Douglas Williams

###

Reading, England,
United Kingdom

**Douglas Clayton Durdle** (born 1 September 1972) is an English professional wrestler, better known by his ring name **Doug Williams**. He is best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was a one–time Television Champion, two–time X Division Champion and a two-time tag team champion, having held the TNA World Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship once each as part of The British Invasion. He also worked as a trainer for TNA's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he was a one-time OVW Heavyweight Champion. Throughout his career, Williams has also worked in various independent promotions in the United Kingdom and abroad, including the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), One Pro Wrestling (1PW), Pro Wrestling Noah and Ring of Honor (ROH).

## Professional wrestling career

### Early career

Williams studied judo from the age of 11, using this as his background he began training to become a professional wrestler at the age of 16. At 19 Williams started working with NWA UK Hammerlock and became an active member of the roster during the mid-1990s, before moving on to FWA in 2001.

While competing in FWA's King of England tournament, Williams wrestled and won a match against Eddie Guerrero. Williams would also go on to become the promotion's top champion on two occasions. Williams wrestled against Martin Stone in the main event of the promotion's comeback show "New Frontiers" in August 2009, and has since become embroiled in the ongoing feud between Stone's faction "The Agenda" and the FWA Resistance.

By 2004, Williams would begin touring with Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan where he would become a Global Honored Crown Tag Team Champion with Scorpio.

Williams continued to win many foreign and local championships, even defeating "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson in the final of a tournament in Rethel, France on 6 May 2005 to become the first International Catch Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion.

While World Wrestling Entertainment was touring England in November 2006, Williams made a dark match appearance in a losing effort to Carlito.

Williams would also appear occasionally on television throughout 2007 and 2008 with British wrestling promotions whilst working with TNA, due to the ruling their contracted wrestlers can appear in independent promotions that aren't televised in the USA.

### Ring of Honor (2002–2007, 2015)

Williams went on a tour around the United States on several occasions making notable appearances in Ring of Honor over the course of several years. He debuted for the promotion on 22 June 2002, defeating American Dragon. This victory earned Doug a shot at the ROH World Championship on 27 July 2002, which was fought under ironman rules in a four way contest, which also featured Christopher Daniels, Low Ki and Spanky.

His return to Ring of Honor saw Williams regain the FWA British Heavyweight Championship from Christopher Daniels, on 22 March 2003, before unsuccessfully challenging Samoa Joe for the ROH World Championship on 26 April 2003. On 19 July 2003, Reckless Youth defeated Doug Williams in a pure wrestling challenge.

After another stint away, Williams returned on 14 February 2004 to defeat Chris Sabin in the pure wrestling tournament, but was later knocked out by CM Punk. On 17 July, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Williams defeated Jay Lethal, Nigel McGuinness and John Walters, to qualify for the Pure Wrestling final. The final was contested later that evening, and saw Williams defeat Alex Shelley to capture the Pure Wrestling Championship. Williams had two successful defences of the Pure Wrestling Championship, defeating Shelley in a rematch on 23 July, and Austin Aries the following day. He would go on to lose the title to John Walters on 28 August.

On 11 September, Williams had another unsuccessful shot at the World Championship, which was also against Samoa Joe. On 13 May 2005, Williams once again wrestled in ROH when he teamed with Colt Cabana to defeat the team of Nigel McGuiness and Chad Collyer, before losing to Homicide the next day.

During ROH's tour of the United Kingdom in August 2006, Williams teamed with Jody Fleisch as "Team UK", defeating "Team Noah" (SUWA and Go Shiozaki). The second show of the tour took place in Broxbourne and saw Williams defeat Jimmy Rave.

Williams' last appearances in ROH were in 2007. On 13 April, Williams teamed with regular partner Nigel McGuinness to face then-World Champion Takeshi Morishima and Chris Hero in a tag team match. McGuinness pinned Hero to win the match for his team. The next night at Fighting Spirit on 14 April, Doug made it two for two by defeating Colt Cabana with his Chaos Theory finisher.

In November 2015, Williams was booked as part of a series of "Supershow" cross-promotion events between Preston City Wrestling and ROH in Preston, England. Williams was victorious against Silas Young on the first night but unsuccessful the second night in a match against Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship.

### Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Williams wrestled James Storm on 26 March 2003 during *TNA Xplosion*. It was not until Williams was confirmed to have signed a contract with TNA Wrestling from 12 June 2008 that he became part of their roster to take part in TNA Wrestling's World X Cup.

