Williams attended Lakewood High School in Colorado, graduating in 1978. He was on the track & field team, played football, and wrestled all four years. Williams graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 after a football career that saw him named an All-American. He also competed as an amateur wrestler, where he was a four time

Williams became involved with Jimmy Garvin's war with Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club in 1988, often teaming with Jimmy and Ron Garvin or Ron Simmons in various matches, including a Triple Cage "Tower of Doom" match at The Great American Bash in 1988. Williams, however, turned heel and joined the Varsity Club in late 1988. He and Sullivan won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship at Starrcade. They feuded with The Road Warriors and he and Mike Rotunda won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in the process. In May 1989, Williams and Rotunda were stripped of the title, and the Varsity Club disbanded. Not long after, Williams turned face again and had a short feud with Rotunda over who was responsible for the Varsity Club's breakup, before entering a feud with Lex Luger for the NWA United States Championship. Williams was scheduled to face Luger for the title at WrestleWar '90 on February 25, 1990. When Sting, who was scheduled to face Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, suffered a legitimate knee injury, Luger turned face and was moved from the US title match to the World Title match in Sting's place. Williams went to All Japan Pro Wrestling where he formed a tag team with Terry Gordy called The Miracle Violence Connection. They went on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers. One week after winning the WCW World Tag Team Title, Williams and Gordy won the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title, defeating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. Their NWA title win, however, went unrecognized by the NWA. They held onto both titles until September 1992, when they lost them to Rhodes and Windham. At Starrcade, Williams substituted for the injured Rick Rude to challenge Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but lost by disqualification. He left WCW shortly thereafter. During the 1990s, Williams continued to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling and became a main eventer for the company, making him one of the most successful foreign athletes in Japanese wrestling history. On July 28, 1994, he defeated Mitsuharu Misawa for the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, holding it for three months before dropping it to Toshiaki Kawada. He also sporadically wrestled in the U.S. on the independent circuit. That run was brought to an end during one of his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After defeating Axl Rotten in approximately 2 minutes, Williams had an impromptu ECW World Heavyweight Championship match, but lost after being pinned by then-champion Raven. The loss happened in February 1997 at Crossing the Line Again, thus ending his unpinned streak in North America, which lasted since March 26, 1987.

What other matches did he fight in?
They went on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers.