Everybody loves a good comeback and Doug Williams aims to show the wrestling world just that.
The long-established British star just announced a return to the squared circle this past Monday, citing the past year’s events as motivation for lacing up the wrestling boots once more.
Williams announced his retirement from in-ring competition in 2018 before undergoing neck surgery, but he has stayed rooted in the business. Over the past few years, Williams has appeared in seven matches, and he was also advertised for a few ROH appearances in 2020. His plans were ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19, but Williams recently spoke with Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone to further elaborate on his decision to return.
“Come 2019 I had neck surgery, and the result of that was I was getting strength back in my arms. The symptoms—not all of them—but the symptoms I was suffering from, most of those went away. I was quite happy with the limited involvement I had with wrestling post-retirement where I do seminars helping people, working backstage at shows, helping out, that sort of thing, but then obviously, the pandemic struck, we went into lockdown,” Williams explained. “So sitting here for a year doing absolutely nothing, not traveling, not going anywhere, it kind of really made me realize really life’s quite precious and you should do the things you really enjoy doing whilst you can still do it, and I think I can certainly still can wrestle to a good level of ability.”
Williams also has another main goal in mind in stepping through those ring ropes.
“More importantly, I can help the younger talent coming up refine their own skills and make them better wrestlers in the meantime. So there’s the kind of deciding factors: the injuries were better, the sitting around doing nothing with my life for a year like everybody else in the whole world, these are the kinds of things that made me decide.”
Williams did mention that his neck never got worse after he retired and he’s obviously gotten his strength back. Williams plans to make one adjustment to his style once he suits back up.
“If there’s anything I do change about my style it’s probably I’ll have to do less knee drops because my knees are not what they used to be,” he added.
The events of the past year has made me reassess my decision to retire as it made me understand that you should use your life to fullest doing what you enjoy. As such I am open to bookings again, email is in my bio…
— Doug Williams (@DougWilliamsUK) March 15, 2021
Williams has plans to wrestle in the United Kingdom and maintains that he definitely has interest in returning to the United States. He explained that he agreed to appear for Ring Of Honor for a few events last year that were intended to be his “last hurrah” domestically, but they didn’t come to pass.
“I did sign with Ring of Honor to do the Past vs. Present show and then the Pure Tournament as well and for me that was kind of my last hurrah,” Williams said. “The last seven, eight years they hadn’t really seen much of me so it was like my last chance to go back to the States and put myself out there in front of the American fans and unfortunately that never happened, did it? Cause all those shows got cancelled so yeah, definitely one of my goals is to come back to America and remind the fans who Doug Williams is and what I can do.”
Williams did confirm that he’s still under contract with ROH for the next eight months, but has no definitive dates on the agenda with them at this time.
“I am under contract to Ring of Honor so I have highlighted them, but obvious it was the same last year anyways, but I’m active and when that time comes if they want to use me still,” Williams said. “It runs til the end of this year so we’ll see if they come up with anything, but that’s probably where I’m going to go if I’m gonna go anywhere for the States.”
Our full interview with Doug Williams will release next week as he and DeAngelo discuss some of his classic matches, his thoughts on Nick Aldis’ run as NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, his days as the arrogant heel in British Invasion and much more.
If you use any part of this transcript, credit @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone and link back
