As I mentioned previously in this thread, one of my favorite promotions of all-time was All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990’s. All Japan was brilliant at using the ‘less is more’ concept with pro wrestling and created this super serious and realistic style of wrestling. But, it was amazing that despite their low key nature, how so many of the personas of their wrestlers stood out.
Jumbo Tsuruta was the elder statesman that had been a superstar since the 70’s and went from a high flying type (by 70’s standards) to a more technical style in the 80’s to more of a brutal striker in the 90’s that invented moves like the powerbomb. Mitsuharu Misawa was the prodigy who invented incredible moves like the Tiger Bomb and the Tiger Driver ’91 and was known for always delivering in the big matches.
Toshiaki Kawada was the ugly duckling of the group. He never quite had the fanfare that the others got, but he was a vicious striker with neat moves and one of the greatest wrestlers I’ve ever seen. Akira Taue was the heir apparent to the Giant Baba, but was never quite on Baba’s level. And Kenta Kobashi was the young newcomer that had it all…the size, the looks, the athleticism, the innovator of moves and the fighting spirit.
But, what made All Japan so great to watch was the use of the gaijin wrestler (American). They didn’t beat the fans over the head with the gaijin wrestler and in fact, wrestlers like Terry Funk and The Destroyer were massive fan favorites in Japan. However, there was always some tension and rooting interest against the gaijin wrestler and my personal favorite was Dr. Death Steve Williams.
Steve Williams grew up in Denver and was a highly recruited high school wrestler and football player. He later went to Oklahoma where he went on to be an All-American guard on the football team and a four-time All American wrestler. In fact, he finished 2nd in wrestling his senior year, only losing to the legendary Bruce Baumgartner who was a two time Olympic gold medalist. This should not be viewed as anything less than incredible as Baumgartner (and the other wrestlers) trained all year long for wrestling while Williams had to take time off in the spring, summer and early fall to train for football.
You know you’re going to be legendary when you receive the nickname Dr. Death. Especially when you receive that nickname when you’re in JUNIOR HIGH. Williams had to wrestle in an old hockey goalie’s mask in junior high after shattering his nose and that’s where he got the nickname.
After college he played for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. The money in the NFL is nowhere what it is today. Conversely, pro wrestling was a hotbed, particularly in the Oklahoma area and Williams trained to be a pro wrestler by Bill Watts and joined Watts’ Mid-South wrestling program.
I’m not the greatest fan of Williams’ work in the US outside of his time in Mid South. The big reason is that the US style became very dependent on running the ropes and that was never Williams’ forte. And I have always thought the US style uses the ring ropes way too much and it hurts the product. It’s not very plausible to sling another wrestler in the ropes to begin with, but it’s something that I can suspend by belief if done occasionally and at the right time. To constantly pick the opponent and sling him into the ropes is just completely illogical and improbable.
The ropes used to be used for two things. One was to create a high spot to momentarily get the crowd into the action or to be used as a finisher. If the crowd needs to liven up a bit, the wrestler would sling the other wrestler into the ropes and call for a high back body drop and that would perk up the crowd a little. The other reason to use the ropes is when you had a clear size differential and the smaller wrestler would use the ropes to get more momentum/force to attack the bigger wrestler with.
Somewhere along the lines US wrestling changed and it became very ring rope centric and now everything looks like a high spot and the fans do not pop for it. And the smaller wrestlers rarely use the psychology of using the ring ropes against the bigger wrestlers. Furthermore, the matches look more participatory instead of a real battle. And that was one of the great things about All Japan’s matches…they looked like a shoot. And with Dr. Death that was right up his alley.
Also, with All Japan you had to legitimately have some offense in your arsenal. You just couldn’t rely on strikes. Nor could you just bump your way to create a match. While I can appreciate the talent of the worker who can make a match interesting using little in the way of a moveset, I don’t think somebody like Ric Flair would have ever really been as appealing in All Japan. Dr. Death on the other hand had his fair share of devastating power moves.
My favorite was the Back Drop Driver:
The other factor that Dr. Death had going for him was his presentation. He didn’t have the bodybuilder physique, but he looked like an athlete. Right in line with All Japan’s ‘less is more’ attitude, his robe with the hood helped him get across as the Grim Reaper of pro wrestling.
Of course, it helps having the nickname Dr. Death as well.
Williams was all set to have a feud with Steve Austin in the WWE when his friend Jim Ross signed him. In an attempt to try and legitimize Dr. Death (like he needed any legitimizing), they created the Brawl for All which went down as one of the dumbest concepts ever created. It forced the contestants to wear boxing gloves and takedowns were legal, but then you had to allow the opponent up after the takedown. That didn’t work for the grappler Williams and when he faced Bart Gunn, who had some legitimate boxing experience, Williams tore his hamstring during the match and was KO’d by the younger, better boxer in Gunn.
Unfortunately, that’s probably what Williams is most remembered for. And the think-tank at the WWE didn’t trust a guy who got over everywhere he had ever been to get over for them and create a legitimately scary heel for Austin.
Thankfully, I have all of the memories…particularly in All Japan…of how awesome Dr. Death really was.
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