to take him far either. If he had a decent manager, he might have done ok for himself in the pre attitude era. Dr. Death in Yokozuna's role is an interesting thought, but as soon as the Attitude era hit, and words became more important than ring work, plus WWF dropping managers, Dr. Death was DOA no matter how many times he sold out the Tokyo Dome.
Ross actually wanted Dr. Death in 1995, but Steve Williams preferred the All Japan schedule and pay.
@@sklba632 Yeah I don't think Dr. Death excels in the attitude era, but if Dr. Death ended Hulkamania in the WWF in 1993 there might not have been an attitude era. It's a wild what if
I think Hart basically remains mostly unaffected. top babyface in the company. Yokozuna probably gets a push but ultimately fed to either Williams or Hart and never ends up with the title.
What happens to Diesel and Shawn Michaels though? That's the wild one. Do they get title runs? (In this alternative realty I'm assuming Hart is the top babyface and Williams the top heel into 94 and 95. Does a frustrated Michaels book it to WCW making the core NWO members Hall, Nash and Michaels? to face babyface Hogan? Also now you have no DX.
Furthermore, you have a much better product in those mid nineties years with Hart, Williams, HBK, Ramon, Diesel and Undertaker as your main eventers, rather then trying to build your company are Lex Luger and Diesel.
I imagine if he showed up a few years earlier, he would have been a great opponent for Bret Hart or HBK.
@@JamesR1986 Hulkamania was going to be over no matter what. Culture always changes. The fact they got more than 2 years out of Hogan is phenomenal and is the reason they weathered the storm as hard as they did. Just think, what if Vince had one year less of Hogan. They probably would have had to sell in 96 cause they would have been too broke to weather at that point.
If Williams was getting the push against Hogan he was going over everyone but Hogan on the way up, and putting all those guys over on the way down, assuming he wouldn't jump before he would have to return the favor, lol.
I can't imagine Michaels or Nash wanting to work with Dr. Death....those two have made their thoughts on stiff working well known. Whatever happens, it probably somehow involves Bret Hart, Razor, Waltman, or maybe PJ Walker would got that break, lol. If we can fantasy book a little more, throw Macho in the mixing putting someone over. I'm pretty sure both Hart and Michaels have spoken on Macho wanting to help them on his way down the card. Wouldn't be surprised if Hogan would then try to weasel in there once Macho started getting them over, just to quash anything they were doing, like what he did to Pillman years later.
I don't think Danielson's work rate in 1992-96 would have helped much. It was just a bad time for wrestling after Hogan had kinda scorched the earth with wrestling for the past decade or so. Wrestling needed to cool off before it could get hot again, and Vince McMahon was not the one who could do that, nor was that his mindset. I know we're sitting here with 20/20 hindsight, but Vince was all about plowing through and trying to get a hit as fast as possible. It was doomed to fail because the culture simply wasn't in the mood.
The What If game of wrestling is infinite and very fun.
Dr Death was a seriously real life tough guy and his work in Japan is undeniable. Him and Bam Bam Gordy were one of the best "big guy" tag teams around at that point in time
Unfortunately Steve's best days were well behind him by the time he got to the WWF !
A real life tough guy that got beat up in a real fight on tv. So, yeah that was one of his problems. Look at the tough guy. Better not mess with the tough guy. Oh, he got beat up.
Yeah, he was great eight years prior. Even his ECW run a couple years prior to his WWF disaster was pretty rough. He was done.
It's not his fault He was booked poorly. I hope WCW goes out of...oh wait
@@nothingtoseehear5012Don't forget Williams was almost killed in MMA
To be fair, Steve Williams' best work had come before this run. He is seen as a legendary figure in Japan and his tag team with Terry Gordy as the Miracle/Violence Connection was excellent in the early 1990s.
not at all dr death was the best in the south
Steve was a legitimate badass before he came into the WWF. His credentials and his runs in Japan were what made him feel like a big deal.
@quetzalpachecoDoc had a lot of battle damage from years of wrestling the brutal Japanese style. This was not 1984 Doc. The best analog to Doc is Brock Lesnar.
@quetzalpacheco he was 38 in that goofy, boxing glove, yet you could do take downs fight. And he tore his hamstring, which obviously set him up for that knock out. Bart was 33, 5 years from early 30s to late 30s is a lot. Look at any professional sport.
If not for that injury, he probably would've made it through the Gunn fight. And they probably would've given him the decision, because they were pushing him, and everybody wouldn't have remembered Gunn was getting the best of him at times by the next day. But he was, at least by then, injury prone, so that's how it goes.
But Gunn was a tough man, so it stands to reason he lost the fight anyway, had youth on his side too.
He was an overly stiff prick who couldn't actually wrestle
@@Tucj-zh1dy mans was running All Japan at a point where they had some of the heaviest hitters in the game at the time. A bad wrestler can't be pulled to a good match. Doc has plenty of good ones to his name.
Bro, Jerry Only is an actual musician. He was a founding member of the Misfits. Pretty cool that he actually wrestled real matches.
kinda makes me wonder why they dont rip off danzig like character to make angle with jerry XD.
Yeah annoying to hear this UA-cam dork bagging on one of the greatest punk rockers.
He was also in the band Alabama before they really got going
@@mojojojo6400 wait, what? Lmfao
@@mojojojo6400 nice!
One thing Steve Williams will always have going for him is he was in a tag team with the greatest name ever: The Miracle Violence Connection.
Dr Death was an absolute beast. He had a bad run in WWF but otherwise was amazing. He was also a really great guy, I actually went to church with him back in the 90s/early 2000s
That had to be a pretty cool weekly thing
@@RealGateGuardian He also spoke at my senior year Highschool wrestling dinner. Just an awesome guy.
hes my favorite wrestler
@@bono1083sure he did bud
@@MEGVTRON Its true.
Correction: Vampiros group wasnt the Misfits in Action. Solely the Misfits. They are a legendary punk band that went into wrestling.
The Misfits in Action was a military based stable ran by Hugh Morrus (General E Rection)
I’m pretty sure he knows that.
@@TimTE01 apparently he didn't if he kept calling them MIA. Your inability to comprehend the obvious is baffling.
I want people to absolutely understand, the brawl for all still to this day remains the single worst idea they ever came up with.
It was worth it to see Bradshaw knocked out.
It-could-of-worked-but-the-concept-was-stupid....Needed-to-be-boxing-matches-or-straight-shoot-fights-....Not-a-combo-of-both
No switching to PG would be
Is your space bar broken?
@@QuentinDude the rules were so dumb. Either shoot or box.
I remember an ECW match where Williams and Terry Gordy (The Miracle Violence Connection in Japan) were up against The Eliminators. Williams, Perry Saturn and John Kronos were trying hard but they were clearly covering for Terry Gordy, who hadn't been the same since he suffered from falling into a coma from a drug overdose years before.
It ended when Saturn climbed up the scaffolding meant for another match, hung from the rafters and hit Steve Williams with an elbow drop from the ceiling in the center of the ring.
I don't know if Saturn had planned on doing that spot because he knew they needed a big finish or if he just did it spur of the moment to try to salvage the match, but either way it worked because it was F*CKIN' AWESOME.
kronos does a split like a woman
The only problem with Dr. Death is him getting signed too late.
Very much so. By the Attitude Era, Dr. Death's body had so much wear and tear, he was a shell of himself. Hard hitting style in Japan does that to you.
Didn't realise Ed Ferarra did the Jim Ross impression first in WWE and obviously him and Vince Russo loved it way too much.
Not defending it at all. But if someone is low on intelligence and they did it before without an issue they would see no problem doing it again. Trust me I’m an idiot and also a hawk.
@@Markyd123 I'm not arguing if he approved of the same guy doing it in WWE then not sure why there was an uproar about him doing the same thing in WCW. Although admittedly no one would have seen it on Heat the first time around.
@@freddiejohnson6137 yea that’s probably it
Vince McMahon apparently loved the impression when he did it in WWE.
There's a big difference doing it in WWE where JR was employed and in on it in comparison to it being done by the 2 people who did WWE dirty in their competition's promotion.
