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John Layfield

I hated to hear the news about my good friend, Dr Death Steve Williams. I really looked up to Steve and had some terrific times with him. He was the consumate pro at everything he did. A true man.

Another great one has left us from the wrestling industry and it is very sad to see how many have died so young. The lifestyle of a professional wrestler is a brutal lifestyle, especially when I broke in. There was no safety net for injuries, if you got hurt you didn't get paid if you didn't work. I can remember breaking ribs and working for the next 3 months straight, because I didn't have the money not to work. I can remember sitting in a locker room scared to take pain pills because of so many addictions and drinking Jack Daniels to numb the pain instead-before the match. This was before I made it to WWE. I wrestled with nearly every injury you can have including a broken back.

However, I also played two college football games on a broken leg. My group of guys like Steve Williams knew only one speed and that was full bore wide open.

Steve's death most likely had nothing to do with the lifestyle, but I have never seen a profession that so many die young. It is unbelievable how many have died before 50.

I am proud of WWE and TNA for drug testing, especially WWE for such a comprehensive test. I can't comment on TNA because I don't know the specifics. I also am proud of WWE for concussion testing, there is no telling what so many unprotected chair shots to my head have done to my brain-but hey, I wasn't too smart to begin with. I figure in my life I have taken over 50,000 "bumps", and I don't think the human body was meant to do that. But I don't regret one bit of it, in fact, I loved it.

Pills are what has killed these guys-again, not what killed Steve, that was cancer. But everyone that has died young has had a pill problem, they just damage the heart after some time. It is not pot or alcohol, it is pills. And pills were everywhere when I started, both football and wrestling-it was the lifestyle and no one knew how bad they were or how addictive. I never got into pills thank goodness, because I could see how addictive they were. The vice I had was alcohol, and fortunately I have been without a drink for some time and my future won't involve drinking either-not to pat myself on the back but to say I had my demons as well.

Life on the road is boring for anyone, and nearly everyone had somet vice they used to pass the time.

Cocaine has its victims but pills are what is killing these guys. And it is from my generation.

Too many of these quack doctors will write a script for anything, these guys have to be accountable as well.

The circle of friends Steve and I had are almost all gone, and I am only 43-how bad is that? Stan Hansen remains, another friend I admire.

I don't like sports entertainment, I like wrestling. But I do like the fact that wrestling has been getting cleaned up, whether out of necessity or any other reason I don't care. The sports entertainment world is something I certainly don't fit in any more, we both changed and both for the better-I hate the sterile corporate atmosphere. But my generation doesn't deserve to hold on anymore, our atmosphere was the problem that cause so many to not lived to see 50.

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Steve ‘Dr. Death’ Williams…the bell tolls… December 30, 2009…

Another ‘stud’ has transitioned to be with God in Christ… and one thing ‘I know for sure’…

Jesus Christ is Steve’s Hero… so he no longer is having to fight the cancer… Steve right now is in Heaven’s rest…forever… and he was met there by His Savior…Jesus Christ…

He fought that fight against cancer…like Doc fought everything that challenged him… with the heart of a champion… and he thought he had overcome it…when he went back to MD Anderson at the 5 year anniversary for what he felt would be ‘his last check-up’ that would pronounce him cancer-free…but instead was told…’it was back’…

And he set out to ‘beat it again’… he so wanted to live for his son…

Scandar Akbar called to tell me he was just with Doc two weeks ago back east… and Ann from WWE also called…and she saw him there too…

There is to be a ‘reunion’ of the wrestlers from the Golden Years at OU…on Jan. 22nd… and Doc would have loved that… he will be missed…

At my age… it seems like we are losing so many of our peers… but to hear of one ‘younger transitioning’ is really sad…

Yes…knowing Doc is with the Lord… is to know in Christ we have victory over death…but still we mourn his passing…

I remember when he was a freshman at OU…and my good friend…Stan Abel… his wrestling coach there…called me and said…you must get down here and meet Steve…he will be a fabulous ‘professional wrestler’ once he has finished his eligibility here at OU…

And …he ‘ALREADY’ has ‘the name’… of ‘Dr. Death’…

He was named by his teammates and classmates in high school in Colorado…when he was wrestling…and had broken his nose…so wore a ‘hockey mask’…and they started calling him Dr. Death…

He also played football for Barry Switzer’s OU Sooners…and made the All-Big Eight team as a guard… and later played in the World Football League professionally in NJ.

But as an amateur wrestler at OU…he was a 4 time All-American!

