Reimagined: Dr. Death in WWF
“What if” is a statement so commonly used in the wrestling fandom that it’s almost impossible not to hear it within any five-minute conversation with a hardened wrestling fan. So much of wrestling history could easily be triggered by a long-lasting butterfly effect with any bit of change that it drives the minds of wrestling fans and wrestlers crazy with possibilities. That is the core origin of our Reimagined series and how simple missed opportunities could change the career trajectories of so many different talents.
There is a long list of legitimate tough guys throughout the history of professional wrestling. Everyone has a favourite tough guy known to be legit from early shooters like Karl Gotch through the late, great Harley Race. The obvious first choice of many is Haku, possibly the most universally recognized man who should never be messed with. But an oft-forgotten tough guy came from the Mid-South Wrestling days and made his way across the world as a feared tough guy, to the point that he was nicknamed Dr. Death. Yes, today we are talking about the late Dr. Death Steve Williams.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Dr. Death was considered one of the best overall athletes and tough guys to step foot in a wrestling ring. Brought into Mid-South Wrestling by ‘Cowboy’ Bill Watts right out of college, Dr. Death made an immediate splash and even became the Heavyweight Champion of the UWF (the renamed Mid-South) before Jim Crockett purchased it. Dr. Death would receive a moderate push in JCP/WCW before venturing off to Japan, where he would see his most tremendous success as both a singles star and as part of a tag team with Terry ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy using the most outstanding wrestling tag team name ever, the Miracle Violence Connection.
After several years in Japan, which saw Williams become one of the most successful and feared gaijin, Dr. Death would finally make his way to the World Wrestling Federation in 1998. Unfortunately for him, the timing of his arrival and his reputation as a badass coincided with the Brawl For All tournament. For whatever reason, Vince Russo had convinced Vince McMahon that a shoot-style tournament was an excellent way to help get guys over. For more on this disaster of an idea, you can see our full recap of the Dark Side Of The Ring episode here.
Dr. Death entered the tournament with the idea that his toughness would lead him to victory and set him up as a potential opponent for WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. After breezing through the first round, Williams would fall in the second round to Bart Gunn’s left hook and also tear his hamstring in the bout. While he would make a short comeback after rehabbing the injury in 1999, acting as a bodyguard for a heel Jim Ross, the damage had been done, and he would soon find himself released and on his way to WCW. Due to Williams's perception that JR had turned on him somehow, he would play the same role in WCW alongside the ill-advised Oklahoma gimmick mocking Jim Ross and his Bell’s Palsy. This would, unfortunately, be Dr. Death’s last major run in America, and he would find himself feuding with Vampiro and the Misfits.
But what could have been? Let’s look at what could have been with Dr. Death Steve Williams had the Brawl For All never existed.
Reimagined Dr. Death in WWF
As Dr. Death was signed shortly after a dark match showing against 2 Cold Scorpio in April of 1998, we will pick up the night after the following PPV: In Your House: Over The Edge. During a King Of The Ring Qualifying match between Mark Henry and Terry Funk, Dr. Death comes out of the crowd and demolishes both men, delivering an overhead T-Bone suplex to the giant Henry and laying out the Funker with an Oklahoma Slam. As the crowd wonders who this sizeable bearded man is, except for those hardcore fans familiar with his work in WCW and Japan, another man appears on the stage with a microphone. Since the one gap in Williams’ game has always been his mic skills, we know he will need someone to speak for him. As JR is still on commentary at this point and is understandably putting his excellent friend over, we turn to another person from the South who was with the WWF at the time, the Louisville Slugger himself, James E. Cornette. Corny gets on the mic and introduces the crowd and his former protégé (remember they were aligned in WCW along with the Midnight Express), the World's Real Most Dangerous Man, Dr. Death Steve Williams, setting the stage for the duo's initial focus.
The following week on RAW, it is revealed that Cornette has used his pull with management to get Dr. Death a King of the Ring qualifying match, replacing the now injured Terry Funk, but he must go through Mark Henry first. Cornette joins the commentary team during the match to continue putting his newest client over. At the same time, Dr. Death dismantles Henry, ending the match with an impressive feat of strength in lifting the gargantuan superstar for the Oklahoma Slam. This sets him up the next week to face Dan Severn (obviously, in this reimagining, we are juggling around the actual tournament brackets). Still, he would also make his presence known, coming out to the stage with Cornette during the tournament matches featuring Ken Shamrock.