Fun fact: at WrestleMania 15 before the match between Bart Gunn and butter bean Jerry Lawler literally said on commentary to Michael Cole I wouldn't mentioned that Dr death stuff if I were you
Steve Austin's name is Steve Austin because of this man believe it or not 😂
I think Dutch mantell would like a word bout that.
@@harrylumley2851 yeah he said that can't be his name since Steve Williams had been wresting way before Austin
There’s a WCW match where Austin subs for Terry Gordy and teams up with Steve Williams.
So it is the all Steve Williams team.
It's Confusing to have 2 Wrestlers with the same Name.
Dr. Death was the man back in the day. His journey to the UWF championship was amazing.
Yeah, it's pretty evident that a lot of people commenting have no idea about this era of Dr. Death just like his Mid South days
Dr death was over in Japan
Found the Cornette marks.
@@KryMooretry actually watching UWF instead of pretending anyone who knows anything about wrestling pre-attitude era is a Cornette fanboy.
i just dont like the japanese
Steve Williams was amazing in AJPW. Those are the matches you need to watch to enjoy his work.
yeah too bad MarkyD hates Japanese wrestling lol
His Mid South run was pretty great too.
Dude spent 85% of his career in Japan and MarkyD is judging him by his twilight years under Vince fucking Russo.
@@artirony410really? There goes asking him to do Bart's time in All Japan.
@@IrishKyokushin Yeah if you watch his channel long enough it becomes pretty clear that he doesn't like that style of wrestling at all and mostly just shits on wrestlers from Japan who come to the US
Steve Williams was a BEAST during the 80's and early 90's! Probably the strongest man in wrestling at that time
Stronger than Big John Studd?
@@SuperPeterok he threw around Big Boss Man and Vader like they weren't shit!
I'd honestly say British Bulldog deserves to be in that conversation. Dude was strong as an ox. I still remember he did a delayed vertical suplex to Vader and didn't even grimace holding him up there.
Also Tony Atlas deserves to be in this conversation; he was a beast.
Although he's not very famous for being a wrestler Bill Kazmaier is undoubtedly the actual strongest wrestler of the period. Being a world record breaker powerlifters and 3 time Worlds strongest man winner.
@@SuperPeterok He was catching guys off the top rope before Ultimate Warrior did.
Dr. Death Steve Williams was great back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. You need to watch his time in Japan.
What you do in Japan is worthless in the big leagues
I need to watch his time in nwa/wcw. Not much I can do with stuff in Japan unfortunately
@@Markyd123 Just watch it and enjoy the ride. No need to post it.
@@mitchcolburn1216 Tell that to Vader or Hogan
his run in all Japan was the stuff of legends, his matches with kawada, kobashi and misawa were one of the best of that era
Jerry Only is in the band The Misfits. That’s not a wrestling name. That’s his name he’s had for many years in The Misfits. Dudes a legend
back in day i thouth its just wcw rip off of actual band . but damn prety cool from jerry he actualy was able to work matches , he should do angle with danzig look a like XD
Brand*
As I'm watching this I remember this clearly but I thought Dr death was in his late 40s in 99 but it shocks me that he was only 39 years old. He looked so much older. 39-year-olds today look so much younger. But man I'll never forget how awesome he was in the early 90s when he teamed up with Terry Gordy they were one of the best tag teams in wcw had awesome matches with The Steiner Brothers. I highly suggest checking them out.
Hehe, yeah, even Dr. Death himself thought it was funny. In an AJPW promo in 2000 "I'm not *_that_* old, but I come from that 'old school', just look at me!". 😆 Coincidentally, Dr. Death in 2007-2008 when he was in his actual late 40s (the short time he was cancer-free), he looked younger than he did in 1999 and joked about it with Bill Apter, saying "I've found the Fountain of Youth but I ain't tellin' ya where it is." 😉
@@albalog2449 aww dude sounds like he was a chill man, that makes it even sadder he got screwed so hard by a lucky knock out punch and a leg injury.
@@thehorrorhound6575 Yes, Doc was very chill and down to earth, he was my favorite and I followed his career while it was happening in real-time. I had access to AJPW tapes a month or 2 from when they aired in Japan. Thankfully, when Dr. Death returned in January 2000, his AJPW career went back on track and kicked serious butt in the early 2000s. He beat everyone but Kawada, and let Kobashi win when he went to NOAH.