I saw him compete at the NCAA Championships in Iowa his senior year… (He had injured his sternum in the Nebraska game in football…so was limited in his workouts that wrestling season)… but he beat the reigning and returning Heavyweight Champion…Banack in the semi-finals…and was ‘out-pointed’ by Baumgardner in the finals… (Baumgardner went on to become an Olympic Champion too…and had a long and illustrious amateur wrestling career)…while Doc went ‘pro’ in both football….and then in wrestling…breaking-in as my protégé in Mid-South Wrestling…

Another amateur wrestling memory…Doc had played with the Sooner football team at a ‘Bowl Game’…and flown right into Baton Rouge for a wrestling match against LSU…

Now ‘wrestling shape’ and ‘football shape’ are two completely different things… and being in great wrestling shape is much more demanding…especially in just the constant ‘gripping’ of your opponent…those muscles wear out so fast… plus the aerobics …as there ‘is no time between plays…

I was there that night…and figured ‘Doc’ would just do ‘as good as he could’…for the team…since he was NOT in wrestling shape…

But Doc toughed it out against a good Heavyweight…and beat him! And that impressed me…

His career in ‘the pro-wrestling business’ is legendary…

But…his heart too was as big as he is… and he even saved his friend…Bam-Bam Terry Gordy…once in Japan…when Bam-Bam was overdosing on some substance…and he even got Bam-Bam into the gym…and working out…and helped motivate him to fight his substance abuse problems for a time… Doc would ‘give of himself’…

My last time with him at OU was when we presented him with a plaque on the 50 yard line of an OU-Missouri football game…and Barry Switzer loved it…he was a true friend to his players too…(I’ll try to attach one of the pictures we took that day)…

Now…life is a ‘series of snap-shots’…as ‘we make this journey’… and Doc was ‘brought to the Lord’…and confessed Jesus Christ as His Savior! And he loves Christ… and his faith was strong…and so encouraged so many…

And when he first ‘got sick’…he trusted God in that challenge too…

That measures Doc in what is truly the most important way…his faith… He is now in the Hall-of-Faith in Heaven…and already reunited with his dad…and those he loved who preceded him…

***Just got a call from Doc’s brother Jeff…and here are the details…

Doc’s ‘opening in his throat’ had increased to where it was about an inch and a half… so Jeff said you could ‘see inside his throat’… and the doctors had told him…that it was so close to major arteries and organs…that ‘it could happen at anytime’… and that if a major artery ruptured…the bleeding could be difficult to control…or get under control in time…

Apparently about 1 AM…he was bleeding…and trying to ‘clear his throat’ so he ‘could breathe’… he was suffocating…

He came into his mother’s room…she is now 87 years old… and she called 911 on her neck monitor… and Doc fainted…

The emergency medical team resuscitated him three times… but the third time ‘his heart gave out’… (He was such a fighter!)

His son…Wyndom Carlton Williams…was spared seeing this…because he was spending the night with a friend…and there was nothing this 17-year-old boy could have done… He so loves his dad…they were so close…

Jeff… is naturally really shook-up…as he and Steve were so close too… and said he would let me know as soon as the arrangements are made for the funeral…

He too rejoices that Steve is with the Lord right now…

He said Steve wanted to be cremated…and his ashes scattered in the Rocky Mountains where his father’s ashes were scattered…

And now my friends… I too will close this letter… and spend some time with my Lord praising Him for ‘making provision’ for all of us who will but accept Him… that we do NOT die as in some void…but it is a ‘transition’ to be with Jesus…

I do NOT fully understand or grasp God’s perfect timing…but this ‘I trust’…that ‘His timing is perfect’… and Heaven is such a ‘better place’… and my dear friend Steve is there now…

Rom 8:1

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

NASB

John 3:16-18

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

NASB

As the apostle Paul wrote:

Phil 1:21-23 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.

But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

NASB

Phil 3:20-21

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

NASB

As our ‘being baptized symbolizes’ our dying to this life and resurrecting with Christ to Heaven’s rest…

Rom 6:8-10

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

NASB

Matt 6:19-21

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

NASB

Ps 118:24

24 This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

NASB

Let each of us now take this time to tell those we love of our heart for them… because we never know when they too will be called…

In Him… saved by His merciful grace…

Bill Watts

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Thoughts of a friend named Dr. Death
Fri, 01/01/2010 - 12:12pm — J.R.

Since Steve "Dr. Death Williams passed away earlier this week I have not addressed the matter until now. Losing Steve, which came as no major surprise knowing how sick he was in the final days of his life, has affected me in ways that words cannot adequately describe.

I grew up an only child and somehow from a rural, eastern Oklahoma background made my way into the unique and challenge business of professional wrestling.

Then in the late 70's, I inherited a "younger brother" by the name of Doctor Death. That began a 30+ year relationship that was challenged at times but it never failed us because of the foundation upon which it was constructed.

Like Steve, that foundation was rock solid, strong, and seemingly indestructible.

OU wrestling coach Stan Abel called his boyhood friend Cowboy Bill Watts in the late 70's about Stan's starting heavyweight aptly nicknamed "Dr. Death" and told him that Doc was "born to be a pro wrestler." Cowboy wasted no time in making the contact with Steve and their relationship began with Bill the mentor and Steve the student. (Cowboy would provide Doc with ample doses of "tough love" that a lesser man would never have been able to survive.)