Williams was part of TNA's UK tour, wrestling in all four shows. On 12 June 2008, in Liverpool, Williams teamed with Gail Kim, though they fell short in defeat to the team of Awesome Kong and "Cowboy" James Storm. On 13, 14 and 15 June, TNA held a second show in Liverpool, along with others in Coventry and Brentwood. Doug also wrestled on these shows, with multiple 3 Way Dances against Jay Lethal and A.J. Styles. Styles was victorious on all three occasions.

Williams represented Team International during the 2008 World X Cup tournament, where he defeated Team Japan's Masato Yoshino in his *Impact!* debut on 10 July 2008. He then wrestled in a 12-Man World X Cup elimination contest, at Victory Road. Williams returned to TNA at Turning Point where he competed in a X Division seeding match. He eliminated Jimmy Rave from the ten-man match, but in the end the eventual winner Eric Young eliminated him placing him third in the X Division rankings. Williams competed on TNA's 2009 Maximum Impact Tour in X Division matches.

Williams re-appeared on TNA television on 30 April 2009, episode of *Impact!*, as a member ofThe British Invasion faction, along with Brutus Magnus and Rob Terry. The British Invasion got to the final of the Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament but lost to Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) at Sacrifice. In the dark match of Slammiversary, the British Invasion defeated Rhino and Eric Young. Later that evening, they interfered in the TNA World Tag Title match. At Victory Road, Team 3D retained their IWGP World Tag Team Titles against the British Invasion. On 25 July episode of Impact!, the British Invasion, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi defeated the TNA Originals after Eric Young turned on his team. After the match, Young, the British Invasion, Bashir and Kiyoshi formed World Elite. On 30 July episode of *Impact!*, Williams and Magnus won the IWGP Tag Team Championship by defeating Team 3D in a Tables match. However, New Japan Pro Wrestling would state that they still recognised Team 3D as the official champions since TNA did not have proper sanction to make the title change. On 10 August 2009, NJPW formally recognised the title switch. At Bound for Glory the British Invasion lost the IWGP Tag Team Titles back to Team 3D.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Bomb Scare* (Independent circuit) / *Bombs Away* (TNA) (Diving knee drop)
	+ *Chaos Theory* (Waist-lock backward roll transitioned into a bridging German suplex)
	+ Guillotine choke – 2010
	+ *Revolution DDT* (Diving tornado DDT)
* **Signature moves**
	+ *Anarchy Knee* (Running high knee)
	+ *British Figure Four Leglock* (Reverse figure four leglock)
	+ Cravate, sometimes followed by multiple knee lifts to the opponent's head
	+ European uppercut, sometimes from the top rope
	+ Inverted Gory special
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Double underhook, sometimes from the top rope
		- Exploder
		- Gutwrench
		- Northern Lights
		- Snap
		- Snap followed by a gutwrench followed by an exploder
	+ Push-up facebuster
* **With Brutus Magnus**
	+ **Double team finishing moves**
		- Bearhug (Magnus) / Diving European uppercut (Williams) combination
	+ **Double team signature moves**
		- Double straight jacket neckbreaker
		- Running arched big boot (Magnus) / German suplex (Williams) combination
* **Managers**
	+ Rob Terry
	+ Ric Flair
* **Nicknames**
	+ "The Anarchist"
	+ "The Human Torture Device"
	+ "The Finest Thing in Life"
	+ **"The International Ambassador of British Wrestling"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Anarchy In The UK" by Citizen Smith (Independent circuit)
	+ "Song 2" by Blur (Independent circuit)
	+ "Made in Britain" by Rusty Music (Independent circuit)
	+ "The British Invasion" by Dale Oliver (TNA; Used while a part of The British Invasion)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **3 Count Wrestling**
	+ 3CW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **4 Front Wrestling**
	+ 4FW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **All Star Wrestling**
	+ ASW British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ ASW Middle Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ ASW People's Championship (1 time)
* **Athletik Club Wrestling**
	+ ACW German Championship (1 time)
	+ ACW World Wrestling Championship (1 time)
* **New Generation Wrestling**
	+ Destiny Rumble (2016)
* **European Wrestling Association**
	+ EWA Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
* **European Wrestling Promotion**
	+ EWP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
	+ EWP Submission Shoot Championship (1 time)
* **Frontier Wrestling Alliance**
	+ FWA British Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
	+ FWA British Heavyweight Championship Tournament (2001)
* **German Wrestling Promotion**
	+ GWP WrestlingCorner Championship (2 times)
* **International Catch Wrestling Alliance**
	+ ICWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Maximum Wrestling**
	+ Maximum Rumble (2016)
* **NWA UK Hammerlock**
	+ King of the Ring (1998)
	+ Survivor Series Tournament (1996, 1997)
* **Ohio Valley Wrestling**
	+ OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Power of Wrestling**
	+ POW Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
	+ POW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Dave Mastiff
* **Premier Wrestling Federation**
	+ PWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ PWF Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ Worthing Trophy (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2014)
	+ Wrestler of the Year (2002–2004, 2006, 2007)
* **Preston City Wrestling**
	+ PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Pro Wrestling Illustrated**
	+ PWI ranked him #**45** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010
* **Pro Wrestling Noah**
	+ GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scorpio
* **Pro Wrestling Pride**
	+ Pride Catch Division Championship (1 time)
* **Revolution British Wrestling**
	+ One Night Tournament (2005)
* **Ring of Honor**
	+ ROH Pure Championship (1 time)
	+ ROH Pure Championship Tournament (2004)
* **Rings of Europe**
	+ Thermencup (2005)
* **Scottish Wrestling Alliance**
	+ SWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Total Nonstop Action Wrestling**
	+ TNA Television Championship (1 time)
	+ TNA X Division Championship (2 times)
	+ TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brutus Magnus
	+ IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brutus Magnus
	+ Feast or Fired (2009 – X Division Championship contract)1
* **The Wrestling Alliance**
	+ Universal British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ TWA British Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
	+ TWA European Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ TWA British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Robbie Brookside
* **TopCatch**
	+ TopCatch Europameisterschaft Championship (1 time, current)
* **Triple X Wrestling**
	+ TXW Crush Championship (1 time)
* **Ultimate Wrestling Alliance**
	+ UWA Championship (1 time)
* **westside Xtreme wrestling**
	+ wXw Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Martin Stone
	+ Trios Tournament (2006) – with Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
* **X Wrestling Alliance**
	+ XWA Frontier Sports Championship (1 time, current)