Speaking of his older look, Doc got into much better shape (leaned down to 265 lbs) and started getting better haircuts/dying it black to look younger lol😋. He was a babyface and sympathetic character at this point, and an AJPW loyalist. Doc even had an angle with Bart Gunn which Dr. Death won in a sold-out Tokyo Dome (January 2001). Bart Gunn already had a really great run in late 1998 and 1999 AJPW, so it was only fair to let Dr. Death win.
After that, Bart Gunn and ECW alum Jim Steele would join Dr. Death and Mike Rotunda in the Varsity Club, and unless selling the storyline, Doc was never bitter about Bart. Compare with Droz and D'Lo Brown. He once said in a promo too, "Bart knocked the Big Doc out, now Bart's a somebody now. But, in the ring [emphasis], can he hang with the best of All Japan?" 😉
@@albalog2449 wow! How did you get the tapes.
@@kristaolson401 Primarily through 3 ways in my case at the time. 1- When I lived in Wisconsin there was a middle-aged Japanese guy and his Turkish friend with a huge flea market table selling Japanese video games, bootleg movies, cartoons, anime, import CDs, etc. 2- Some local comic type shops would also carry AJPW home video given the wrestling boom at the time. Anything with "wrestling" in the title was a guaranteed sell. 3- By the time eBay came to be in late 1995, sellers in Japan were able to ship VHS blanks to America. They'd take 2 months to get through the mail, 1 month if you got lucky. About $10 for a month's worth of TV per tape, even cheaper if you bought a ton of them with combined shipping.
My Uncle also used to collect Japanese stuff in the 1980s and the early 1990s (rare CDs and wrestling), which he got through magazine classified ads and he traded with them. But I mostly got my stuff at the flea market and eBay. In my case I got internet in December 1996, so AJPW was easier to get if you were an early internet adopter.
Before the internet, like I recall in 1994 (when I started watching) and the first half of 1995, it was all about who you knew and what contacts you had, and finding that one crazy import seller.
Dr Death was a legit tough guy, and fun fact, Bart Gunn was able to sort of resurrect his career in Japan after the whole Butterbean fiasco mainly due to Dr Death's reputation there. Sure, it was during the awful Brawl for All, but without any context, if you were someone who was able to beat a guy like Brock Lesnar (as an instance) in a match, that counts for something at least.
If I were to rebook Dr Death's run, I would have taken Vince Russo's need to bring Bradshaw down a peg (which was the reason for the Brawl for All to begin with), but have Bradshaw provoke Dr Death, resulting in a squash match. Russo gets his wish, Dr Death gets depicted as a badass, and judging from fan reaction, either this can be the start of a storyline between the two, or continue to build up Dr Death's reputation with more squash matches before challenging someone on the main roster. Instead, we get the Brawl for All, and Dr Death's injury severely weakened his mobility, and was never the same again. Talk about a waste of talent.
Too bad Russo didn't understand wrestling.
I met him not long before he died. He was a super nice guy.
Dr Death was an unusual athlete. He was an All American offensive lineman for the Oklahoma Sooners. At the same time he finished 2nd at the NCAA tournament in the heavyweight division to Bob Baumgartner who went on to be the gold medalist at the Olympics. He lost the match 2-1 to Baumgartner. Dr. Death was a stud.
This is true, but I believe you meant to say Bruce Baumgartner.
Poor old Dr Death, just can't help but feel bad for the man, and Jr as well. Before this, I didn't know him being struck with Bell's palsey was that bad
It is wild to see how much JRs face has improved since his issues began.
"DAMN YOU LOOK AT MY FAACE" -JR
It's not funny at all but the way JR said that to Bart and was carrying on idk how Bart didn't lose it lmfao. Go look at that segment and you can see Bart TRYING HIS HARDEST not to laugh.
bell's palsy sucks, I had it once.
He was a 4 time football all american, he was a 2 time wrestling all american
He wrestled a future 2x Olympic gold medallist in his last college match after starting the season very late due to his football season... he lost 3 to 2.
