Entertainment
Doug Williams excited for future in NWA and ponders WWE role as Ring of Honor closes its doors
The Ambassador is heading to the National Wrestling Alliance (Picture: Doug Williams)
Doug Williams is set for one of his biggest matches since coming out of retirement earlier this year.
Back in March, the British wrestling legend decided to step back into the squared circle on a grander scale, and it’s led him to tonight’s NWA: Hard Times 2 event and a date with Colby Corino.
The 49-year-old veteran knows the family all too well after many matches with former world champion Steve Corino, and it makes facing his old foe’s son on pay-per-view a fascinating prospect.
Speaking hours before the show, he exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘They were fantastic matches, always a pleasure to wrestle Steve back in the day. It’s gonna be, I think, equally as fun to wrestle his son.
‘Probably a slightly different style – his son’s a lot lighter and seems to do a lot more leaping and running around, but that’s fine by me.’
A lot has changed over the past nine months, as Doug came out retirement excited to be getting back among the best in the world in Ring of Honor, but next week’s Final Battle with mark an end of an era, with the whole roster being released as the promotion goes on hiatus until April 2022.
The Ambassador confirmed his own contract, like many others, is up at the end of the year, and he admitted he’s taking a cautious approach when it comes to any future work with ROH.
‘Potentially,’ he added diplomatically. ‘I’d like to see where their intentions are first and what they wanna do. But obviously that’d be good.’
His priority is Billy Corgan’s National Wrestling Alliance, and beyond Saturday night’s match with Corino, the Reading-born grappler will be part of the company’s upcoming filming schedule before flying back to the UK.
‘I’m here for the next – they’ve got TV tapings tomorrow and Monday, so plenty of time to speak to him,’ he added, admitting he’s yet to really sit down with the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, although he admires his outlook on wrestling.
‘When they first put out Powerrr, I love the simple concept of it. It was so easy to follow and understand. Really, it’s what wrestling should be for the casual viewer – they can pick it up, they can watch it, understand immediately what’s going on.’
There’s also the physical style, which goes right up to the current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch – someone Doug knows very well from their respective journeys.
Trevor Murdoch is the current Worlds Champion (Picture: NWA)
‘He’s a great ambassador for the NWA Title, it’s a perfect fit for him. It’ll be good to see him again! I toured with him in NOAH back in the early 2000s when I was there,’ he recalled.
‘That style that he’s encompassed and he’s developed, that old school brawler type, he was doing that back in NOAH, he was developing his character there. He was a talented guy – he worked exactly how he looked, he was perfect for that role. I always thought he’d go far.’
Doug is excited to lock up with the younger talent in the NWA, and help pass on a lifetime of knowledge as he notes while modern-day wrestlers ‘take care of themselves’ better than ever before, he thinks their storytelling needs some work.
He explained: ‘Storytelling and psychology has made way for athletic moves and doing far too much in matches where it’s unnecessary really. I appreciate that nine times out of 10, guys are wrestling for a core audience.
‘But when you expand your horizons and think, “I’ve gotta wrestle for people who aren’t necessarily fans and draw them in”, the best way to do that is to tell a story that people get interested in. Casual fans don’t necessarily understand the moves, but they understand the character and the story.’
The veteran grappler is focused on the NWA (Picture: Doug Williams)
With that said, Doug noted he’s hopeful he can continue his work with NWA beyond the next few days, and do everything he can to leave the industry in a better place.
‘I hope so! I don’t know really. It’s like anything, isn’t it? It depends how I’m perceived. It’s not cheap to bring me over here from the United Kingdom, put me up, all that,’ he admitted.
‘I certainly hope so! Even if it’s not just a wrestler role, if they wanna use me in any other way as well, that would be good.’
The wrestling world is wide open with the likes of NWA, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), IMPACT Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and more all working together, but Doug insisted he’s had no talks with other major companies, and has no desire to find himself back in the grind of weekly TV.
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‘To be honest with you, I’m not really interested in full time contracts with anyone. I’m doing it for the fun and enjoyment of it,’ he said in a very genuine way, while noting he won’t rule out a ‘one off appearance’.
This means the option for a WWE stint – perhaps in NXT UK or as a coach at the Performance Center – remains a possibility, although it’s clear his focus is on the NWA.
‘If they have the capacity to bring in new trainers, I’m always open to that idea. It’s kind of a perfect thing as well in that it’s not something they do weekly, they do their tapings in a bunch, it could be ideal from that perspective! We’ll just see how it goes,’ he said.
‘The beauty of NWA is they do their TV tapings every couple of months, so it’s easy to come in, work for five days, and go back home to continue doing independent shows and bits I want to do myself.’
Watch NWA: Hard Times 2 on Saturday night (December 4) at 1am on Fite TV.
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