1Forcibly given to him by teammate Rob Terry.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 Doug Williams Profile . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
2. ↑ TNA Today (Sept 24) With Douglas Williams and His New Role in TNA Wrestling . *Total Nonstop Action Wrestling*. YouTube (2012-09-24). Retrieved on 2013-02-14.
3. ↑ Martin, Adam 2006-11-13. Dark Match and ECW on Sci Fi TV Tapings in Manchester, England . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-08-06.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Road to the Title- Philadelphia, PA 6/22/02 . Ring of Honor (2002-06-22). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
5. ↑ Crowning a Champion- Philadelphia, PA 7/27/02 . Ring of Honor (2002-07-21). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
6. ↑ Night of the Champions- Philadelphia, PA 3/22/03 . Ring of Honor (2002-03-22). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
7. ↑ Round Robin Challenge II- West Mifflin, PA 4/26/03 . Ring of Honor (2003-04-26). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
8. ↑ Death Before Dishonor- Elizabeth, NJ 7/19/03 . Ring of Honor (2003-07-19). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
9. ↑ Second Anniversary Show- Braintree, MA 2/14/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-02-14). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 ROH Reborn: Completion- Elizabeth, NJ 7/17/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-07-17). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Ring of Honor Pure Championship . Ring of Honor. Retrieved on 2010-04-05.
12. ↑ Death Before Dishonor II Part 1- Wauwatosa, WI 7/23/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-07-23). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
13. ↑ Death Before Dishonor II Part 2- Chicago Ridge, IL 7/24/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-07-24). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
14. ↑ Scramble Cage Melee- Braintree, MA 8/28/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-08-28). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
15. ↑ Glory By Honor III- Elizabeth, NJ 9/11/04 . Ring of Honor (2004-09-11). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
16. ↑ Final Showdown- Dayton, OH 5/13/05 . Ring of Honor (2005-05-13). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
17. ↑ Nowhere To Run- Chicago Ridge, IL 5/14/05 . Ring of Honor (2005-05-14). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
18. ↑ Anarchy in the UK- Broxburne, United Kingdom 8/13/06 . Ring of Honor (2006-08-13). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
19. ↑ This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07 . Ring of Honor (2007-04-13). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
20. ↑ Fighting Spirit- Edison, NJ 4/14/07 . Ring of Honor (2007-04-14). Retrieved on 2012-04-07.
21. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. Matches « Doug Williams « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database .
22. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on 2009-01-12. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.
23. ↑ Will Benson 2008-06-12. Exclusive: UK Star Signs TNA Contract, World X Cup News . *Wrestlezone*.
24. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on 2008-06-28. Retrieved on 2008-07-20.
25. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on 2008-06-28. Retrieved on 2008-07-20.
26. ↑ Sokol, Chris 2008-07-11. Impact: Last stop to Victory Road . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
27. ↑ Kapur, Bob 2008-07-13. Main event mars Victory Road . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
28. ↑ Sokol, Chris 2008-11-10. Turning Point: Mafia gains momentum . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
29. ↑ Sokol, Chris 2008-11-10. Turning Point: Mafia gains momentum . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2010-03-23.
30. ↑ Sokol, Chris 2009-07-31. Impact: Two titles changes on 200th episode . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2009-07-31.
31. ↑ In regard to the IWGP Tag Team Championship (IWGPタッグ王座に関して) . *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2009-08-05.
32. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-08-05. New Japan on title change in TNA . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-12-17.
33. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-08-10. New Japan changes stance on tag titles . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-12-17.
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Doug Williams « Wrestler-Datenbank « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2016-04-28.
35. ↑ TNA Impact TV report 5.14 . Wrestling Observer. Retrieved on 2009-09-08.
36. ↑ Douglas Williams . *Total Nonstop Action Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2012-10-11.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Keller, Wade 2010-04-05. TNA Impact Results 4/5: Keller's ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Hulk Hogan, Beautiful People, Lockdown hype . *PWTorch*. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Caldwell, James 2010-06-13. Caldwell's TNA Slammiversary results 6/13: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – RVD vs. Sting, Hardy & Anderson, "nice surprise" . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2010-06-19.