He was known as a tough as nails human being. Part of the miracle violence connection in Japan.
He was not mister charisma, nor did he have an over the top gimmick. But there was a lot to be impressed about him.
Well part together video clips of 1998-1999 Dr. Death. Yes, definitely go back and research, watch
and enjoy the classic matches of Steve “Dr. Death” Williams (R.I.P.) Watch Mid-South, UWF both versions particularly the Bill Watts promotion.
The NWA (1987-1989) also Williams & Gordy vs the
Steiners from 1992 WCW and his many appearances in Japan. You started the video
at 1998 WWF. 🤔 I’m sure that you can make a great follow up video from say 1983-1996. You should review the bloodbath classic feud from 1985 Williams & Dibiase vs the Fabulous Freebirds.
I remember DR Death way back in the UWF back in the mid 80s, he was a legend.
You needed to see him in his prime. He was a beast.
Thank God you did this video!!! I thought I was having a stroke moment as a kid because nobody has ever referenced Dr. Death (for a long time I thought his name was Dr. Doom cause I just totally forget about him for like 18 years.) I just remember JR going heel and then he was always on Dr. Death's nutts and I was just like, "Ok this is a weird story path for our dearly loved match commentator. But I haven't seen any news or clips or ANYTHING regarding Dr. Death....I remember JR complaining about his Palsy condition too.
Relationship-wise, the two of them go back to when Bill Watts was running Mid-South Wrestling (later UWF). According to Jim Ross on his Grilling JR podcast, the three of them first met while he was in his junior year in college when they were recruiting guys to wrestle pro so early 80s.
His Mid-South/UWF work was decent, same goes for well, a lot of guys who later left for WWF & pre-WCW Crockett.
I feel like people don't get upset with the WWE making fun of JR because he was there as a character whereas WCW just had him for the sake of having him. Either way it doesn't matter as JR himself said he was ok with it.
My Moms cousin used to date DD when he was at the height of his career in Mid South...One time at Boobisox airport lounger in Little Rock me an couple of my best buddies got to meet DD, and Ted Dibiasse...and I sawr Scandar Ackbar without his sheiks hat...Ted assured me he wouldn't be coming over to our table as I was scared cause they was all in the same room...then the big Russian walked by and I froze until Hacksaw Jim Diggan showed up and everything was cool....
Lmao at the Misfits talk in this video. Jerry Only and his brother definitely fit the mold of “goons”
Bro you saw the end of his career. You gotta go watch his early NWA/WCW and later AJPW run to know that he was a very good wrestler. It's just that by the time he got back to America he was pretty banged up and working in promotions where realness was a draw and not sports entertainment meant it was hard for him to work in the states in the late 90s.
I followed his whole career. Started for Bill Watts around the same time as Shawn Micheals. He was a decent enough promo, not great but not bad. Came up among legends like JYD, DiBiase, Duggan, One Man Gang, Big Boss Man, The Freebirds, Rock and Roll Express, Ron Simmons.
I would say the best run of his career started with WarGames against the Freebirds probably peaking with the fued of Doc and Gordy vs The Steiner Brothers. Hate to say it but when Jim Ross brought him in it's like he was jinxed for the rest of his career.
I remember this- I remember in the 90s while this was happening, there was no internet or google or anything to seek more info. But SOMEHOW it was like a known thing among kids that JR was REALLY vouching for this guy. So much so, that I believed it. I thought that he was brought in and was supposed to be like this dominating villain character. Then when he got toasted on Brawl for All, I was so confused.
Despite his blink-and-miss appearances on WWF programming, Dr. Death still made the cut for the WWF Attitude game roster 🤷♂
I know very well the story behind this. It was around December 1998/January 1999 that Dr. Death was done healing. Vince McMahon still saw hope in a Dr. Death vs. Stone Cold run when SmackDown! debuted in later 1999 if Doc worked the midcard (hardcore title run for the spring/summer to repair Brawl For All damage). With that, Doc got his own trading card talking about "pursing the WWF Championship". McMahon called Jakks Pacific to request that acting figure too (this indeed happened). A Jakks exec in an interview in late 1999 talked about all of this, saying McMahon called wanting Dr. Death and the figure being a poor seller (because he was so little on TV). So I guess McMahon called Acclaim Entertainment for "WWF Attitude" and did the same thing. It was in March 1999 Dr. Death did all the voicework for the game, and he was released a month later.
