Steve Williams

Williams joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1987 and 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 WCW United States Tag Team Championship at Starrcade. They feuded with The Road Warriors, and he and Mike Rotunda won the WCW World Tag Team Championship in the process.

In May 1989, Williams and Rotunda were stripped of the titles, 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 WCW 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 WCW World Heavyweight Championship, suffered a legitimate knee injury, Luger turned face and was moved from the United States Title match to the World Title match in Sting's place. Williams soon 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. Williams and Gordy also won the vacant WCW World Tag Team Titles, defeating Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. They held onto the titles until September 1992, when they lost them back 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.

In 1997, Williams joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After defeating Axl Rotten in approximately two 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.

In May 1998, Williams was signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) prior to the Brawl for All competition, which was set up in legitimate fights. Before entering the Brawl for All, he had only one in-ring match with the WWF, which was against 2 Cold Scorpio on a *WWF Shotgun* taping dark match on April 28, 1998. On the July 20, 1998 edition of *Raw is War*, Williams entered the Brawl for All tournament, making his first WWF television appearance. He was expected to win it due to his reputation as one of the toughest men in the wrestling business. However, after beating Pierre Carl Ouellet in the first round, he faced Bart Gunn in the second round and suffered a torn hamstring. Gunn then knocked out Williams, who missed several months following the injury. Upon healing in January 1999, Williams would work dark matches on *Heat*, *Shotgun*, and *Raw is War* tapings, mainly against Bob Holly.

Williams was involved in a brief angle where he was managed by Jim Ross in early 1999 before Williams was released. During his time with Ross, he would attack people with suplexes, debuting on the February 22, 1999 edition of *Raw is War* as the masked man who threw Bart Gunn off a stage during a match. This story was played-off on WWF television as Williams getting revenge against Gunn for his Brawl for All loss. Afterwards, Williams was involved in two midcard storylines, one where he was pursuing the WWF Hardcore Championship from Hardcore Holly, and another where he sought revenge on Tiger Ali Singh for making fun of Ross on live television. Williams was released in mid-April 1999. He was scheduled to compete against Al Snow and Hardcore Holly at Backlash: In Your House for the WWF Hardcore Championship, but he did not appear due to his release.

In November 1999, Williams appeared briefly in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) again, with Oklahoma as his manager in a feud with Vampiro.

Williams wrestled a couple of matches for WWE in 2003 against Lance Storm.

Williams made an appearance at a *SmackDown!* brand house show on March 11, 2006, in Alexandria, Louisiana. He also made an appearance at the August 30 *Raw* house show, during which he addressed the crowd.

On December 29, 2009, Williams passed away.

On April 6, 2021, Williams was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of its Legacy wing.