39. ↑ Wilkenfeld, Daniel 2011-01-06. Wilkenfeld's TNA Impact report 1/6: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2011-01-06.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 9/3: Ongoing (not quite) "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast . PWTorch. Retrieved on 2009-09-21.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 ROH – Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 1, July 23, 2004, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin . 411Mania. Retrieved on 2009-09-21.
42. ↑ Harrison, Randy 2009-04-30. 411's TNA Impact Report 04.30.09 . 411mania.com. Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
43. ↑ Lansdell, Chris 2009-10-09. 411's TNA Impact Report 09.10.09 . 411mania.com. Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
44. ↑ Lansdell, Chris 2009-11-15. 411's TNA Turning Point Report 11.15.09 . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
45. ↑ Doug Williams (@DougWilliamsUK) | Twitter .
46. ↑ Wrestler Entrance Music . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2009-12-28.
47. ↑ Doug Williams . Big Time Wrestling. Retrieved on 2010-01-10.
48. ↑ Emergence . *Total Nonstop Action Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2009-11-13.
49. ↑ 3 Count Wrestling Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
50. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. 4FW Heavyweight Championship .
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 Cagematch title listing . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2010-02-19.
52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 World Heavy-Middleweight Title (U.K.) . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2010-02-19.
53. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. ACW German Championship .
54. ↑ Independent Wrestling Results – December 2003 . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
55. ↑ Athletik Club Wrestling Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
56. ↑ #Results: NGW (@NGWrestlingUK) "Destiny" \*FULL Results\* . *Hashtag Wrestling*.
57. ↑ European Wrestling Association Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
58. ↑ European Wrestling Promotion Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
59. ↑ X Wrestling Alliance Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
60. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. FWA British Heavyweight Championship Tournament .
61. ↑ German Wrestling Promotion Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
62. ↑ International Catch Wrestling Association Title Histories . titlehistories.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
63. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=150864
64. ↑ Van Drisse, Trent 2013-02-01. OVW TV report . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2013-02-02.
65. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. POW Intercontinental Championship .
66. ↑ Power Of Wrestling
67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Premier Wrestling Federation Champions & Most Recent Championship Matches . *Premier Promotions*. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
68. ↑ Independent Wrestling Results – August 2003 . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
69. ↑ Independent Wrestling Results – September 2004 . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
70. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. Worthing Trophy 2003 .
71. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. Worthing Trophy 2004 .
72. ↑ Wrestlers of the Year . *Premier Promotions*. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
73. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. Worthing Trophy 2014 .
74. ↑ "PWI 500": 1–100 . *Pro Wrestling Illustrated* (2010-07-30). Retrieved on 2010-07-31.
75. ↑ "PrideCatch": 1–100 . CageMatch (2015-08-02). Retrieved on 2015-08-04.
76. ↑ One Night Tournament . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2010-02-19.
77. ↑ Thermencup 2005 . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2010-02-19.
78. ↑ New SWA Zero 1 Heavyweight Champion -... - Scottish Wrestling Alliance - Facebook .
79. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. Scottish Heavyweight Championship .
80. ↑ Caldwell, James 2010-12-05. Caldwell's TNA Final Resolution PPV results 12/5: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV – Hardy vs. Morgan II, several title and stipulation matches . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2010-12-05.
81. ↑ Independent Wrestling Results – January 2002 . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
82. ↑ Trios Tournament . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2010-02-19.
83. ↑ https://wrestleropesuk.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/xwa-wrestling-the-summer-supershow-full-results/