The following week, Williams and Severn collide in a hard-hitting, stiff-as-all-hell match which sees the two employing tons of their amateur wrestling backgrounds. The match culminates when Cornette distracts Severn, who he helped bring into the WWF, allowing Williams to hit a low blow and the Oklahoma Slam. With this victory, Dr. Death is set to face off in the semi-finals with Triple H, while Ken Shamrock and The Rock face off on the other side of the bracket.
At King Of The Ring, the first semi-final match features The Rock and Ken Shamrock continuing their months-long rivalry with a new wrinkle in the form of Dr. Death and Cornette coming to ringside. As the match concludes, Dr. Death gets up on the apron, and it seems like he is going to lay out Shamrock with Cornette’s tennis racket, but he instead lays out The Rock, allowing Shamrock to get the pinfall. Shamrock looks visibly confused as Doc and Corny walk away smiling. Williams then barrels right through Triple H on his way to the finals.
In the finals, Shamrock and Williams size each other up, with Shamrock trying to use his speed to gain an advantage against Williams’ size, but it simply isn’t enough and Williams powers his way out of an extended Ankle lock to deliver an Oklahoma Slam, albeit a hobbling one. Williams is then declared the King Of The Ring for 1998, ideally setting him up for a WWF Championship title shot down the line, years before that would become an added stipulation of the win.
The next night on RAW, during a scheduled Coronation segment for the King, just as Cornette dubbed Dr. Death the World’s Most Dangerous King, we get a promo parade beginning with Shamrock coming out upset about his loss the previous night. This brings out the WWF Intercontinental Champion, The Rock, who isn’t pleased with how he was eliminated from the tournament but mentions that he still holds some Gold, which makes him better than the others. This brings out Rock’s on-again, off-again eternal rival Triple H, who comes out and proposes a challenge. Since The Rock is so confident, he should put the IC Title up at Fully Loaded in a match against him, which causes Shamrock to note he beat The Rock by hook or crook, and he deserves a shot. This causes Dr. Death to note that as the King, he technically defeated all of them in the tournament, so he should be given the shot. This, of course, leads to a fatal four-way match at Fully Loaded. The following weeks see the four men all trying to get a leg up on the others with backstage and mid-match attacks.
At Fully Loaded, the four men battle for the Intercontinental Championship in a match that goes nearly 20 minutes before culminating in an ending where Cornette tries to throw his trusty racket to Williams, but it is intercepted by The Rock, who lays out all of his opponents, but chooses to pin his old pal Triple H. After the match, Shamrock is the only one left in the ring. He opens the tennis racket cover to reveal a steel horseshoe, causing him to go ballistic and start attacking referees and officials.
On RAW the next night, Commissioner Slaughter comes out to the ring to address all of the madness around the match the previous night. He books The Rock and Triple H into their legendary ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam, then moves on to Shamrock and Dr. Death, which brings out Doc and Cornette. Cornette admonishes Slaughter and says that due to his actions the previous night, Shamrock should be fined and suspended, which, much to his surprise, Slaughter agrees with. He advises that Shamrock has been suspended without pay until SummerSlam but will return that night to have a match against Dr. Death. But not just any match. The two will meet where Cornette cannot interfere or affect the outcome. The two will meet in a Lion’s Den match to determine who the Real World’s Most Dangerous Man is and the next contender for the WWF Championship. This causes Williams to go ballistic and say he will tear through the entire WWF roster to prove he is as dangerous as he says.
The following weeks see Dr. Death accepting handicap matches against many lower-card duos and trios such as Kaientai, Too Much and others, leading into SummerSlam.
We will leave it off here, as it could be anyone’s guess who wins the Lion’s Den match and challenges Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship after he retains against The Undertaker at SummerSlam.
With all that said, there are several different routes the WWF could have taken with Dr. Death Steve Williams, and all of them would surely be better than what happened. What would you have done with Dr. Death to get him over? Sound off on our social media, and let us know!