@@albalog2449 interesting! Thanks for further elaborating
Steve Williams runs in Japan was when his style really made its mark, their "strong style" in the 80s & 90s was when I first saw him. He earned his title of Dr. Death for good reason. His last runs in WWF and wCw were an embarrassment of script writing. Sure, he was older, injury prone, but he was more entertaining than Lex Luger, and could suplex in the ranks of the Steiner Brothers. The matches in wCw were gimmick filled run-in insults to his potential, and WWF booked him just as poorly.
R.I.P. Dr. Death
his German suplexed looked terrible, almost like he was trying to earn his name, shoot. Not good.
Tyler Reks in WWE, made his debut straight to a PPV main event and was off TV within months.
I didn't mind Dr.Death to be honest, and I didn't think he was out of place because there was people like Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman around at the same time. As for the JR impressions, I guess the difference is the person it was making fun of was at least in on the joke and part of it, where the WCW version he wasn't.
Did the commentator really imply that Dr. Death was an unknown anybody? Dr. Death was probably one of the best not only Mid-South, but in Japan as well. Top 5 strongest wrestlers in the world. Also wrestled in the State of Oklahoma.
@quetzalpacheco because Jim Ross screwed him by taking him to the WWF to compete in that idiotic brawl for all and he tore his knee, was never the same. Now I'm talking about the Dr. Death of the 80's and 90's
The Brawl for All was proof that even the precious "Attitude Era" wasn't as perfect as its made out to be. While WCW has been criticized for its bad angles during its dying days, the WWE had its share of failed angles, even duing the "Attitude Era".
I loved Dr. Death but Bart Gunn was also underrated.
👍
Also a slight correction The Misfits in Action was a completely different group led by Hugh Morrus (as Hugh G Rection) while Vampiro was just aligned with the legendary Punk Band The Misfits for a little bit completely different groups!!!
Yeah it sadly bothered, more than it honestly should have, every time it was said. Saying that to myself.
@@ryneomeara7968 you’re not alone there.
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that
Oops. Yea my bad.
@@Markyd123 That's alright still a fun video my dude!!!
He was a beast in his day He was known for Knocking out drunks but bart could box so night night.
After a Misfits concert I was at in the 90's Jerry Only was signing autographs. Someone was wearing an NWO shirt and he complimented it. The fan went on to ask him if he ever considered wrestling because hes a pretty big dude. He said hes thought about it. A year or two later he showed up in WCW. I thought it was pretty cool.
I've always been fascinated by the legend of the underwhelming end to his US career but I hadn't seen really any of the matches. Thanks for the summary, interesting to see. No wonder he decided to head back to Japan.
Dr. Death had a really good run in early 2000s AJPW and had a great 2000, and later a year and a half feud against Keiji Muto with really good/funny promos.
@@albalog2449 I didn't like his work by that point. Winning Tag League with Mike Mike Rotondo? Blech. Then the god awful run in WJ in 2k3.
But I love the story how he walked in to Kawadas locker room to swear his allegiance to AJPW when the NOAH split occurred, then was basically stalking/threatening Misawa til Masao Inoue threw a chair at him. Even more fascinating because Kawada infamously hates white people.
"He lost to someone I never heard of" ... You never heard of JERY ONLY or The Misfits??? aaannnddd that's whats wrong with the world these days. The Misfits are LEGENDS in the punk rock community. Their sound has this classical taste to it, like if Beethoven, Elvis and G.G. Allen had a love baby, and that baby only listened to The Clash/Social Distortion.....(Yep.....I've explained The Misfits' sound perfectly!). All Jerry and Doyle ever did was work out in their basement and watch old B-Horror films so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they joined wrestling for a spell. I totally forgot about them in WCW until I saw this video!! Their logo is worn on t-shirts all across the world by people who don't even know 1 of their songs and it's a shame because The Misfits are an AMAZING!!
Dr Death's run in the WWE is an example of what could have been.