I was always in awe of Doc as I had never seen a man of his size, he was 330 when he first signed with Watts while still a student at OU, with the quickness, flexibility and reflexes of this powerhouse. Obviously, Doc's strength was remarkable as he was a 500 pound bench presser and had to ability to do leg presses with all the weights that were able to fit on the machine in the OU weight room.

Heck, I remember Doc military pressing 300 pound Terry Gordy several times inside a cage extending his arms so that Bam Bam's back was touching the back of the cage.

However, as strong as Doc was, as quick as he was, and as generally athletic as he was, he had a heart of gold and was blessed with a kind, gentle spirit and a loving heart.

These are rare traits in a business not known for its tender side.

Doc formed an amazing team with a young Ted DiBiase who would go on to become the "Million Dollar Man." This team complimented each other amazingly well was Teddy could talk, had great crowd psychology and knew how to utilize Doc has Teddy's "stopper." There is not a tag team in the business today that could not improve their skills by studying Doc and DiBiase's in ring work.

Of course, Doc's most physically dominating tag partner was Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy of Freebird fame. These two were absolute beasts as a team and are arguably one of the top, small handful of tag teams of all time. I worked diligently to help bring these two men to WCW back in the day and the moment that they walked in the locker room business picked up in the tag team world.

WWE owns all the WCW footage and perhaps some day you will be able to see just how dominating and marketable Doc and Bam Bam were during their WCW run. Japanese fans and fans of Japanese wrestling certainly know.

Prior to coming to WCW, the Dr. Death vs. One man Gang bouts I had the privilege of calling plus Doc's UWF Title win in OKC over Big Bubba Rogers aka The Big Bossman were classics. Doc vs. Big Bubba for Bubba's UWF Title was a "clinic" and if you are a fan of the wrestling business that emphasized in ring performances and athleticism over sizzle then you should find this match and enjoy it.

When I brought Doc to WWE, I saw him as being toward the end of his physical peak period but with enough fuel to do big business with Steve Austin. Doc would need a mouthpiece but once the bell rung I always felt that the physicality and athleticism of the two "Steve Williams" would be spectacularly "Old School" and do nothing but draw money.

We never got there due to the ill fated and poorly conceived "Brawl for it All" which saw Doc lose to a very tough Bart Gunn after Doc continued to fight after tearing the quadriceps (thigh muscle) off the bone. Folk lore has it that as the head of talent that I "penalized" Bart Gunn for him simply doing his job and disposing of his opponent, in this case Doc, which is so ridiculous that it's laughable. Bart's creative burial was not a talent relations issue.

Doc never really recovered from the "Brawl for it All" from an internal perception stand point and I think that his close relationship with me also did him no favors. We both talked about that situation on many occasions over the years but overwhelmingly agree that our friendship that began in the 70's was more important that any "run" with WWE or any other company would ever have been. We had both been in the business long enough to know that lasting friendships were a rare commodity in the wrestling game.

We were paired on Monday Night Raw with another "beaut" of an idea where a disgruntled J.R. would return after one of my bouts of Bells palsy with Doc as my "bodyguard" to re-take my position as the play by play voice of Monday Night Raw. I've always looked at the storyline as somewhat lame but it did keep Doc working until he could hopefully get his shot in the ring.

Doc did the same role in WCW with Ed Ferrera playing "Oklahoma" and many fans have asked me if I was ever angry at Steve for this portrayal. Not no, but Hell no, as he was doing his job for which he was booked. Steve, like me, was old school and old school guys most generally do as they are instructed/booked no matter if they like it or not. I can give you a list of several things that I have done in wrestling that I did not like but that I did anyway because that was simply my job. (Some folks have condemned me for some of these TV moments and have called me a "sellout" which is also laughable.) Steve was doing his job for which he was hired on to do and paid for his services. Plain and simple.

I could likely write much more about Steve "Dr. Death" Williams and perhaps I will in the coming days as my many memories of our times together continue to flood my mind. If I ever commit on writing a book about my career you can be sure that there will be a chapter on Doc. Without question, Steve "Dr. Death" Williams comprised an important aspect of my professional career but more importantly Doc was one of my best pals and who will hold a special place in my heart until the day that I die.

Many of you have sent me emails to our Q&A section but there is simply no way that I can address them all individually but I do want you all to know that they are appreciated. I also received a ton of emails and texts from a true "who's who" in the business of which which touched me greatly.

Steve Williams had an overwhelming faith in God and that was his greatest gift and asset in his latter days. It was also inspirational to those of us that were closest to him.

Through Doc, I have learned that Faith has to be one's top priority so at the end of the day the "Good Doctor" prescribed me the best medicine one person can provide another.

Thanks, Doc. I love you and will never forget you.

Jimbo