Dr. Death Steve Williams in the WWF

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Doc was being repackaged as a Lord Tensai type gimmick complete with a mask. No f***ing way he was on the verge of a push in 99.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

I'm pretty sure there are still Dr. Death figures warming pegs in Walmart.

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Jan 20, 2019 3:29:45 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Doc was being repackaged as a Lord Tensai type gimmick complete with a mask. No f***ing way he was on the verge of a push in 99.

He probably wasn't claiming he was going to get a big push in '99, just that his aborted push in '98 had ideas that were later used for Triple H the following year i.e. beating up JR to get heat during a potential feud against Austin.

I don't think he literally meant "I was going to be The Game, I was going to lead DX and marry Stephanie McMahon"....

[Squirrel Master]

The live promo Jim Ross did where he was digusted by the proposed Noh mask was pretty surreal. You could tell that Ross was fed up with Vince blocking all of his ideas. Steve Williams had the goods but he sufferered from the J.R. stink on him before he even stepped foot in the WWF locker room.

[nickcave]

I will say when I was really young I wasn't allowed to watch WWF tv but I could play the video games for some reason and I just assumed Dr. Death was a big deal because he had a cool name and theme in WWF Attitude haha and then finding out later his run was basically a joke was a little deflating.

[crashmatsbazz]

Ki-bu-kai mask.
Hearing JR say that always makes me laugh.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jan 20, 2019 15:32:12 GMT -5 nickcave said:

I will say when I was really young I wasn't allowed to watch WWF tv but I could play the video games for some reason and I just assumed Dr. Death was a big deal because he had a cool name and theme in WWF Attitude haha and then finding out later his run was basically a joke was a little deflating.

It wasn’t even HIS theme, it was Dan Severn’s.

[auph10imitated]

I dont doubt it wasnt talked about, maybe in early 1999. Its not totally out of the question that following the bust of the Brawl for All they still had plans to push him against Austin, so it may have been discussed during his return with JR to start building him up for the summer, it just never got out the gates for many reasons, age (49) injuries, the JR angle was bombing, he just wasnt getting over, the fact they never set anything in stone that far ahead in 1999.

At the end of the day, plans will always be talked about, Vince will always give people the spin as well.

[Deleted]

That’s the rumor that I’ve always heard, usually in conjunction with a rumor of Bart Gunn being punished and ultimately released due to blowing the WWF’s plans. I’ve never really bought that, though. Doc was already 38 by that point and he was a true throwback. He was borderline nonexistent on the microphone and his gimmick was that he was a big, tough, country hoss. I just don’t see how that was ever going to fit in in attitude era WWF. Maybe it would have if given a chance, I don’t know. But, to me, Doc’s heyday in American wrestling was always going to be in early-90s WCW where he had some pretty great, underrated matches.

[Deleted]

If Dr. Death had gotten an angle with Austin of any sort, you KNOW the gimmick would've involved the rights to their names....

[Venti]

Add me to the list of people who only knew him from the WWF Attitude game(slightly too young to remember 1998)

Thought he was a huge deal because of his name and the fact that his COM kicked my ass when I faced him.
For what it's worth, he had one of the coolest themes in the game that I always used for my CAW(even though it wasn't even his theme lol)

[agent817]

I got into wrestling during the spring of 1998 and I mostly remember Steve Williams appearing in those Brawl 4 All segments. He had a cool name and he looked rugged as hell, but I never knew about the rumors of him feuding with Steve Austin until MUCH later. Even looking back and having actually read that he was big in Japan and over in other promotions, he just didn't stand out in the Attitude Era. Austin was RED HOT during that time, and Williams didn't really have the look of a main eventer, or at least someone at the caliber of, say, Undertaker or Kane. I mean, seriously, being that Brawl 4 All was a shoot, if, and I MEAN IF he had won that tournament, what was next for him? Vince would recruit him as part of his Corporate regime (Pre-Corporation stable, I mean, and I meant during the time when even Dude Love was corporate). I mean when Bossman returned, he feuded with Austin because he became one of Vince's mercs before forming The Corporation, but even that didn't last because he remained in the mid-card after that.

[dbostick]

What was supposed to be the name of that one shot martial arts character? Kabuki Joe?

[willywonka666]

Looking back, I understand now that barring injury, there was no way Triple H and Austin weren't going over a veteran like Dr. Death, no matter how much of a badass he was-it truly was their time.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Jan 24, 2019 9:53:33 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

Looking back, I understand now that barring injury, there was no way Triple H and Austin weren't going over a veteran like Dr. Death, no matter how much of a badass he was-it truly was their time.

They weren't going to listen to anybody telling them who and what to be.

[Squirrel Master]

Steve's Oklahoma Stampede would not have been a protected move in WWF.
Dr. Death would get that slam in only after the bell on the house show circuit. I see all the WWF guys pinning him for 1-2-3, because of his status as former UWF Champion.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jan 24, 2019 19:20:14 GMT -5 Squirrel Master said:

Steve's Oklahoma Stampede would not have been a protected move in WWF.
Dr. Death would get that slam in only after the bell on the house show circuit. I see all the WWF guys pinning him for 1-2-3, because of his status as former UWF Champion.

I really doubt being a former UWF champion would make a bit of difference in 1998.

[thetower52]

youtu.be/m0WLJY9L_dw

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

He seemed out of place and honestly thinking about it he would look out of place in the New Generation too, unless they took the Dr. Death name more literally

[Mozenrath]

Jan 25, 2019 3:06:12 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Jan 24, 2019 19:20:14 GMT -5 Squirrel Master said:

Steve's Oklahoma Stampede would not have been a protected move in WWF.
Dr. Death would get that slam in only after the bell on the house show circuit. I see all the WWF guys pinning him for 1-2-3, because of his status as former UWF Champion.

I really doubt being a former UWF champion would make a bit of difference in 1998.

Hell, the Road Warriors were some of the biggest names in wrestling history, arguably, and by '98, they were as Foley put it, "A locker room punchline."

Wrestling has limited patience for the "used to be" types now, but it had ZERO time for them in the late 90s.