Well even if he had not got beat in the brawl for all and injured, he died just a year later so say they had gave him a big push it was always going to be shortened abruptly
It was his oaklahoma kink. He thought everyone from there was great. Dr death WAS awesome and tough as hell in the 80s. But by the time wwf tried to push him it was over
He was killer in Japan in the 80s and early 90s
Before I even start my friend was actually talking about Steve Williams who also didn't get the hype, so thank you for making this XD
Jerry Only vs Just Joe in an underwhelming match
You've never heard of Jerry Only? Damn, you need to check out the Misfits, pre or post Danzig eras, both rule. He also had a solo album out in the past week or so, is also killer.
Knew he was in WCW but never realised he wrestled though.
JEEZUS!!
Micheal Graves era was pop-punk garbage. Post-Micheal Graves era was even worse. Thank god the band is touring with Danzig again.
My theory is very simple. Dr Death was a great football player at the university of Oklahoma, JR’s alma mater and Dr death was mad over as a brawler in Japan and I’m sure JR being stuck in a boomer wrestling mentality similar to Cornette figured he could get Dr Death just as over in the WWF. The problem was JR was a few years too late as WWF was moving into the attitude era by the time Dr Death got there when he should have been used in the new Gen era where he would have fit in better as a brawler heel.
The best time for him was when he reigned as Triple Crown champion in All Japan. He had some good matches there against Kobashi and Masawa. Here in the states he won UWF heavyweight champion (the original universal title) but by the time he won that title that title wasn’t meaningful anymore cause of JCP purchasing the UWF from Bill Watts
Edit: ironically this Dr. Death winning the UWF title is what I compared Claudio Castagnoli winning the ROH title to. ROH basically is today’s Bill Watts’ UWF. Bought by another company and rendered secondary and no longer major.
Idek why they kept shuving Dr. Death with managers. Dude's no Jericho but he can def talk
Never had a chance to find out from the footage I saw 😂
I had Bell's Palsy when I was in the first grade it lasted for close to a year I woke up with it and months later woke up and it was gone it really sucks one side of the face won't move and can't smile right it sucked
I remember when one of the Law & Order spinoff actors got it, he had to use an eyepatch for a bit while filming a season of episodes but then it was gone by the show's next season.
Still crazy thinking how JR got hit with it not once but 3 times.
Williams was a Sooner and was extremely successful in the wrestling program, also did good in football, and was a folklore hero of sorts in Ross’s Oklahoma for his bar fights 😅 if any of you guys here or southerners you know how a guy can build a “tough guy” rep for beating up drunk guys in bars 😂
Steve Williams 1998: got embarassed in the brawl 4 all
CM Punk 2016: hold my pepsi
1st off, JR is a Oklahoma Football mark. Steve Williams was a star football player & amateur wrestler @ Oklahoma. Dr Death was great in Japan, UWF, etc. But WWF of course didn't promote him and booed him terribly. Then he got injured in the Bawl for All event. I think JR over valued him. But everyone else in the management at WWF undervalued him. He was a very good technician in the ring. But not some outlandish character or great promo guy.
That PCO is the same guy in Impact currently huh
This was around the time Goldberg got big and Steve Williams, in his prime, was a lot like Goldberg, eventually fans grew tired of all the standup comedy on the microphone and wanted to see a guy shut up and kick ass. Williams just hit some bad luck with the injuries
His mid south days and his tag team with Terry Gordy were really great and I've only heard good things about the guy
Sziasztok. Én is magyar vagyok és nagy rajongója Steve Williamsnek. 😄 Ha többet szeretne látni a Williamsről, van egy lejátszási listám az AJPW-ről 1994-ből (a legjobb éve első számú bajnokként), és a legutóbbi 2003-asról (amikor visszavonult). Sokat szerepel ezekben az epizódokban. A Terry Gordyval való összefogás után a Williams kedvenc meccseim Kenta Kobashi (brutális klasszikus 😉), Misawa (1994-ben és 1997-ben verte meg az övért), Bart Gunn (bosszú történet), Kawada és Keiji Muto (sok beszéd) ellen játszottak.
80'S Dr Death was awesome, a crazy athlete destroying people like a Steiner...
go find his early stuff...
