Show: The Piledriver courtesy of www.WrestlingEpicenter.com
Guest: “Dr. Death” Steve Williams
Date: 5/24/07
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley & Chad Perry
It has been a long, rocky road to getting the Epicenter back on track. But, we ARE back and we are back with the story of how “Dr. Death” became “Dr. Life!”
I think I speak for Patrick and Chad when I say this was perhaps the most inspiring interview we’ve ever had on the site. Doc is a class act. And, we want you to hear how much of an impact he made on us!
Check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com to listen! And, don’t forget to check out our store! Also, we have a HUGE guest to start out our new show, Hour Slam Wrestling, starting this FRIDAY! We’re talking mainstream TV superstar huge!
“DR. DEATH” STEVE WILLIAMS:
– The show opens up with the hosts welcoming Doc to the show. We first ask about his current health and he says he’s doing fine and talks about his work with OVW as a trainer. He praises Vince McMahon and Johnny Ace for giving him the job.
– He says that he doesn’t care if people didn’t like his book for not exposing more of the business and those people can “stick it where the sun don’t shine” He says that his book isn’t about his experiences with other people in the business, but rather a straight up experience about his fight with cancer. He then says its amazing how a lot of the fans trash wrestling but then go ahead and watch it every night its on.
– He says that Vince McMahon is a genius and the proof of that is in his angle with Donald Trump going into Wrestlemania 23.
– When talking about the decline in tag team wrestling, he would love to take a bunch of the young kids and form stables and tag teams with them like it was back in the old days.
– Doc then talks about how wrestling isn’t what it used to be and talks about how wrestling holds and submission holds will always get over and the high flying style will get people hurt.
– He then mentions that a lot of people have been asking him about steroids in wrestling and says everybody knows wrestlers and other pro athletes take steroids and it really isn’t a big deal to the fans.
– He says that wrestling back in his day was an art, and that is why he enjoys working matches occasionally. He says he doesn’t need a writer to do it for him, and he can make it work himself.
– Terry Gordy comes up next: “He was my best friend, my brother” He says he’s had a lot of great tag team partners, from Andre the Giant to Ted DiBiase, but his time with Terry Gordy was his favorite.
– In 2003 he worked some matches with Lance Storm and really enjoyed it. He says Storm was a great worker.
– The discussion then goes to other pro sports and he believes that UFC, Boxing, and Pro Football are not real.
– He refereed a few matches with the WWE and he really enjoyed it. Johnny Ace offered him the chance to do it and he loved getting back in that ring and he figured that wrestling will always be in his blood. He then talks about how much he loved that moment from the Raw Homecoming show where he walked out with the other legends. When asked if he’ll ever appear on TV again, he says “you may see me pop out of one of those cakes one of these days” He has fun working the indy shows and gets great responses from the crowd after what happened with his struggle with cancer.
– We then talk about the Brawl for All Tournament, which was created to get him over. He was knocked out in the first round by Bart Gunn, but he tells the story about what happened. He tore a hamstring during the match, and walked into the knockout punch deliberately. He worked with Bart Gunn in Japan again in a 15 minute match and says he took Gunn to school.
– When asked about Butterbean, he says that wrestling and boxing are two different worlds and if given the chance he’d try to take Butterbean down to the mat.
– He says that he was originally planned to have a run with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, but after the Brawl for All he took some time off and made a deal with a Japanese Promotion, which got him in trouble over hear in the states. He says that he never had a contract in Japan, and every promoter did him right.
– When asked about Bill Watts, he said that he did some things he didn’t like, but he ran a great show. He then talks about Watts and Harley Races’ indy shows and how great they are. He says that wrestling should be a more family based show and their shows allow that.
– It is at this point that Steve Williams talks about his experience with cancer and his conversion experience that led him to Jesus Christ. There are some good philosophical and theological questions brought up as well. This is a remarkable story and is probably the most uplifting story I’ve heard since doing interviews. This made the whole experience with Williams a very good one and its definitely worth a listen.
– When talking about other wrestlers that have found Christ, he says that he is close with Ted DiBiase and loves his work.
– The interview once gain takes a personal turn as Williams talks about his fight with cancer some more and offers the hosts some advice for life as well especially dealing with the topics of marriage and religion.
– Last up are the Word Association: Listen to Dr. Death’s reaction to Missy Hyatt, Hulk Hogan, Barry Windham, Ed Ferrera, Jim Ross, and Vince McMahon!
– He then says that he loves giving back to the business and ends the interview with a final blessing for the listeners.