Rumour has it that good ol` Oklahoma is still thinking about Dr. Death everytime he goes to the spank bank...
Jokes aside, from what I've seen the guy was actually a beast when he was younger.
You know all the shit Sunday Night Heat gets I think people forgot that Velocity was a thing it came on before Smackdown and used the color green am I the only person who remembers this show
Thank you Hawk. Needed more content
You'd think someone with a British accent would know who Jerry only is since punk rock including the misfits were like huge over there and still are
From someone who grew up watching his matches, in AJPW, he was a freak. He would gorilla press someone centre of the ring and throw them down on the turnbuckle. He was most known for being impossible to put down, it would take Mitsuhara misawa several of his finishing elbows, that completely floored people like Stan hansen in an instant just to hurt Steve williams.
I think this is another case of someone coming from one company as a mega star only to be kind of ignored in a new company under new management.
J.R. loved Dr. Death Steve Williams because he was also from Oklahoma.
I’d love to see a ROH of The Misfits in WCW
Kurt Angle gives a short but good explanation about Doc.
I had no idea Jerry Only was in WCW, I always thought he could be a wrestler.
Miracle Violence Connection was the shit, I think looking at 90's ajpw would provide a little insight into what Jr saw in him
It‘a genuinely great that I get to see one of my favourite bands in the squared circle. It doesn’t even matter if they were any good in the ring because the Misfits are always entertaining. Their gimmick naturally fits in with late 1990s wrestling.
5:00
That first German on Ed despite his size was incredible.
RIP Steve Williams
Dropped him right on the top of his head, lucky he didn’t get hurt lol.
Dr. Death was a huge star in Mid-south, he was also a tag team champion with Ted Dibiase. The thing that killed his career was Vince McMahon. Cancer ultimately took his life.
Dr Death was no joke . The Brawl for it All tournament ruined his career. He was a great wrestler in Mid South / Japan ...!
Ed Ferrara killed it for me in this video💀🤣
RIP Dr Death Steve Williams
Dr. Death was a fucking legend, you tripping.
He was a perfect example of the times. In 1994 he would have been someone but by 1998-99 in full swing of the attitude era he just wasn't gonna get over. He had skills, a good enough look to be seen as legit and strong. But did he have a personality? We don't know. We will never know. Putting him with JR wasn't a very attitude thing to do. They should have put him with a hot female valet. Give him a cool nickname that isn't as generic as Dr Death. (Plus there was already a Dr Death prior to him) then let's see if he can talk. If I were wwe, I would have used his time in the brawl for all to build him up and say only a few superstars raised their hand to compete in such a competition. Then just blame his loss to bart Gunn to an injury he had prior. Bill him as a legit guy without overtly telling ppl he's legit. I think any gimmick would have been better. If they made him a trucker/arm wrestling champion like a rip off from stallone over the top movie. That would have been better. Scott Hall basically stole Tony Montanas gimmick and was a huge star. When sting became crow sting, huge star. I know it can be hacky but ANYTHING would have been better. Very sad he died so young. RIP
"Two likab le guys"
Tbf, from what I hear, Steve Williams was an awesome guy backstage, if a little old school. Bob Holly was just as ghruff behind the scenes as in character.
These Dr Death runs had one problem. That being Vince Russo's booking.
Misfits in action had Lash leroux, hugh morris, the wall, chavo Guerrero, Booker t at one point. That was the real life 70s punk band The Misfits that was started by jerry only and glen danzig. They supported vampiro pre Kiss Demon and Pre ICP.
I loved Dr. Death before his time in WWF
Steve Williams can't be blamed for the Brawl 4 All and picking up a legit injury. That the WWF couldn't book someone as genuinely tough and credible as Steve Williams is WWF's failure entirely.
Didn't realise that Dr Death had any more matches than the brawl for all
he was even in wwf attitude game on ps 1
He was only in his late 30's in these runs, he looked like he was in his 50's.
He was great in WCW and Japan. Very entertaining.
Dr Death Steve Williams had a stellar career in the Territories such as Mid-South long before his WWF run. He was a main eventer who sold thousands of tickets and worked big money shows with some of the biggest names in the business.